I've used Wikipedia plenty of times while conducting simple research or looking for quick facts about something when my students ask me questions. Sometimes I don't have the time to go find an authentic source nor do I want to risk Google Images in front of the students because often questionable material pops up.
A Wiki is "a website developed collaboratively by a community of users, allowing any user to add and edit content." The level of access to the wiki can be set by the creator so that people can edit only certain things.
The first Wiki was made by Ward Cunningham and the started name "wiki" was taken from the Hawaiian word "wiki-wiki" which me quickly.
I have never made my own Wiki but I plan on doing so in the near future. Some of my friends and I have a little book club and I made a message board for the club. I'm finding that a message board is just too "much" for my little group. I think a Wiki would be much easier for the members of my bookclub to add and change information.
Smartteaching.org has an intersting article describing 50 ways to use Wikis in the classroom.
Students can post information about a topic or a book and other students can add to the information to make it richer and increase understanding. I know from my own students that often times I get the minimum and most simplistic answers from them, while other students add information to make it richer. Wikis can allow all students to participate at their own level of understanding of the topic to be discussed or edited.
For teachers and staff at school Wikis are great for sharing information. If I create an awesome reading log that works well for my students, instead of sending it to everyone through email, I can post it on the wiki. If other teachers have good ideas to make my reading log even more successful, they can edit my file and save it.
If I had my own computers in my classroom or more of my students had internet at home, I would love to start a classroom wiki.
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