Saturday, October 6, 2007

WIKIS

I did a lot of reading this week for an online class I am taking through our district (one of the benefits of working for the 2nd largest school district in the country) and the focus this week was on WIKIs. I had previously used a WIKI created by someone else, but this is the first time I have thought seriously about creating my own. I have several ideas on how to use one as part of my job:
  • Use a WIKI to allow students in my room to work more cooperatively, which is a real challenge due to the setup of the room.
  • Use WIKIs to encourage more collaboration among my co-workers at school
  • Use WIKIs to improve interaction with the parents of my students
Unfortunately, many of the students in my school don't have computers or internet access at home, so we are limited in that regard. And we have a large Hispanic population (almost 50%), many of whose parents speak little or no English. Since my second language is French, not Spanish (I was almost born in France) I will need to figure out a way to better communicate with those parents as well.

As far as being concerned about either security or possible sabotage when using WIKIs, my readings this week convinced me that I can set up appropriate security if I decide we need it, and it appears that sabotage hasn't been much of a problem on WIKIs in general. Of course, since I've been successfully using an intranet or internet since 1980, I have a lot more faith in doing things that way. I do as much of my financial business as I possibly can on the internet, and I actually get upset when I have to write a check! And I do understand that this whole area can be intimidating to people who aren't as comfortable with the online world as I am.

3 comments:

Daniel Martinez said...

Go red soxs! Congrats on the great victory. I could also say I am a red sox fan. I traveled many times out there. Former girlfriend urg! lol. I love the city the people and the die hard boston fans. I took a tour of the stadium Fenway and i got to shake Lou Pinella hand. It was cool

Matt said...

I didn't realize we are the 2nd largest district. Who's the first? They must be pretty big, considering we stretch from San Pedro to the Valley!

Ms. Stern - Room 49 said...

The largest school district in New York City.