Wiki is a word that was created from the word Wikipedia. It is used by hundreds of researchers each day and is an upgraded form of Wikipedia. Wikis allow people to communicate with each other on an online website and each person can add, edit or rewrite information shared. Wiki is used by all types of people. It could also be advantageous to a media specialist by involving group collaboration and allowing them to view each other’s work.
Using a wiki will allow a media specialist to share her books lists with other media specialists. Other media specialists have the choice of providing their thoughts and opinions about the books. New books reviews could be suggested and shared among the media specialists. Several media specialist could use wikis to share book awards such as: The John Newberry Award or Coretta Scott King Award. A media specialist should take many more advantage of a wiki. For instance, a new letter could be added to a wiki and updated as often as needed. Teachers could post their thoughts on books and others materials in the media center. Students could share book reviews about books they have read as an incentive to get more students to read these books.
In addition, wikis could be important in many ways by promoting communication among several groups and used in any subject. Social Studies and Science teachers would benefit more from a wiki. Students are always doing group projects in these areas. Students can work on their part of the project at home and not have to wait on the other members. Students can also let parents see what the group is doing from the home computer. If a problem occurs, parents and the teachers can view the assignment and know what the problem is all about. A math teacher could share helpful tips on how to get students to learn their multiplication table or provide steps on how to work out a math problem online, so parents can help their children.
As a music teacher, I would use a wiki to help students understand and respect others choice of music. During the month of March, which is music month, I taught country and western, R/B, Gospel, and Rap music for 4 weeks. Each week I posted popular singers pictures on the walls and gave a handout to read about the singer for that week. I also went online and let the students listen to the singers’ music. A wiki would have been the best way to handle this project. Less work would have been needed to create this project.
Colleges and universities also could benefit from using a wiki. Students love to collaboration when working on projects. A wiki would be the way to go when the members of a group do not have time to meet and work on an assignment. Informational data can be shared among groups on college campuses through a wiki.
