I have never really given a second thought to wikis until this assignment. Not sure why . . . I just didn't, but now being at my new school, they use a wiki and use it in an effective manner for the faculty and staff. It is an area in which they keep our documents handy for all teachers and staff to be able to locate quickly rather than on a computer drive that you might not be able to get into from another location outside of school. Our school uses it very much like a storage unit for our documents.
After reviewing the given links for the assignment, it appears that several of the schools use the wikis as their actually website for their media centers. It seems to work well for them and they have all their information readily available for their patrons, but it lacks a bit of luster and creativity that you might get with an actual website. Two of the websites that a reviewed could have been created within a website of their own rather than a wiki. I do like the area within the wiki for collaboration, but for anyone to be able to edit and make changes to the wiki when they have been accepted is a little scary. Unscheduled changes can prove to be harmful in more ways than one.
Wikipedia has long been a thorn to the research process for teachers and students. Many teachers do not allow the use of wikipedia because its information can not be held reliable. Anyone can make a post and anyone can edit a post. Although much of the information found on wikipedia can be useful, the free use of editing leaves the information questionable.
Now on a plus side of creating a wiki, I have been trying to think of how I could use one within my media center. I host a book club and creating a wiki in order to talk and review information about the books being read would be a great concept within a wiki. Being able to talk about a book and add or edit your views would be a phenomenal aspect to a book club. Being able to collaborate through the use of a wiki with our book club would be great.
I do not like the idea of basing your entire media center website based on a wiki one for the lack of making it a little more eye-appealing. But also, for coming up with an easier free flowing feel to your website rather than the through everything thrown together. I need the use of color and pictures to add quickly and easily to make the website attractive. The few that we had been offered, appeared to be overwhelming with information.
Wikis . . . what is your idea? How will you use it within your media center?
Lana,
ReplyDeleteI like the idea that your school uses wikis as a way to store documents and such so that you don't have to be at school to access information. But, I do agree that the downside is anyone can edit and someone must constantly monitor.
As for using the wiki for a website, I, like you think there are some better alternatives out there that allow a little more freedom and creativity. I may steal your idea about using a wiki to exchange ideas with my book club members. I hadn't thought about doing that, but it would be a great way for members to talk with each other outside of the physical meeting time and space. You know sometimes, you read something great in a book and want to discuss it at that moment!
Wikipedia...not so much a thorn in my side anymore since we have been educating our students on why this is not the most reliable place to go. What we do say is that Wikipedia is a place to begin if you know nothing about a topic. Wikipedia can be used to find some key terms for future searches. Also, we tell our students to look at the references that are listed there as well. These may lead to more reliable sources.
Great idea with wikipedia. Many teachers always tell students they cannot use wikipedia, but if they would approach it like you mentioned that would make a world of difference I think. Not saying no, but as a beginning point for words to help you research is great. Many students struggle with finding the right words to search.
ReplyDeleteI am excited about trying out the wiki for my book club and having them answer the questions of the discussion guides on the wiki. I think I am going to give my students most of the responsibility of creating the wiki. Having high schoolers they should be able to run with this idea.
My mentor said wiki's are prohibited in the schools in the county my media center is in for reasons of having to monitor it and such. They use a program called Edmodo. She said it's like a Facebook for education. I like it better. I agree with your point about not particularly liking the use of a wiki as a webpage. Good idea on the book club!
ReplyDeleteLana,
ReplyDeleteI’m glad I chose your blog to read and comment. I was thinking the same issues you mentioned, “lack of creativity” and the harm of “unscheduled changes”. Way back, when websites were optional in my district, I chose to create my own and I loved changing the graphics and themes for each season. Then websites became a requirement and we had to use a certain software/platform for our websites. The sites are very sterile and there is little you can do to make them cute and appealing. I’ve learned to make the documents I post appealing. A control freak like me, finds others being able to change my work terrifying. I like the idea of using a Wiki for collaboration. I think it would be really helpful in a district like mine with so many schools. Also for someone like me who will be brand, spanking new, scared and inexperienced. Knowing there was one place I could go and find tons of information would certainly be reassuring.
Great job weighing both sides!
Belinda
Thank you Megan and Belinda. Our county does use Edmodo as well. Both of my children have used it with different teachers and it seems fairly easy for the students to maneuver around on their own. Belinda, I too am a control freak (hate it, but I am) I like things to have a bit of flair and creativity. I am currently working on a brand new website through Weebly since I have a little bit more control of how to set it up. I do want to try a wiki, but it definitely is not at the top of my list.
ReplyDeleteLana,
ReplyDeleteI learned about wikis through taking the media courses at West Ga. I find them to be useful in th sense that they can provide multiple resources in one location. I would not base my media center's web page on them. Rather, I would have a wiki page within my media center. I would like for my wiki page to grow so I would permit patrons to add to the list. I agree with you on the point you made in refernce to the "scary" nature of allowing people to have assess to upload information to the site. What if someone deletes resources? What if some uploaded a risky or pornographic link?
I have a correction....I typed ASSESS. It should be aCCess.
Delete