Teaching for Information Literacy

About Wikis

Wiki's Make Learning Wicked Fun - From Tech Learning - Wikis now give a venue for virtually anyone to collaborate on line.

Wikis in the Classroom

Collaborating, Writing, Linking: Using Wikis to Tell Stories Online : a lesson from Read Write Think

Lesson Overview:

When students read online, they engage with text differently. Clicking on links and images for more information easily takes them down unexpected paths, links to e-mail addresses allow them to interact with authors, and wikis allow them to make changes to published text. This lesson, which can also be used in high school classrooms, has students create stories that reflect this kind of reading. Students begin by reading untraditional books that use fragmented storylines, multiple perspectives, and unresolved plots. They apply these same types of strategies to their own writing, which they then publish using wiki technology. In doing so, students practice important literacy skills including searching for information, integrating images into text, and creating storylines that are reflective of the new types of reading found on the Internet.

Wikified class notes

Wikis, it turns out, are very good at establishing this sort of document. Someone starts by uploading their notes, and subsequent students can expand, revise, delete, re-arrange, or otherwise improve the version, until it reflects something like consensus about the day’s class. Further, the page can be updated throughout the semester, as later class periods interact with earlier ones.