Wikis & Writing

Use online tools for collaborative writing such as wikis. Use collaborative features such as editing, history, and discussion.

Old Way - Save, send, share, save, send, share... takes forever.

New Way - We all work together.

Explore Tools

Hot Choice - Wikispaces Teacher Page

1. Wikis - Wikispaces Teacher Page, PBWorks
2. Collaborative Word Processing - Google Docs and Zoho Writer
3. Collaborative Presentations - Google Docs
4. Collaborative Websites with Commenting - Google Sites
5. Collaborative Websites with Social lFeatures - WetPaint (ad-free for educator version), Writeboard, Webook

Design Projects

1. Collaborative Projects (i.e., Wikipedia, Wikimedia, Wikibooks, Wikijunior, Wikia, WikiTravel, Walk Across Utah)
2. Book or literature circle (i.e., Chocolate Books, The Wright 3, A Wiki of Unfortunate Events: Lemony Snicket (About), IPL's Teen Poetry Wiki)
3. Local or state interest (i.e., historical building, location, event, noteworthy person, oral history, Indiana (Historical Theatres of Indiana, Historical Preservation, Hoosier Music, Hoosier Round Barns, Indiana Artists)
4. Creative works (i.e., choose your own adventures, invented world, poetry, short stories, artwork, step-by-step instructions) (Greek Mythology, Unsolved Mysteries, Asian History, Free Verse Project, The Last Book)
   
5. Comparisons and Evaluations (i.e., then/now, what ifs, local/national/global parallel timelines, pros/cons, issues and perspectives, compare companies, reviews, critiques)
   
   For many more ideas, go to Wiki World and ReadWriteWiki.

Avoid Wrecks

1. Unique Content. Why recreate the Web? Focus on a unique topic to avoid "copy and paste" issues
2. Structure. An effective wiki makes good use of hyperlinks to connect information and ideas. One idea is linked to another so that people can see the forest and the trees.
3. Flexibility. Avoid starting a wiki with all the information in place. If it's complete, then why not just create web pages? Although structure is important, it must be balanced with the opportunity to expand and dig deeper into the content. Make use of the HISTORY option where you can trace each student addition.
4. Synergy. When a group of people work together toward a joint goal, the result is often bigger and better than when people work independently. Although wikis work fine with just a few people, larger projects require more committment by individual group members or a larger writing pool. Consider expanding your contributors by inviting some of the following people to join projects: different class periods, schools, or countries, different ages, varied perspective, different geographic areas, varied cultures, different academic fields.
5. Enthusiasm. Participants need to be passionate about the content or the project will quickly become a chore rather than a quest for knowledge. One way to maintain enthusiasm is through questioning. Consider some of the following questions as you worth through your wiki project:
   • What questions do we have about this topic?
   • What do we still need to learn?
   • Where can we go to collect more information?
   • What can we create ourselves?
   • What are different ways we can tell our story or share our information through text, visuals, audio, or other modes of communication?
   • How can we refine or expand what we have?

Learn more at my Wiki World workshop.

Pit Stop
Let's edit the Travel The USA! wiki!
Explore examples at Wiki World and ReadWriteWiki.
Create your own Wikispaces Teacher Page.

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