Wikis

Hi everybody! My technology is the wiki. The website that I recommend is http://www.mesquiteisd.org/library/smith and then click on the word "wiki". The B. J. Smith Elementary Library in Mesquite, Texas uses a library wiki to bring information to staff, teachers and students. The wiki has library sign up information, a library survey on the library environment, teacher and student book suggestions for the library and for pleasure reading, staff development information for teachers and grade level research information from students.

I think that this wiki is very user friendly and a great idea to draw people to the library page. I would use this page for science fair information because I currently teach at a Math and Science Institute. Science fair rules, examples of excellent projects, websites for science fair ideas and helpful hints for science fair would all be much appreciated on a Math and Science wiki.

I'll be coming back to the Smith Elementary library site quite often. I think that it's an example of an excellent site. Thanks, Elizabeth Richmond

McCulloch Library in the Upper School @ MICDSD

http://mcculloch.micdslibrary.com/

As evidenced by the existence of this wikispaces page, the wiki is set to provide students, teachers, and librarians in schools with a way to collaborate. The old saying "two heads are better than one" describes this idea well. While certain wikis, the names of which will remain anonymous, may suffer from issues of validity, wikis generally reign in the area of democracy, as the idea of collaboration does not suffer when put to the test, unlike the soup in the kitchen with too many chefs. For my favorite example of a way in which a library website wiki might be used, I have chosen the McCulloch Library. This wiki is helpful and informative for the students, offering tips about citation for MLA to include links to outside sites and numerous examples for students to use. Additionally, the McCulloch Library's wiki offers students endless topics to peruse, from art history to a Web site evaluation checklist. Most of the pages are jumping off points, much like a blog article with thoughts on the issue and links that will get students to look at outside sources of information. For example, the book review page offers links to the Ebsco Newspaper Source and The New York Times Book Review, among others. The McCulloch Library wiki invites others to join on its main page. However, not having made an attempt to join, I am not aware of the difficulties, if any, of attaining membership. It is my hope that joining the McCulloch Library wiki is not too difficult, as that would limit the value of the collaborative potential of the wiki.

In my view, the McCulloch Library wiki is very informative, inspiring and inviting to students. It appears that the library site is geared towards the students, which I think is an effective strategy for getting them involved. The wiki is only a small part of what is available for the visitor to the McCulloch Library's virtual home, but I think that its value as a reference and jumping off point for students is immense. For those others who will be viewing this post, I hope that you will find the McCulloch Library wiki and site to be as valuable and inspiring as I have.

As to how I would choose to create a library wiki of my own, I would try and make it a bit of a reference tool and jumping off point for students, much like the librarian of McColluch Library did, as I found it to be quite meaningful and relevant. I would, similar to the creator is the McColluch Library wiki, make many pages on various topics that would be informative and enlightening for students. While the creator of this wiki did not choose to do so, it would be possible to create a wiki for student book reviews, which would be great for getting students actually involved, as they could comment and make reviews for themselves! Another idea would be to create a teacher and librarian collaborative wiki that would touch on different technologies they had come across in their daily jaunts on the Web. The teacher and librarian collaborative wiki could have separated by grade levels and/or subject matter relevance. Truly, the possibilities are endless for the wiki-creator, which makes the wiki a fun and challenging project for all librarians.

Darlene McPeek

Wikispaces

http://springfieldlibrary.wikispaces.com/ The Springfield Township High School Library has taken their traditional website and turned it into a virtual site by creating an alternative wikispace site. The site is really great. They have up-to-date information for the whole library. They still have the links to other resources on the left of the wiki.

Making the library website into a wiki would be a great advantage for librarians. If our library site had an alternative wiki that was like our traditional website, it would allow others to help the library with constant updates to school events and news. Librarians could maintain the blogs, news, library schedules, and other resources with the help of other staff members and even students. Posting current pictures from recent events could be done by the yearbook staff. The news could be updated by the broadcasting staff. Different school organizations could be responsible for different parts of the wiki. Teachers could create their own section on the wiki and be able to update the information daily, rather than relying on the librarians to find time to do it. It provides a great tool for school collaboration.

Sarah Embrey

Wikis http://kids-book-club.wikispaces.com/ This website provides an example of a collaborative digital book club Wiki through which teachers and librarians can share books and reading activities with students. The Wiki also provides for students’ opinions on books they’ve read. Additionally, the Wiki incorporates teaching activities, printables, book videos and links to sites for extending students’ learning.

In a library setting, I’d like to use a Wiki’s virtual space to teach students //about// Wikis and how to use them. I could show students how to write stories, work on research projects together, utilize email and create discussion pages via a Wiki.

