wiki wiki

It has been a while since I've used/thought about wikis.  In fact, the last time I used one was early last semester for another class, and I hadn't looked at it since.  Honestly, this was in part due to the fact that the whole concept of a "wiki" was still completely lost on me.  I didn't understand why a group would need a wiki instead of a blog, or along with a blog.

But that kind of cheesy, really simple 5 minute video from the module completely explained the idea of a wiki.  After the video ended I thought, "got it."

And now I think I need a wiki for everything I do.


Then I began a search of other wikis out there, and as it turns out, there are people who agree with me; we need wikis for everything.  I found a Harry Potter wiki, a Glee wiki, The Bachelor wiki's (there were at least 30) and everything in between.  Who knew?

The top coolest things about wikis for teachers/media specialists?

• students can log in and change stuff around, allowing them to work from home and still work collaboratively. 
• students can use wikis to document their research- how cool would it be to have some kind of timeline showing the students going through The Big Six?
• students get to go home and show their parents, friends, etc, that they are officially "on the web," which is exciting for the student and the family!
• media specialists can use a wiki to show the newest books and media in the library.
• media specialists can use a wiki to interact with parents- take polls on what genres of books they want you to order/announce all the activities at the library.

Wiki's are awesome.  I'm excited to learn more about the ways I can use them!