Thing 16

Wikis are an interesting concept to me. I can see using them professionally with committee meetings, book studies, or when doing collaborative work with other teachers or librarians. I am not sure how I would use wikis with my elementary students basically because it goes back to having only 2 student computers in each classroom and only 13 student computers in the library. I very much like Meredith Farkas' article Using Wikis to Create Online Communities. She mirrored my thoughts with the following: "It can be difficult for people to get used to the idea of a website that anyone is allowed to add to or edit. The notion of private property is so deeply embedded in our society that it’s difficult to imagine going onto someone else’s website and changing things, even when they want us to. We’re accustomed to websites where someone is the final arbiter on what can or cannot go into it. With a wiki, everyone is the final arbiter. If I don’t like what someone put into the wiki, I can change it. And if someone don’t like what I wrote, they can make their own changes." I do realize that you can make the wiki not open for all to edit, but I feel that defeats the purpose of the wiki. At home I plan to look at the Library Success Wiki because that site is blocked here at school.