What+is+a+Wiki?

=This is a wiki! =  A wiki is a website which can be edited by more than one user. The owner can allow friends, students, colleagues or even the whole world to create pages, change content or add information. [|Wikipedia] is the best example of a wiki site, obviously, but more and more educationalists are understanding the value of this "Web2.0" tool.

Educational uses of wikis
 > 
 * Students to be assigned topics and to work in pairs or groups to create pages. As the wiki is online, further independent learning can take place outside of the classroom.
 * Articles containing deliberate errors can be edited by students to produce correct versions - aiding not just literacy and grammar but source evaluation skills and researching techniques.
 * 'Boring' text-only pages can be formatted by students to include images, paragraphing, headings and tables, linking into the ICT NC requirements and improving confidence.
 * 'Grown-up' web pages or articles from sites like Wikipedia can be pasted in and adapted by students for different audiences e.g. primary school children.
 * Class pages can be created to foster collective responsibility and 'ownership' of lesson outcomes. Inter-group competitiveness could develop this.

Wouldn't it be vandalised or deleted by silly students?
 
 * Like any display work or group activity, this is of course a possibility. However by clicking on the 'History' tab at the top of the article, all changes to a page are viewable. The wiki's editing facility can be set to members-only.
 * Collaborative editing and collective responsibility for student pages fosters an ethos of self-policing, however if needs be users can be blocked from editing or banned.

Discussion skills
<span style="background-color: #dff1f0; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">
 * <span style="background-color: #dff1f0; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Each page has a 'Discussion' tab in which editors can debate and discuss the content. This has obvious benefits in allowing students to make positive contributions to work produced together. Students who may not feel confident in speaking aloud in class can find a 'voice' by contributing in this format.