My Wiki Thoughts
5-D-1
I am always interested in teachers who take the leap and embrace new technologies. It is inspiring to see people who are willing to give something a try, even if they might be met with resistance.
The South African wikibooks project was so great to see. I liked the idea of having textbooks all online and that everyone could contribute. As I was looking into the project in more detail, I found a blog that claims the curriculum is not as credible as it claims to be.
So far, the most challenging part of working with a group it is the problem of communication. It seems it would be easier if we could talk about it at one time. Because we all work at different times, we have to wait to read one another’s replies. Although always a challenge, group projects are definitely easier with a face to face class because you have a set time in which to work.
As for Wikipedia, I have always felt that it is a legitimate site, although it is not the site on which to base upper level research. To me it is great to have an easy site to gather information quickly. It is the one stop shopping of the Internet! While creating our wiki, I found it hard to find information on a topic I only know about from others. I felt like I was getting too much information from other sources. I am not convinced that wikis would be right for me all the time with fifth graders, but I can think of several lessons that would be perfect for wikis (introducing and summarizing units). I think we need to plan for resistance when introducing wikis. If we, who are interested and motivated by wikis have questions, others who are less inclined definitely will. In preparing for a wiki lesson, it might be helpful to have talking points for those non-believers.
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