Thing # 15.

For this assignment we were asked to explore the world of Wikis! All through high school and college, I referred to Wikipedia as a first source for a subject. I often times use it for definitions or quick things I need to look up on the Internet. However, in college, I was always told Wikipedia was not considered a scholarly source. Until I understand what a wiki actually was, I never understand this statement we received from professors! Until this exercise, I had no idea that anyone could go into a wiki to add, change, or delete information! The idea is phenomenal, but I can understand where the information from another college student or person posted to Wikipedia wouldn't be considered scholarly!

I think the concept of Wiki's are wonderful! I like that people can add, change, or delete information all with a simple click! However, I do think they need to be more controlled, especially to avoid wrong information or spam being posted on them. I am one of those people who if they read something online, I believe it to be true for the most part, especially in relation to subject matter. However, with Wiki's, I can see how what people post is not always 100% informative or correct.

I can see using a Wiki several ways in a classroom. I think it would be a great place for a teacher to make a website to post important links, homework assignments, upcoming assignments, etc. I think because the creator doesn't have to have knowledge of html cod to design a web page, this is a wonderful tool teachers could take advantage of!

I became a member of wikispaces and found that you can search for wikis. I searched for chemistry and found several high school teachers that had public open wikis but posted homework and links on them for their students! Here is an example:
Example chemistry wiki. I think this is wonderful that the teacher wants students to post ideas and things that they think would help other students understand the concepts of what they are learning! I would LOVE to create one of these for my students in my class.