Teacher Collaboration Using Wikis

While this article is not directed specifically towards teachers, I thought the STOLEN acronym for expectations of a collaborative online wiki was helpful, as well as the rubric. There are several "real-life" examples of teachers using wikis that might also spark interest in wiki use in general.

ASCD is a well-respected professional organization that tends to produce high-quality articles. This is no exception. In this article, several "big ideas" about professional learning communities are presented. These "big ideas" really simplify the idea behind a PLC, which is what the online wiki is all about.

I found this article intriguing because it is focused on the creation and early stages of development of PLCs. Many of the other resources talk about implementation of existing PLCs, but this one is good for people who are just starting out. We have mostly established PLCs, but we've had a lot of staff changes this year, so it might be a good review for the new groups.

Common Craft videos do an excellent job of explaining complex ideas in simple ways. This video lays out the basic concepts of a wiki in a way that is entertaining, yet informative.

Nice, short video from two different principals talking about the benefits of having teachers that collaborate. They are both nice but do not mince words--teachers will appreciate that. They have very good things to say about the importance of collaboration between teachers.

A nice overview of the basics and suggested uses for wikis. I liked this particular list because the advantages are clearly defined and would be appealing to any teacher.

This well-written article talks about some of the business applications of wikis. They discuss a potential downside of wikis--vandalism--but mostly show how business have been using wikis as a low-cost collaboration solution.

A lengthy review of collaboration in schools. Their example of an urban school with some student issues will make many teachers feel right at home, and their collaborative and innovative solutions will inspire and motivate teachers to work together to solve common problems.

A lighthearted and too-true satire of "bad collaboration" meetings--it's in the list because it's funny, but it might also catch the attention of teachers who act like that in some of our collaborative meetings.

The opposite of the previous video, this is a short example of what a productive and quality PLC meeting should look like. I am hoping our teachers will transfer these behaviors to the internet when we create our online communities next month.

I loved this video because it shows what collaboration looks like in action. These teachers are using wikis to help themselves (and ultimately, their students) achieve at higher levels by working together to plan lessons and find resources. In addition, they're sharing the work, which lightens the load on everyone, and saving their work to the wiki makes it easy to reuse in the future.