There is a product called, "PBwiki" that gives you some free space to create a wiki. Fred mentioned this product in his comments to the wiki post below. It's a bit less "scary" to use with students than Wikipedia, I think, because you can close your wiki and password protect it if you want. I was thinking that it would be a neat idea to have students create their own wiki documents. For instance, if all the 3rd grade students are researching and studying regions, wouldn't it be cool for them to publish their research in a wiki, that they could all contribute to, collaborate on, and then have stand as a resource tool for others in the school, next year's 3rd graders, and so on.
I set one up and played with the idea a bit by posting the directions, images, etc. for how we introduced the new log ons to the Kindergarten students this year. I thought it might be a good way to share instructions, lessons, etc. in a format that people could add to. I originally set it up for my BOCES Instructional Tech Specialist (ITS) colleagues and me to use, but it can be expanded to include you as welll. You can view this wiki by clicking here Tech Resources
and entering the password, bocesits
Check out the PBwiki tour!
Try it out for yourself. Get a free wiki at PBwiki.com.
What do you all think? Is this a viable technology to use with elementary students?
4 comments:
I just check out the PBwiki. I think it is a great way to integrate techology into the classroom. This can be used in conjuction with the Teacher or Classroom website. The student can contribute to it easier. Instead of the teacher getting them on to their classroom website to post, a wiki can be created and the student would be able to post their information there. A link can be added to and from the Wiki to the Classroom website and all can be viewed. I think it would be easier for the students to use this. They can log on themselves, post, and can even be edited by other students. They could even do it from home, if they had internet capabilites. This could possibly also be a tool to be able to collaborate with other classrooms in other districts. I guess on the down side, there is no way to view things before they are posted, so students would have to be on their "best behavior" in regards to what is being posted. I'd like to have someone give it a try.
I took a look at the PBwiki. I like the idea that there is a place for the students to share their work in a different forum. Lori’s idea of having 3rd graders sharing their information is great because of the opportunity for the work to remain for future groups to view. I still have issues with the fact kids can change and add information without having it checked first. Denise said, “kids would have to be on their best behavior". I also like how Lori put the tech information on it. This would be a way for information to be accessed and changed easily for teachers to use. I am not sure how easily this could be used with my 2nd graders. Would it be time consuming?
I could foresee the use of Wikis in the upper elementary grade levels where literature circles are in use. Students could post responses to reading and have discussions via the Wiki. I did some work with students using a tool that predates Wikis. Student motivation was off the charts - they could post their comments and then see the ideas of their classmates in realtime. The quality of their work was enhanced by their motivation. Many students even posted their inferences, connections, etc. outside of school from their home computers. Students that had been reluctant to complete reading journal assignments outside of school were suddenly more apt to respond to literature using a medium that was more interesting to them. I would think Wikis would have the same potential.
I agree! I have been using pbwiki for a project since last spring and it's really taken off this year. Our wiki is actually a "pathfinder" wiki. Students are using our pathfinders during computer lab time, in the classroom as a center, and at home just for fun. For now, the wiki is used by many but only has three of us collaborating. We are urging other teachers to join us and are hopeful that some of them will find the time in their busy schedules for this project.
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