What is a WIKI?

A Blog?????

Wiki’s are, in many ways, “the” co-creative tool for the web, the “co-creative website” if you like. Businesses are enamored with blogs, but wiki’s are more appropriate for certain tasks. Wiki’s are for a growing base of knowledge, as opposed to a reverse chronology of news and ideas. Wiki’s are good at refining ideas, and creating richer, deeper understanding overtime. The motolora Q wiki, the co-created product manual, if you will, is a brilliant example of a task ideal for a wiki, much more useful than a Q blog.

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How can educators use wiki's for collaboration?

1. Creating a knowledge base on a specific topic (examples: Creatures, Wikimac)
2. Writing documentation or a FAQ (see Category:Documentation)
3. Brainstorming (example: Scratchpad)
4. Collaborative writing (examples: fiction, comedy, poetry, Storypedia)
5. Learning writing through online collaboration (example: schools)
6. Product reviews and comparisons (examples: Cafe Review, Facial Cleansing Products, shopping, TechCompare)
7. Creating specifications and architecture documents for software or other projects (example: Scoop)
8. Creating how-tos (example: How To)
9. Creating promotional material (example: Mozilla Community)
10. Developing new languages (example: Baby Sign Language Dictionary, conlang)
11. Sharing tips and advice (example: quit smoking, Answers)
12. Translating documents together (example: Translation)
13. Coordinate and help fill needs of charities, for donations and services or volunteers (example: fundraising)
14. Sharing tips with gaming communities (see Category:Gaming)
15. Discussion of theories (examples: Abaeté)
16. Publishing (examples: academia, Metodologia Científica)
17. Bringing together a community for activism (example: activism)
18. Consumption guides (example: Altereco)
19. Exploring fictional worlds (examples: Alternative History, Conworld)
20. Fan sites or fan clubs (examples: Ashlee Simpson, CamarilaRequiem)
21. Developing patterns or best practices (Best Practices, engineering)
22. Support groups (examples: Cancer Help, Celiac Resources, Quit smoking)
23. Parody (examples: Désencyclopédie, Homestar Runner Wooky)
24. Planning and documenting events, maintaining a calendar of local events, or real-time reports on conferences (examples: events, conferences)
25. Developing software features and other inventions (examples: FeatureGarden, inventions, Software testing and development)
26. A meeting place for language communities (examples: Ladino, Ido Korea, Cantonese, Translation)
27. Political campaigns (examples: VoteRice, Eagle Party)
28. Communication between and within communities
29. Creating an easily searchable, linkable, and editable website
30. Community news and group announcements
31. Information and policies about a project
32. Easy refactoring of communication on forums and mailing lists (by turning the thread mode of these discussions into a more useful document mode).
33. Meeting agendas and notes for organizations
34. Project collaboration
35. Enriching existing text documents by editing them collaboratively and adding multimedia
36. Solidifying an existing community through collaboration and increased connections
37. Supporting a shared community goal

Why use wikis in education?

• Wikis encourage collaborative learning and information sharing
• They increase student engagement and participation
• Wikis facilitate communication

How can wikis be used in the classroom?

• Group projects: Students work together in one place to research, outline, draft, and edit projects within the wiki.
• Assignments: Post homework, course materials, study guides, and more.
• Resource Collections: Organize articles, websites, videos, and other resources for students.
• Peer Review: Post questions for student brainstorming, or have students post papers for peer feedback.
• Group FAQ: Students and/or teachers post and respond to questions on a given topic.
• Parent Involvement: Give parents a chance to be a part of the classroom and stay up to date on classroom news and events.
• Online Newspaper: Create a student-published online newspaper.

Blogs 

http://classblogmeister.com/ has a greart explanation of what a blog is:

About Blogmeister  Perhaps one of the most fascinating tools that has emerged from the Internet cloud in recent years is the Blog. A shortening of the term Web log, the Blog is an online publishing tool that enables people to easily publish their loves, passions, dislikes, peeves, discoveries, and insights.

Thousands of teachers have discovered the value of classroom blogging, both as an avenue for their communications, but also as a tool for giving voice to what their students are learning and how they are learning.

Class Blogmeister is one of several blogging engines that have been developed specifically for classroom use. You are welcome to explore the writings of teachers and students alike.

Here is the Process teachers can use to set up a Blog for the classroom

Assigment:

Let's Create an Electronic Portfolio

We can create and select some of your best work and post it on our wiki where you can share it with the world.  DO NOT use your real name on your page

1. Please pick a podcast

2. Your favorite digital photo project

3. One CAD design

4. One comic

5. A programing file or  other written project and upload it to the classroom wiki page.

This will give you the chance to review your work and decide what you consider to be quality work. It will also give you a chance to see what everyone else has been creating as well. Please enclose a brief essay  telling me what you learned, which projects you learned the most from, and what skills you think helped you.  

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