Chapter 4

Chapter 4  Wikis – Easy Collaboration for All- Mary Guerino

            First, I was surprised about how Wikipedia.org works.  That it is a collaborative source of information for everyone to view and edit.  A surprising concept for someone who has not grown up in the technology age but has reluctantly accepted that it is here to stay and I better learn how to use it appropriately for myself and students. I do like the author’s philosophy that “everyone together is smarter than anyone alone…and that each entry is the group’s best effort, not any one person’s.” Another thing that I was unaware of was the different uses it can be used for in the world at large. The examples given of how Disney, the city of Rochester and the Star Trek wikis were developed and being used were eye opening.  Getting our students to accept  a “world where everyone has access to ideas and where collaboration is the expectation rather than the exception “ is a definite shift from the American dream of yesteryear when we valued the entrepreneur and is ability to develop his concept in a vacuum.

It left me wondering if Gustavo Albin Whitehead,an aviation pioneer, who emigrated from Germany to the US and claims to have flown before the Wright brothers would have been given credit for his contribution and perhaps have helped the initial design of the Wright brothers plane.

      The World is Flat example of how an educational wiki can be developed to encompass a global feature was very interesting.  Most of the other examples for educational purposes involved middle or high –school students.  The question I have for myself is: Can this be used for elementary students and when would it be appropriate? Is there a piece of my curriculum where the children can work collaboratively to create an information wiki that could be shared?