Week 7: Thing #16

Thing # 16 - Wikis
Once again I spent much more time then I had planned on examining all of the wikis. I loved reading the reviews on the "Book Lovers" wiki & thought that was an interesting format for a book group. The school and classroom wikis that I visited were also inspiring - but once again I think I will run into the same problem I keep facing in this course: our school filters blocking just about anything that would be interactive! Also, even if you have a private wiki, I don't think there is anyway to monitor it (besides manually checking & removing anything inappropriate) - but perhaps I am wrong? I know blogger allows you to to moderate comments, so nothing students post goes on "live" - but I am not sure about wikis & especially at the middle school level, that could create problems.
This year especially I have noticed that many of my middle school students use Wikipedia as a main reference source. I try my best to encourage students (and staff members!) to use other sources - especially the library databases - and to be sure to evaluate any information they do find on Wikipedia. I also do a lesson on Wikipedia with my 8th grade students that I located on the New York Times Learning Pages - this helps to make them aware that Wikipedia may not always be accurate - and that no matter what sources they are using, they should alwasy use more then one. I think rather then "fight" against Wikipedia, we need to educate students about its pros and cons, teach them good evaluation skills, and lead them to additional sources to validate the information they find.
I have just begun using wikis professionally for several committees and projects I have been working on. While I love the ability to collaborate with people - I still find wikis somewhat confusing & disorganized. I really want to love wikis, but right now I still have more questions and concerns about being able to use them with students.