Classroom Wikis and Professional Portfolios

It is a "best practice" for classroom teachers today to use a website as a learning portal for links and resources related to class studies. In this learning module we'll learn the difference between blogs and wikis, explore examples of K-12 exemplary classroom wikis and professional portfolios, as well as tools for creating educational wikis.

Definitions

• 1. Blog: A website which includes time/date-stamped entries, usually displayed in chronological order with most recent posts shown first. (WikiPedia definition)

  2. Wiki: A website which can be quickly edited using a web browser and login credentials. Special webpage editing software is NOT required. (WikiPedia definition) Think of a wiki as an online document which can be created independently (like this website) or collaboratively (like WikiPedia)

Questions?

• 1. Where is your classroom's interactive portal? (communication tools)

  2. How are you defining your professional digital footprint? - Reputation Management and Social Media (26 May 2010 PEW Research)

Exemplary, Interactive Classroom Wikis (Learning Portals)

• 1. Maria Knee: Classroom blog and wiki (Kindergarten teacher, Deerfield, NH, USA - Twitter @mariak) - more about Maria and her classroom!

  2. Rachel Boyd: Classroom wiki (Principal/Head, 6-7 year old teacher last year, New Zealand - Twitter @rachelboyd) - Rachel's K12Online09 keynote!

  3. Eric Langhorst: Professional and Classroom blog (8th grade US History teacher, Liberty, MO, USA - Twitter: ELanghorst)

  4. Darren Kuropatwa: Scribe Post Hall of Fame (High School Calculus/Pre-Calculus Teacher, Math Department Chair, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)

  5. Wiki of Yarmouth High School biology teacher, Julie Raines, (video with more background on Yarmouth 1:1 available)

Exemplary Professional Portfolios (by educators, using wikis)

• 1. Rachel Boyd (with WikiSpaces, New Zealand)

  2. Andrea Smith (with Weebly, Taiwan)

  3. Tom Barrett (with Flavors, the United Kingdom)

Platform Options for Wikis

• 1. WikiSpaces for Educators (free and ad-free)

  2. Google Sites (free and ad-free)

1. PBWorks

2. Weebly

3. Flavors.me

   1. Glogster can be used to add multimedia content to your wiki. (It can serve as your website, or you can embed Glogs into other websites)

4. MediaWiki

   2. 1. Free and open-source, but must be hosted on a server you rent or your school provides

      2. Examples:

      3. WikiPedia

      4. Storychasers Wiki

      5. Teaching Children Philosophy

More Resources

See Joyce Valenza's outstanding resource page for "Wikis" on her New Tools Workshop wiki.

Content for this resource page was adapted from "Share Your Ideas: Platforms for Publishing" by Wesley Fryer.