In my opinion, wikis are a great tool to communicate amongst department members as explained in the Library 2.0 text regarding the RefWiki from Ohio State University. There are many benefits to this type of wiki like having the information available anywhere and not just at work from Outlook public folders, which by the way I never check. In a K-12 school, the media specialist can advertise programs on the wiki, post training videos or documents. Also, the wiki may be a better idea because is free and you don’t have to depend on website administrators for updates because you can update them yourself. As a media specialist I can see myself creating a wiki where I can post Pathfinders and Webquest for teachers and students to use when creating projects like the Decatur High wiki which I would consider a research guide wiki.
I really don’t see a big problem with a wiki being a “storage cabinet” if the purpose is to have accessibility to important files like Webquests , media center forms, etc. But if the purpose was for collaboration then the following elements must be present:
ü Genuine and strong interest for the topic
ü For a classroom wiki, incentives such as participation grades or extra credit when students contribute information of value
ü For a school media center, teachers must have access and permission to post to the wiki
Lastly, I really tried to think of some drawbacks to wikis for media centers and I really could not think of anything. Please respond to this post with your opinions and any drawbacks that you may know of.
~Malena
2 comments:
Malena,
If you use the guidelines for a wiki in the media center, I think a wiki would be great. I like your idea of using a participation grade as an incentive for extra credit in the classroom. This would motivate students to learn what the class is studying as well as new technology. I also think it is a good idea to require access permission for the teachers on a school wiki.
Malena -
I really appreciate your very positive spin on wikis use. If opportunity permits, you will see from my blog posting that I am not a huge fan of them primarily because they can be edited by anyone. However, I do feel that with proper checks and balances in place they can be useful tools and to your point, they are free. As we discussed in our online debate, I champion just about anything not requiring website administrators, so thank you for raising that point.
While I am a bit jaded by wikis now, I retain hope that I will find them as useful and inviting as some of our peers do by semester's end.
Best,
Jami
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