Week 5 - Wikis

I haven't started to implement my ideas for my own wiki yet. I'm finding myself a bit overwhelmed with all the choices. It reminds me of back when I was in high school trying to figure out what topic I was going to choose for my annual research paper. I always thought that the selection process was more difficult than the writing and research process.

I think the biggest advantage I see for using wikis is the collaboration aspect. I think a wiki would be ideal for a group project. Members could edit the written text/report, design a visual aid, and post sources. I think the biggest disadvantage is that the information students find on wikis may not be completely accurate, and students don't always realize that. This is an issue that can be dealt with pretty easily, simply by taking a class period to teach students how to critically evaluate a website. I definitely think wikis have potential to engage students. They're not as intimidating as other websites are; the information is presented in small, "bite-sized" bits and layman's terms that are easily understood.

I think the Web 2.0 technologies I'm most interested in exploring are mashups and tagging. Next year, I also plan to use blogging as a tool to help my students practice writing skills as well as interacting with the literary works we'll be reading. (I'm sure I'm much more interested in that than they are!)