Thing # 8: What in the World is a Wiki?

When I first started on Thing 8 in regards to Wiki's, I remembered an old 80's or 90's song that used the term "wiki, wiki, wiki." I am sure that their definition of "wiki" was not the same definition. I just remember scratching my head and wondering "what is all that about?"

Not knowing what to expect, I went to the first wiki FHS Wolves Den and was presently surprised. I thought that she had a variety of things that you could investigate as a teacher or a student. She listed her "top ten list of the most interesting things on this wiki, which really peaked my interest. I went as far as to check out her professional wiki My Professional Wiki. I am not sure what the whole "web wardrobe" was about and didn't even dare check it out for fear that I would get side tracked. Even though I liked this wiki, I felt that it had way too many choices to be able to choose from.

Since I am from Germany,I checked out the Holocaust Wiki Project. The students were asked to write branching stories" about families in the Holocaust. "They have to come up with realistic decision points, describe the pros and cons, address the consequences of each decision, and fill it in with a narrative that reflects their research on the Holocaust." It makes the students be responsible for their learning about the Holocaust. Even though the wiki had not been updated since 2006, there was a lot of useful information that students could check out that were written by students in language they would understand. The site was very simple and easy to navigate.

The last wiki that I checked out Salute to Seuss was just for fun. I teach high school students and they still enjoy hearing a Dr. Seuss book from time to time. I have never met anyone who didn't like Dr. Seuss and his books and would be highly surprised if I did. The students did a great job with illustrating the book and it brought back a lot of memories of when I was a kid and read these great books.

I am not sure if a having a "wiki" is in my future or not. At the moment, I am just excited that I have a blog and have expanded my technology horizons a little. I will have to do a little more exploring of the other wikis that were listed in order to make my decision.