Wikis

Wikispaces (wikispaces.com)

This website is a wiki that is specifically made for educators to use with their classroom. It is free for both teachers and students and has privacy settings for the teacher to monitor who is posting and what they are posting. It can be used for any class subject and at any level. The website is user friendly and has posts and videos on how to use the features in the site.

Wikis are more than just a discussion board. The teacher can posts prompts, videos, links, pictures, and more for students to see and to respond to. It is a casual way for teachers and students to share. Wikis can be used during class time or for homework. If students do have access to computers at home, this is a great homework assignment for students to write, express opinions, and read what other students have to say. One great feature of the wiki is that the teacher can post assignments, update the class calendar, and post upcoming events. This is great for absent students to receive work and for parents to stay updated with class activities.

A wiki is a great tool for reaching the community standard. The class community is communicating to each other on the same site about the same topics. An assignment would be to have a topic posted by the teacher that students have to respond to, and then read other student post and respond. This can be an ongoing activity to get the students using the language and involved with their class. Once students get more comfortable with the wiki, they can begin posting videos, songs and links that they find. This is good for sharing pop culture of the target language and sharing things that teachers don’t always have time for in class.