Want to wiki?

So what is a wiki?  A wiki is similar to a blog, though it is collaborative.  Ever used Google docs to share the responsibility of writing a paper (I am a big fan of this, rather than e-mailing bits and pieces back and forth)?  Well a wiki works similarly, but you can have multiple pages, and you can see who wrote what, and when.  Then, if need be you can revert back to an older copy of the wiki if you don't like the changes that were made.  A wiki can be marked public or private.  It can be an invaluable resource of knowledge.  Have you ever used Wikipedia?  It's only the world's largest encyclopedia, and comes up as the first choice on many search results.  Wikipedia's goal is to be the sum of all human knowledge.  So far I think they are doing a pretty great job.  You can even add to it too, but beware.  They are very timely at spotting and erasing content that is false.  I am currently working on a wiki with some of my classmates.  It's an advocacy group for using technology effectively in classrooms.  I'll share more on that once we have more contained within it.  What I will say is that it's great that we can work on it simultaneously whether in the same room or forty miles apart.

I'll soon be developing a lesson for using a wiki in the classroom.  Why use one with students?  Well other than being collaborative, its a great way to teach them about open-source software and public domain.  And as mentioned previously its a great tool for just-in-time learning.  Students can log in to add their thoughts and information anytime, anywhere.   Have you ever used a wiki with students be it creating one for them to use or having them create their own?