Why the heck didn't anyone ever explain to me what a wiki was? I have been building/hosting/managing websites since forever (well at least since the late 90's) and the world of wikis has just made my life a whole lot simplier! I can NOT imagine building another Sharepoint website for a school or classroom---NEVER!! The average classroom will love the freedom that wikis allow. School IT Directors have to love the fact that it's hosted somewhere else and they don't have to deal with that side of it. And teachers have the privilege/responsibility for the management.
I don't know about the school(s) that you work with, but several with which I'm involved still do NOT allow students to use email during school hours---and some don't allow teachers either. My mission this spring is to sit with the administrators of each and every one of those districts, review the state Technology Media standards and put together a proposal for their school boards that explains that students/teachers are expected to be able to able to communicate electronically. I suspect there will need to be a discussion about Gaggle email for kids too.
All that to say---that wikis are not intended to be internet bulletin boards of pretty sayings and cute crafts. They are designed to be POWERFUL collaboration, research and dissemination tools for students and teachers. If admins and boards have been reluctant to allow email---hopefully I can show them the power of e-communication through wikis. So go ahead---touch the WetPaint!
I wanted to thank you for the information you supplied about Gaggle.Net. I also wanted to let you know that Gaggle is developing wikis to be released in the next 6-12 months. We love to support educators who support us, so if you have any questions or need anything, don't hesitate to let us know.
ReplyDeleteSusan Kessler
Operations Manager
Gaggle.Net, Inc.
800-288-7750
susan@gaggle.net