Wiki+Wikinomics


 * Wiki Wiki nomics **

Not so fast, that is the purpose of this Lesson!
 * [[image:wikiway.jpg]] signboard by ilco @ SXC || Wiki is Hawaiian for "quick." So "quick", what is it?

A Wiki is a collaborative, Web-based, writing space, basically a Website that is quick and easy to edit and can be edited by anyone, anywhere. Wiki is a software tool that allows users to freely create and edit hyperlinked Web pages using a web browser. Wiki pages look and act like normal web pages, except they have an "Edit" link that makes them easy to modify or add new pages to. You do not need to know or use any HTML. It is works just like a word processing program!

As much as students need to learn academic content, they also need to know how to make effective and innovative use of what they know. Wikis are a type of Web 2.0 that supports 21st century skills and can be used in numerous ways. || Here are some ways **Wiki technology**  can be integrated into the classroom:
 * Peer-based projects
 * Collaborative writing
 * Group study guides
 * Presentation tool for projects
 * Class website
 * A student-made glossary of terms with illustrations and definitions
 * Designs of experiments (and resulting lab reports) for a science class
 * A travelogue from a field trip or virtual field trip
 * A local history wiki
 * “Advertise” for different literary, historical, or cultural locations and time periods.
 * As a section of a book/multi-media co-written with other teachers in the world in WikiEducator (maybe students too)

A wiki lets you teach in a participatory culture! Students participate in the process of sharing information and demonstrating understanding of content with their teacher and their peers. One of the most obvious benefits of using a wiki is the ability to offer a quick way to collaborate textually, while creating a content rich website! Wikis help students develop writing skills and social skills!

The thing to remember about wikis is that they’re platforms for super-easy collaboration!

**Activity Details** **Activity 1** Check out some Wiki Study Guides. We use a wiki to create a weekly study guide on the topics and concepts from our week of work. At the end of each unit, the wiki pages serve as a collaborative study guide for the unit exam.

Here is how it works. The teacher posts only the learning objectives for the week. That is it! The students must do the rest.

Visit a wiki and see the study guide in action.

Check out the Week 29 wiki page in a Business and Management class wiki. Students have not work on that week yet, so you get a feel for what the teacher has done to prepare the wiki for the students.  Business and Management Study Guide Wiki Week 29

Now check out any other week in the wiki. Students have collectively demonstrated knowledge and understanding. Students have primarily added text and images but students could also add hyperlinks, they could have attached files such as PowerPoint presentations or Word docs and they could have even embedded multimedia like YouTube videos!

But that is only one way to use a wiki!

Check out a wiki used as a Glossary from an Information, Society and Technology Course. Just click on the letter of the alphabet to visit the entries.

In this wiki example, students have posted links to Group Projects on factors impacting a business (factors such as economic, ecological or legal and political) so that other students can review. Click one of the links and check out a project. **Note:** These project were done using Prezi. Prezi is a very cool replacement to PowerPoint.

Or how about creating an online unit of study? This is a unit for a science class on DNA Technology and Genetic Screening.

So there are many ways to use a wiki. Now it is your turn to try!


 * Activity 2 **

Build a wiki. A tutorial and screencast on building a Wikispaces wiki are attached.



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Wikispaces also has an extensive Help section.

Once finished building you wiki site submit the url to our showcase by click the link **Showcase** in the menu to the left**.**

** Expectations ** Post the url of your wiki page to our <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**Showcase** page in the menu to the left**.**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 80%;"> Tapping a Pencil by tomsaint11, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Apple by orangeacid, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.