Wikis are very powerful digital tools that can support student’s collaboration in and out of school. Students could use Wikis to create ePortfolios, lab books, online journals or even research notebooks. One of the best examples of a Wikis would be Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an online Encyclopedia that has been created by thousands of people. Wikis can be very useful tools in the classroom but there are some considerations as well. One of these being the fact that anyone on the Web can edit or modify the content. However, that being said there are some Wikis that have only group editing privilege rights as well as resrictions can be set by the author as to who can change the content and what they can change. Another way wikis can be used to benefit student learning is as an editing tool for teachers/students to revise assignments. Wikis are a great tool to use in the classroom because they are interavtive and encourage creativity. Wikis increase student engagement and participation. Wikis facilitate communication between teachers, parents, and guardians.
Here is a link to Wikispaces.
One example of how I would incorporate Wikis into my classroom would be, to have my students create Mathematic problem solving questions.
Here is an example of how I would incorporate this tool in my classroom. This assignment would fall under Grade 5 Mathematic Class under the Problem Solving Strand. I would have students create Problem Solving Questions. I would have them post them on their Wikis. Students would be in groups of four and would be responsible to complete another student’s question. When everyone has answered the students questions, I would have them all check everyone in their groups answers. If students make a mistake, other students can change their answers and show them why they made the mistake.
