Wiki Walk-Through

An effective and efficient way to collaborate with teachers and students is through a wiki. Wiki Walk-Through is an online resource found on a website powered by TeachersFirst and written by educators for sharing technology resources with teachers to use in the classroom and with other professionals.

The site discusses how a wiki can be a powerful tool for teachers to conduct and communicate about important professional development, both within a specific content area and school wide. This would be beneficial for teachers who may not have a common planning period, but teach the same content. They could create pages for each unit of a course and use text or files to share lesson plans and teaching strategies. Teachers can work in an even broader group by making the wiki public through a link from their blog or website. Other educators can share pedagogical strategies and classroom management resources. Free sites such as PBworks and Wikispaces make creating and editing a wiki simple and economical for educators.

The greatest use for a wiki can be with students and parents. Teachers can create a wiki for students and parents to access classroom expectations, grading policies, and upcoming assignments. The wiki can also be designed to help students study and collaborate on projects. In mathematics, students can create and add to a vocabulary list for the school year. This would be especially beneficial in a geometry course, where algebra I skills are applied to more real life applications. The teacher could also create a page for students to compile important concepts and steps for an upcoming test. To increase the use the of the study guide, students can add example problems with step-by-step procedures for others to review and solve. Members can discuss problems or solutions by using the comment feature at the bottom of each page. Students could also use text, images, and videos to develop a project in class, such as to explain why a certain mathematical procedure exists, how it is used, and what a problem might look like that uses this procedure. If it is a group project, each group member has the same capability to log in and edit the project. Since students can be given the ability to edit pages, it is important for teachers to carefully explain the rules and expectations for the wiki, as well as enforce consequences for inappropriate wiki use. Teachers should closely monitor the wiki and share any helpful information with other teachers who use a wiki or are considering using a wiki.