Marie Inglat

Wikis

[|http://villagewiki.pbworks.com]

The library wiki page includes pod cast which classes have created. The librarian has information about the units of study grade levels are working on. There is a link with instructions for students to create book trailers. There is a link for games and book reviews. The home page has a picture of the school.

The village library wiki is a good example of wiki technology. In a library wiki, I would list recent arrival books available to students. These books would have book introductions with them. A calendar could also be put on your library wiki showing events happening not only in the libaray but include the whole school. A book club could be integrated into the wiki. Students read the book and write comments on the wiki page. Student writing with pictures would be a way to have the whole school involved. The wiki page could be the patron’s introduction to the library with hours of operation, recommended book list for different ages, a tour of the library, and a resource list for research.

Melissa Orwig

Wikis http://tlsmediacenter.wikispaces.com/ This library wiki page for Trinity Church and Lutheran School is awesome! The homepage is set up using Glogster, of which I am a huge fan. There are links for catalog searching, tools. projects. media center and many other important links. I really appreciate the quickness in which the page was loaded and the appealing buttons for each link. On the navigation side of the screen, there are sections for different blogs and a teacher reference to creating their own wiki. Cool!

As far as my own library setting, I would love to use a wiki in a very similar scenario as the one above. I believe that I have enough technical background or have the knack to learn to maintain a self-supported wiki. Obviously, it would be great for its members to contribute and add information, but I am not expecting too much participation. I would like to have it provide students with an easier way of searching for books and then allowing them to other similar books and links that might pique their interest. A teacher book club would be run from the wiki, hopefully encouraging teacher participation in new technology and then students creating their own or vice versa. I would also like to have a learning center for students and teachers to learn how to create and maintain a wiki and appropriate wiki etiquette. Also, I would like to aide students in locating research materials by allowing them to search using their own words, not what traditional academia require; my hope being that students aren't too turned off by research papers and can see how wonderful it is to search for even "boring stuff".My last suggestion for the time being, would be to have a library home page with a calendar with appropriate holidays, perhaps linking to other resources, and basic information concerning the library and school. Whew. I think my ideas are flying out of my head-I hope that I can keep up and use them in the future.

Sara Fitzpatrick

Wikis []

Book reviews and podcasts for teens and young adults

This wiki is an educational wiki. This technology has been used in the school library setting by students. They use this wiki to review books and to download podcasts of books. The patron can pick the genre, whether it is graphic novels, history, biographies, romance, mysteries, etc. Once this is chosen, they enter their name on the review, their state, and the title of the book and author. They also include a 4-5 sentence book review that usually entices the audience to read the book.

This wiki is great for the general student body to use. A wiki can also be used in the classroom in a slightly different way. Since I currently teach World Geography, I would focus a wiki on the subject of Geography. One example of a Geography wiki is found at http://exploringgeography.wikispaces.com/. This wiki has classroom notices, assignments, sample essays, games, videos and quizzes related to Geography. It also has many other media and materials that supplement the curriculum, which in turn, supports the student in learning more about Geography outside the classroom walls. I would also add other things related to the course like the current unit calendar, class notes, reviews for tests, and related websites that would assist the students in their research projects.

Trenna Brooks

dhs.wikispaces.com The school library wiki that I have chosen to share is the Decatur High School Library Wiki at dhs.wikispaces.com. I really like this wiki because it is really easy to follow. It has two main parts on its home page: Research and Pathfinders. Under Research, it lists 5 categories: Find Articles and Resources, Find Books, MLA Citations, Test Practice, and Teacher Resources. Each of these categories has subcategories that have links to websites that can serve as resources to students. For example, Articles and Resources has a Reference sub category with links to encyclopedias, almanacs, dictionaries, and atlases. The MLA Citation Category has links to different sites that explain and help to cite in MLA format. The Pathfinders part of the wiki is divided into different subject areas. Each subject has different links to topics assigned by teachers in those departments. For example, the Health/P.E. category has STDs as a topic. This has links to many books, articles, and websites on STDs. The wiki also has summer reading information, links to resources for teachers and links on how to write research papers. This library wiki is very user friendly. It allows students to quickly find what they need and to add examples of assignments they have completed.

In addition to the applications of this wiki in a high school setting, I would add several things. One would be a This Day in History link with a list of books found in the library about the specific topic/event mentioned on that day. For example: "On this day in history 1941, Japan attacked US ships in Pearl Harbor...I would then list any books found in the library about the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Something else that I would include on the wiki would be student book reviews and teacher book reviews. Students and teachers would be allowed to write reviews on books they recently read and enjoyed. They could also tell what other books they recommend if you like this particular book or author.

Marina Estrada