WIKI

Introduction
There are many kinds of wikis that are being used in Educational and Business settings. Wikis can be set so that anyone can edit and have access to the wiki or they can be set as private. Only those that are invited can come and edit the wiki. Wikis are of great value for learners to write, share, and discuss. Wikis come in many shapes, colors and sizes. An instructor can choose the wiki program that best suits the class, situation, and topic to be discussed or posted. It does take some time on the part of both the learners and the instructor to practice using a wiki before it becomes part of a class project. Once the bumps have been smoothed out, everyone can "wiki away". Instructors need to caution their learners to reference the information that they find in wikis to assure that they have the correct information. _______________________________________________________________________________________________

The WIKI will be used as a class page where the students can get their homework assignments, participate in discussions, post their summaries, and communicate with the teacher. The teacher will use the wiki as a tracking tool to check and see how often the students have accessed the site. Announcements will also be posted by the instructor.

Benefits
Wikis allow learners to see each other's work. This allows them to learn from each other. Some learners who work alone don't do as well because they don't have a model to work with. When they can see each other's work, they can compare their writing to the others and make changes when necessary. Learners can enter into discussions with each other. They learn how to negotiate in a constructive way. Learners are in charge of what they are learning. Wikis encourage learners to investigate and research and then post their findings.

Learners who are shy in the classroom can show what they know on a wiki without being thought of a the class know-it-all or the class dummy. Learners are created equal on a wiki. Learners can also practice writing, spelling, and typing skills by posting their work on a wiki. A wiki does not require a special knowledge of "markup" language. The wiki is a WIZIWIG (What I see is what I get). The words show up just the way they were typed. Wikis can be monitored and it is easy to see who has not contributed and who has.

Many wikis, such as this one, have "widgets" that can be included in the wiki. These "widgets" include videos, slide shows, RSS feeds, table of contents, calendars and many, many more applications.

Challenges
Instructors must motivate the learners to use the wiki. Motivation comes when the tasks are designed to challenge the learners in a constructive way. In order for the wiki to work, both the instructor and the learner have to understand how to use it to its fullest capacity. When I first started using a wiki, I was a little lost. It takes time to explore all of the components a wiki offers. Wikis can get "messy" sometimes. Instructors will monitor the pages and see something that is not suppose to be there.

Application
Learners in the ESL/EFL Teacher Education Certificate class will use the wiki to post their reflections, questions and their final game project.

Objective based on Bloom's Taxonomy: Synthesis
Using templates found on the Internet sites referenced by the instructor ,Learners will create one grammar game and one vocabulary game and post them on the class wiki page. A rubric will be provided listing the necessary components.

[|Benefits of using wikis in the classroom] [|Ten Best Practices for using wikis in the classroom] [|Three Challenges Using a wiki]
 * References**