Chapter 4 is about the interactive, collaborative tool wikkis. Wikipedia is the infamous example, and the one the book calls a “poster child for the collaborative construction of knowledge…[that] the interactive Web facilitates” (pg 57.) Wikipedia, however gets a bad reputation from teachers because students often try to cite it as a research resource. Because wikkis can be edited by anyone at anytime, it is understandable that teachers, as I did, doubt Wikipedia’s usefulness in the classroom. But, after understanding more about wikkis, I did get inspired for a wikki-related lesson plan that can teach students the proper use of these interactive tools.
The chapter listed many ideas for a wikki’s role in class like collaborating resources/lessons with other teachers, let students be the creators/manages and educate them on how to research with/ evaluate wikki content.
My idea is sparked from researching with wikkis. The book informs us that wikki’s are a common research tool because they have the summary of information from many sources. This is meant to be the point of a student research paper, therefore, it would be too easy for students plagiarize Wikipedia’s information. As a teacher, I want my students to consult a variety of sources, extracting the main points of each, and pulling them together into an organized research paper. After they finish, I can have them compare their results with the Wikipedia page about their topic. They can edit false information, or add more detail to the page. It's a great way for them to understand that Wikipedia can be helpful, but because the information can be altered so easily, they need to be cautious about the material on wikkis.
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