This is the first wiki that I have created. In the past, I have always heard good things about wikis from other educators, but had always remained skeptical myself. As a librarian, I have always worried about the quality of the content of Wikipedia especially when it can be edited and accessed by anyone. I agree with Richardson’s (2010) findings, “The early consensus among educators seems to be to tell students to use Wikipedia as a starting point for their work, but not as a sole resource” (Richardson, 2010, p, 60). At this point, I am comfortable with my students using Wikipedia to brainstorming and for topic discovery.
Although after reading more about wikis, I have started to consider some educational possibilities and also do not feel as strong as I did about not allowing students to use Wikipedia as a resource. I could see using a wiki as a sort of content blog, but with student editing power. Also for our classes, I could see using a wiki to compile information on different topics that are discussed. There seems to be many uses and possibilities when it comes to wikis.
The wiki I just created was very easy to navigate and setup. Teachers could easily create a wiki for all students to interact with for their classroom or course. In the libraries where I work, I would prefer to use a wiki that has a login system. I also like the view history tabs on wikis so that you know who posted what. Before I can feel completely comfortable using a wiki in the library, I will need to read more about wikis and experience them for myself.
References:
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful Web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
