I have so many thoughts about the wiki and how it can be beneficial for the students, teachers, schools and districts. It seems to be a bit overwhelming! Wikis are a means of giving students the opportunity to author in a collaborative environment. Benefits from this collaboration range from learning from others to developing higher order thinking skills. I also believe that ease of use is a benefit worth mentioning. One aspect that caught my attention while researching is the collaborative textbooks. As the media specialists at Jordan I have also been given the job of textbook manager. This can be a full time job, itself! California has begun an initiative to create online textbooks using wiki software. This initiative is known as the California Open Source Textbook Project (COSTP). COSTP will save California time and money.The founder of the project contends that most of the information in K-12 textbooks is in the public domain. The project aims to help California slash its $400 million dollar textbook budget.The founder of the project contends that most of the information in K-12 textbooks is in the public domain. The project aims to help California slash its $400 million dollar textbook budget.
There are two drawbacks that I feel are worth mentioning. One is that users can modify the content of a wiki. Modifying means adding, editing or even deleting material. Another drawback is the amount of time necessary for monitoring and/or updating the content.
Visit the following wikis for highlights:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/presentation+tools
Wow for the Wiki! Wikis are a powerful yet flexible collaborative communication tool for educators and beyond.
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The COSTP initiative is interesting. I think it will be worth our time to watch what happens in California with this. I can see how textbooks are becoming a burden to counties, especially with the budget issues. In my county we were supposed to get a new reading series last year but did not because of the budget issue. Supposedly, we will get a new one this year but the budget is even tighter now so I do not forsee us getting a new series. Online or open source textbooks could be not only beneficial for students but cost-effective for local school systems. I will be watching out for California's initiative from now on.
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine that you are also the textbook manager at your school!!! They surely didn't cover that in library school!! We have an ILS whose sole job is to manage the curriculum and textbooks. I hope you have a full-time media clerk!!! That was interesting to learn that California is going to textbooks using wiki software. it does make good sense I suppose. The times they are a changin'.
ReplyDeleteLike you I am a little overwhelmed by all this wiki stuff but am coming to find that the more I look into it and think about it, the more I realize it really is a great tool. The one thing I noted about the Decatur High wiki was that the media specialist does a wonderful job of keeping the wiki updated on her end but that there has only been 3 response discussions posted (2 in 2008, 1 in 2009, and 1 in 2010). I wonder if these wikis don't find themselves being one way streets, which I know is not their intention.
The media specialist had posted a link to using copyright safe materials, which if you didn't get a chance to take a look at is amazing as all the resources for copyright-friendly images and sound for use in media webpages, wikis, and blogs can all be found in one place.
It is definitely one to bookmark.
I too will be watching the California issue with the textbooks. I think it is an interesting prospect for all schools to consider with budget issues being what they are. That money can be better spent providing resources for teachers to meet the GPS standards, perhaps through a wiki. I teach in Henry County and we are being encouraged to get away from the textbooks. We have adopted a standards based report card that closely aligns with the GPS. As a result, we are finding that to really meet the standards we are moving away from textbooks and into more hands-on activity. We are moving away from the worksheets that go with the textbook series, and using more library books to introduce units. we are assessing more with performance tasks. Our report card is being adopted by one grade level each year. I happen to be in the group (second grade) that adopted this year. Parents do not get averaged grades on the report card. They are given a rubric at the beginning of the year and the report cards have numbers (1, 2, 3, 4) that correspond with where the student is in meeting each standard. For example, a 3 means meeting standards consistently. So, maybe even textbooks on the wiki is not a good choice for Henry County, because the textbooks we have now are sitting on the shelf collecting dust. Maybe the wiki could be resources to help the teachers meet the standards (lesson plans, lists of library books that teach to the standard, performance tasks ideas, etc.). Georgia is already providing lesson plan ideas on the frameworks part of their website - very hands-on and performanced based. Maybe a wiki where all teachers could contribute ideas might be a better choice for us.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I think you are amazing to be able to be a Media Specialist and text book coordinator. I am in a school with an enrollment of about 1000 students. We have three administrators and the AA is out text book coordinator. Of course she delegates a representative from each grade level to be responsible for the books in those grades, so more than one person shares the work load. It is very interesting how different schools manage themselves.
ReplyDeleteTextbook wikis are an innovative way to present curriculum. I love the idea because I have always been appalled at the cost of textbooks. In an effort to keep the curriculum fresh, my county has brought each discipline up for review every few years and it seems to me that we are spending a lot of money on materials that are either unnecessary or that we already have from previous adoptions. I would love for that money to be spent on qualified personnel to find quality, authoritative resources from various genres (electronic, print, wikis, web sites, etc.) to match to the standards, and then present those to us the teachers, to execute in our own ways.
Dang, girl, you have your hands full. I've been watching the California adoption with interest as well--we could save millions of dollars by using a textbook wiki.
ReplyDeleteWhat interested me the most in your post was the fact that you discuss using the wiki for collaborative work, especially among students. This has been my sticking point--so many wikis out there are not flexible documents. They are warehouses for materials, a glorified web page. For a wiki to be true to its nature, it needs creators AND consumers of content. That's why Wikipedia is so huge. People who care deeply about a topic share their expertise (What I Know Is), and others can correct or add to the content. Your post has made me seriously consider doing a wiki as a group project for research. Many students have chosen to work on the same topic (distracted driving is a popular topic). Maybe they can post their notes and develop a group paper as a result. Hmmm. Maybe using this for our upcoming nonfiction unit or for another research piece.
Thanks for making me think, Ms. Bolles!
I found this to be very interesting news! I am certain there would be many benefits to having online wiki texts! Being the only fifth grade Reading/ELA teacher, I serve 60 students of various levels. I have a massive amount of materials that are housed in my classroom but not used on a daily basis per say. It is a very confusing system that I have created for my own peace of mind! :) Also, I have issues with students who move into and out of my class without the materials they need. The wiki would enable not only students, but, parents, mentors and substitutes the ability to access the needed materials. I will be very interested in how this works out.
ReplyDeleteI can’t imagine that the textbook publishers aren’t already leaning forward on eBook versions of their textbook, but perhaps not WIKIS unless there are controls put in for the editing and publishing, oops, then they aren’t Wikis anymore. And while the eBooks are great for individual paced studies and research, the practicality of eBook textbooks for classroom use I don’t see. Too many different reading skills, I really like the thought of using the Wiki as a discussion tool for group collaboration on the questions at the end of each textbook section. That would make for good group interaction and generate discussion.
ReplyDelete