What+is+a+Wiki

media type="custom" key="8107518"Image by ComputerMonger =**Title**: What Is “Wiki”? =

** Introduction **
Technology is everywhere and is used in all different types of forums. Technology can be used in the school setting, community setting, and workplace setting to name just a few. Technology, therefore, can be used to help innovate and simplify our everyday lives. One useful tool of innovative technology would be the Wiki. The Wiki is “simply Web sites that provide easy-to-use tools for creating, editing, and sharing digital documents, images, and media files” (“Wikis and Collaborative Inquiry, 2009, para. 2). Wikis are a wonderful means to build and present information individually or with many different users. Wikis make the connection to the Internet more informative with universal collaboration on ideas, topics, and projects. The best part of Wiki is that it is a free service that allows anyone to become a creator of an Internet web forum 24 hours a day. Wikis can be used privately or open to the public depending on the user’s preference.

** Impact on Education **
Like any new invention or idea the Wiki has had a positive impact on education. Wikis are being used in classroom settings to enhance and extend learning beyond the normal classroom walls. Wikis can be used to allow students and learning groups to work together on a common goal or project while using the newest technology applications in the classroom. “Wikis are effective in promoting collaborative learning within classes, between classes, among schools, with parents, and with communities” (“Wikis and Collaborative Inquiry, 2009, para. 18). The wiki has helped change the use of innovative technology in the classroom towards the child-centered learning approach. Students are able to expressive themselves with any questions, reflections, and insights that show the overall understanding of the knowledge being presented. Wikis also help students, that are reluctant to participate in a classroom setting, to freely express themselves through an educational wiki. Students are also able to take leadership roles in facilitating discussions and answering questions.

** Issues and Implications **
The wiki has many positive issues and implications for being used in the educational setting. Increased instructional time, student portfolios, and incorporating multiple intelligences are ways in which its implications are beneficial in the classroom. Students are able to continue learning all hours of the day while in and out of the classroom. Many extra learning activities, discussions, videos, and assessment can all be accessed from home, “creating additional time in the classroom to rigorously engage topics of interest for students” (“Wiki Technology”, 2010, para. 18). This type of enhancements adds to the overall learning value of the standardized classroom curriculum as well keeping teachers and students in constant topic exploration. Student portfolios can also be incorporated through use of a classroom wiki. Students are able to present their work in ways of achievement and understanding of the class curriculum through a wiki. Multiple intelligences are also displayed through student creation and application of educational classroom wikis. “Indeed, it is a process-oriented technology that empowers students to take on the role of teacher, and use their preferred modes of learning” (“Wiki Technology, 2010, para. 26).

** The Future **
The wiki is here to stay and I feel that the wiki will be fully incorporated in our educational setting in the future. In fact, updates and advancements to the Wiki are constantly being completed and becoming more and more user friendly. “The wikis of the future will be integrated into other sites and use additional software (e.g. online chat, bulletin boards, forums, etc.)” (“Wiki Future”, 2008, para. 10). This being said, wikis can be easily integrated into the overall learning curriculum, workplace environment, and personal everyday happenings. The future of wiki in the classroom can be used to aid in the “necessary skills student need to remain competitive in this global economy” (“Wiki Technology, 2010, para. 2). Overall, this idea will help to shape our learners to think deeper and push further into the success of incorporating technology on a universal level.

Just_Tonya (February 2008). Wiki Future. Everything Wiki. Retrieved January 16, 2011 from

@http://wiki.wetpaint.com/page/Wiki+Future.

Lam, A., & Johnson, L. (April 2009). Wikis and Collaborative Inquiry. School Library

Media Activities Monthly. 25(8), 48-51. Retrieved January 13, 2011 from Online CMU Library FirstSearch database.

Roe, M. J. (January/February 2010). Wiki Technology and the return to rigor.

Leadership. 39(3), 20-2. Retrieved January 13, 2011 from Online CMU Library FirstSearch database.