A class Wiki: a do it yourself learning management system

Wikis have come a long way and now some big players are providing free wiki sites they are becoming an attractive option for most teachers to consider. The video below is a getting started guide to using Google Sites which is the system I like. But there are many more like WetPait, WikiSpaces and EduBlogs.

Most teachers seem to be introduced to technologies like this by first looking at what functions the sofware perform, then they start to consider how it might be useful in their class. In an ideal world they would probably do it differently. First consider teaching purposes, then ponder all the way of helping achieve these, narrow the options down to maybe some software, then, do an analysis of the software and select the most suitable. I think in reality people are not so cold bloodedly logical, and jump back and forth from see an idea in a tool, thinking about its classroom use, then going back to look at the tool. It is a mishmash of seeing an opportunity, checking out its learning potential, wrestling with practical issues, personal skills development, trying it out with students, taliking about it with colleagues. Practical learning is working at several levels simultaneously.

So, this video will tell you a bit about functions that Sites offers, and it shows some of the quite practical steps to getting it running in your class. Because this is the thinking processes that I suspect you will be going through when considering whether to use a tool like a wiki.





Teachers who quickly find a use of a wiki are interested in student publishing, creating a real audience for writing, collaboration and student responsibility and creativity.

My experience in workshops is that teachers can effectively manage their Sites wiki after about an hour of exploration. This is a testamnent to the first main feature of a wiki - simplicity.
The second feature is colaborative editing, so a group can manage a site, and the third is access to version of the site, giving one the capacity to recover from mistakes or vandalism. Together, the three features make it a very good tool for a class web site with student involvement.

An important aspect of wikis like the Google one is that even though they are fairly simple to manage, they have some powerful features. An example is the ability to subscribe to a site or a page. Once this is done the subscriber receives an email each time the site or page is altered, which makes it easy to keep up to date with a page or site you are sharing respobsibility for.

The best way to find out if software like this is useful to you is to give it a go. It's free.