Wiki for the Left Brained

While I am known in my district as "that podcast guy" the Web 2.0 tools I like the most are wikis. The ability to create a web page quickly that allows others to edit is like a dream come true for teachers who want to do collaborative projects but not sure how to spread out the credit for participation in completing the project. There is always one or two groups where one person does most of the work while the rest sit back and take credit. Good wikis allow people to see a history of a page's development with who has done particular edits to a page.

PBWiki has become popular because of its ease of use and its word processor-like wysiwyg interface. Now there is a new wiki for the more random, left-brain, creative types: PikiWiki. PikiWiki is like doing a scrapbook, you start with a blank sheet then paste text, pictures, video, audio anywhere on the page. Each item on the page is like a note. If you don't like the look of your page you can slide the notes around to suit you. There are also tools to help you with the alignment of your items. The concept is good and should prove popular to teachers who embrace wikis as classroom tools. Click here for a sample page I put together using PikiWiki.

Keep in mind, PikiWiki is in a public alpha which means this wiki site is just getting started and still has bugs to work out. One problem is the site does not show the page history which shows page comparisons detailing the evolution of a page. Since you cannot see the page comparisons, you cannot restore an earlier version of the page if someone attempts to sabotage the page (we all know students who might try this). Once the kinks are worked out of the system, the people of the PikiWiki told me they will, PikiWiki should become a great tool for teachers and students.

A Lesson Plan Wiki

As I was reading a Wired story on the top online educational resources one site intrigued me. Curriciki.org is a site that has been around for a while but with a new face. Formally known as the Education and Learning Community created by Sun Microsystems, the site continues to be a site where teachers can share and collaborate on best teaching practices.

The site hosts lesson plans members (membership is free) have uploaded. Since the site is a wiki this means other members can contribute ideas to strengthen these lesson plans. There is a review process in place lead by a team of experts in the fields of technology and education to ensure content is valid.

This would be a great site to visit for any new teacher looking for ideas in lesson planning. Veteran teachers could also benefit from this site to get fresh perspectives on a variety of subjects and provide input on this process. When I was going through teacher education in graduate school, a professor told me that teachers need to be good thieves of ideas from other teachers. While that may be one way of looking at it, this site should remind us that we should also be good sharers of ideas. If you use this site, make sure you eventually give back

Intel to package tools for collaboration

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Think of it as Wikipedia for the workplace. Intel Corp., the world's largest computer chip maker, now wants to provide businesses with software to create blogging, wiki and news feed services to connect employees on collaborative projects.

Here is an article I viewed the other day about how Intel is going to offer a suite of Web 2.0 tools geared toward small and large businesses. The idea is for employees to connect and work on projects collaboratively. This is further proof that more and more applications are moving towards the web and businesses are using the interactive web to increase productivity. Students in our schools should be shown how Web 2.0 tools are used in a working environment to produce real results and not these tools shut off because something offensive might be posted. By shutting out bloging, wiki, podcast, and photo sites such as Flickr or Photobucket we are actually building a wall around ourselves and choose not to see what our students are actually doing, without supervision. We need to work with students to show them how to use Web 2.0 tools responsibly as well as productively.