Harnessing the power of the Wiki

The word “wiki” always sounded to me like a bizarre technoterm, possibly derived from some obscure, and now defunct, acronym. That is until recently, when a co-worker from Hawaii informed me that “wiki-wiki” means “quick” in Hawaiian and refers to an airport shuttle in the islands that takes travelers to and from the gates.

Of course, by now, most of us know that wiki refers to a website that quickly allows users to edit or add content, track those who make changes and allow revisions to previous versions. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine what life was like before Wikipedia.

What I didn’t know, however, was how useful internet wikis can be in spreading information and best practices in teaching, specifically in the realm of science. According to Education Week, in the last three years, there has been an enormous increase of wiki use in K-12 education, which is now allowing teachers to synchronize their lesson plans and offer suggestions.

“It’s about communicating with science teachers,” says Michael Horton, a science coordinator in Riverside, Calif. “I was training some teachers talking about professional learning communities, and a person said, ‘I wish there was a blog where we could discuss that.’ Thirty seconds later, I had created a place on my wiki to do that.”

Horton’s wiki offers science teachers access to free classroom materials and he insists that you don’t have to be a tech wiz to create your own using free-for-teachers technology like Wikispaces.

What I found most exciting about the use of wikis in the classroom was the added ability for teachers to monitor and ensure that all students participate in class projects.

“Wikis … allow you to get 100 percent participation,” says Vicki Davis, a computer sciences teacher and information-technology director in Camilla, Ga. “Your team may have created the greatest wiki in the world, but if your user ID hasn’t contributed, then you get a zero. It eliminates the bottom-feeders of projects—the student who kicks back and lets all the other kids do the work.” Thank goodness!

Some Washington educators already have begun to use wikis in their training and work and many courses at the University of Washington now require students to use wikis on collaborative projects. Looks like “wiki” has long ceased to be a term reserved for Hawaiians or the tech community. This technology breakthrough is here to stay.