Creating Educator Communities Using Wikis

The 21st Century Filing Cabinet: Creating Educator Communities Using Wikis What is a wiki? “a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages using a web browser” (from Wikipedia, of course) Things to keep in mind when planning your wiki: Who is the wiki for? 1. Teacher to teacher – for lesson plans, suggestions for field trips, links to good YouTube videos, supplemental exercises for textbooks, etc. 2. Administration – for announcements, policies, manuals, forms, schedules, minutes of meetings, etc. How to keep them separate 1. Two different wikis 2. Different pages on the same wiki – different groups can have different levels of access to pages (e.g., only administrators could edit pages with policies, schedules, etc.) Who is in charge of it? Two distinct tasks – could be done by the same or a different person 1. Webmaster/gatekeeper to add & remove names of those who have access 2. Orientation and maintenance people to orient faculty to wiki, give workshops & refresher sessions, and to periodically go through and clean up pages, check links, reorganize misplaced info, etc. This can be a bit time-consuming, especially at the beginning. Will this count at faculty evaluation and raise time? Could it be part of a committee assignment? How should pages be organized? This depends mostly on your program. Course based? Mixed skills? Level based? Some possibilities: • • • By course By textbook By level • • • By topic Tags A combination Time spent figuring out the overall organization of your wiki near the beginning of this process will save a lot of work later on! How can you get faculty to use it? Put something up before showing it off. There should be no – or very few – blank pages; an emptylooking wiki won’t get anyone excited about using it. Show people what’s possible. Examples: handouts, supplements, and digital versions of tests & answer keys for popular textbooks; links to helpful websites; materials for field trips; links to good YouTube videos – and worksheets that go with them; images & maps they can use in class or on their personal wikis; PowerPoints; handouts and links from TESOL 2011. Have an orientation session – or three. Show what’s up already. Demonstrate how to download it and how teachers can add their own contributions. (Have a sample file on the desktop of their computers for them to practice uploading.) Be known as the “wiki people”. Let people know who to contact when they have questions. Be available for informal refresher sessions and to help new faculty. Put your names and contact info on the front page of the wiki. Encourage people to share their work with their colleagues through the wiki.