Wikis

 =The Wonderful World of Wikis: Applications for Libraries= [] This PowerPoint presentation was produced by Chad Boeninger from Ohio University and Starr Hoffman from our own University of North Texas. It was part of a series of workshops for a group called OPAL (Online Programming for Libraries), called [|Five Weeks to a Social Library]. A further list of other workshops is available [|here]. An audio file of this presentation is also available on that page. OPAL is an international training group that provides mostly free programming for libraries and librarians to train themselves on best practices and new techniques and technologies. "The Wonderful World of Wikis" describes the general uses of a wiki for libraries: internal communication, larger organizational communication, and for library users. For internal use, the wiki can serve as a vehicle for basic communication, reference questions, difficult questions, FAQ's, and library policies. Since generally there are very few people who work in a school library, it is more likely that you might create a wiki for the entire school team. For larger organizational use such as this, you can create a wiki to share library knowledge with other educators, reduce the use of the group and one-to-one email, and provide sets of FAQ's and policies to familiarize the rest of the school with what you do in the library. For students and parents, you can customize the page as needed, depending on curriculum, teacher ideas, such as research projects and the like, and a page of popular subjects that students are currently interested in. Boeninger also says that "popular pages" in the wiki can be used to gauge user interest in particular subjects, and determine whether there is a need not being served. Although this slide show has a lot of basic information, it is useful for a school librarian "in the trenches" who wants to start a wiki, and needs quick facts and ideas on how to do so for her library.  =Library Zone Wiki: http://libraryzone.wikispaces.com/=
 * By Julie Fitzgerald**

The **LibraryZone** is a wiki for Kowloon Junior School Library in Hong Kong. (I think ‘junior school’ in China may be similar to elementary school in U.S.) This space supports collaborative work by allowing young students to create and share information resources that range from student notes, to stories, to slide presentations, to podcasts. Librarians have created customized lists of resources for a range research projects along the left navigation bar of the wiki, including ‘The Weather Project,’ ‘All About Dinosaurs,’ ‘Lucky Ladybugs,’ and ‘Exploring Space.’ Students are actively using the wiki as evidenced by their comments and postings about their research projects in the discussion tab and the array of projects displayed for each area of research. The ‘Research Skills Tutorial’ provides simple and clear examples for choosing resources, using Internet search tools, website evaluation, taking notes and creating a presentation. PowerPoint presentations, Word, and PDF files offer valuable forms for citation, checklists to evaluate websites, and a demonstration of how to evaluate a website. Links to online quizzes are additional resources that support student researchers as well as teachers and parents at home. ** Using wikis in the educational setting: ** In schools, wikis provide excellent tools to accomplish so many things, so it's important to first determine the specific purpose(s) for creating one, and who the target users are. Then information and media is collected, and features are chosen and utilized that best support those goals. A wiki can be a place to provide home-school communication for parents, teachers, and students. Wikis can build and support the professional learning community within the school through extension of professional development for teachers who are working together, or as a place for curriculum resources, lesson plans, technology tools and support tips, among numerous other possibilities. For grade level teams, subject area departments, and professional learning communities, wikis can extend the conversation between face-to-face meetings. Since they can be made accessible beyond school hours, members can contribute from home (asynchronously). The more members who contribute, the greater resource the wiki becomes. Wikis can be also be used in conjunction with blogs and other Web2.0 resources through the addition of links.Wikis are excellent for student collaborative work of all kinds. Links and resources can be organized to support projects (like the LibraryZone example above) with calendars, syllabi, handouts and rubrics included. Projects made by students can be displayed, and peer review can occur. Dynamic discussion and sharing of responses to problem-based scenarios across the curriculum or to literature can be accomplished through wikis. An entire wiki could be devoted to the study of one particular novel or issue, or to simply a discussion of books read during the summer. Book clubs, discussion guides, book trailers, author websites, suggestions for books in genres of interest, reading promotion programs all can become potential powerful wiki content.
 * By Elizabeth Eastman**

=Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki=

[] This is a website for librarians. It is a non-profit site and is updated by librarians. There are sections such as management and leadership, readers' advisory, and technology among many others. This is good source for all librarians to have bookmarked. It is updated by librarians around the world so all the information is from a practitioner's point of view. There are practical tips, program ideas, and discussion groups. For example under Gaming there is this tip - If possible, using a projector screen for console play really gives that 'wow' feeling that most players don't get at home, and is useful for multi-player FPS matches that can look really small on TVs. Tips and practical information like this makes this wiki very useful for all librarians and particularly newbies like us. There are book lists of popular teen books, games, software and hardware requirements, current research, and lists of blogs. In an educational setting, particularly grade school, this site will be very useful because usually school libraries have very few staff. The librarian tends to do much of the work alone. This site puts all the information in one place and has it sorted and categorized.The librarian can go directly to the topic needed and find the information. It saves the librarian time and effort. Looking under 'Programs for teens and kids' I found 'Success stories'. There are examples of programs that worked. Such examples can be used in schools to achieve the same goals, or modified to suit specific needs. Practical information like this makes this a site all librarians should follow. Maya Jayakumar

Texas School Librarians' Wiki: http://txschoollibrarians.wikispaces.com/ **  An informative and interesting wiki started by a librarian in Texas. This wiki contains some information specific to Texas, such as book lists and the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), but most of the information is helpful for librarians in any location. There is a link called 30 in 30 that lists 30 great websites with the latest technology tools and ways they can be incorporated into the library and the classroom. Several of the technologies were new to me, but looked like they would be fantastic to use with students. The Behind the Scenes link is especially appropriate right now because it contains a checklist of library tasks to complete at the beginning of the school year. It contains a list for the end of the year as well. These lists would be great for a new librarian. A link titled Cameras provides several resources for using cameras in schools. Digital cameras are a resource many schools have and this area has some great lesson plans and ideas. The Net Gen link provides a bibliography of resources intended to help teach information literacy through the use of technology. Several of the resources were useful and interesting to read. The Templates link includes several templates that can be used in the library, such as newsletters and forms. The Traveling Trunks link is specific to Texas, but contains a long list of traveling trunks that can be used in the library or in classrooms. The trunks are available at little or no cost from some wonderful places like the Houston Holocaust Museum and Texas Parks and Wildlife. The Texas School Librarians' Wiki has many other links in addition to the links above. Some of the other links include book review sites, graphic novels, library advocacy, podcasting, and specials needs.
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The Texas Librarians' Wiki provides many helpful resources. Librarians can easily access these resources and can join the wiki to add their own resources. The site is an excellent example for other librarians who want to start a wiki. A wiki can be a wonderful resource, especially if others join and add to the site. A wiki would be a great way to share ideas among librarians. A wiki created within a school district could not only be a way to share ideas, but could also be a way to provide forms and other important information. A wiki has so many possibilities for great uses. Adrianna Hughes

** [] ** Wikis have different applications in the K12 classroom. They are used for pedagogical, administrative and social goals. You will find here some examples of the uses of wikis and links to popular wikis and readings about those uses. Examples of uses of wikis in K-12 I can incorporate this technology with my reading group, “Name that Book” contestants. In this contest, students volunteer to be in the program. We have a set number of books from the current Bluebonnet reading list that must be read prior to the contest. The contest works by student groups (different schools) being read a sentence or two of one of the books and the student groups must correctly “name that book” the sentence is found in. My students could help each other by posting the book(s) they read and discussing them. And since all students do not really need to read all the books, the posts in the wiki will give everyone in the group knowledge of all the books content. // Cynthia Oubre //
 * Science Fair Projects ** - A wiki could be set up for middle or high school students to brainstorm ideas for and plan science fair projects. Initially it would mostly be brainstorming, posting ideas and information to back them up. As they begin to flesh out the ideas that they are interested in, small groups might form to work on individual projects, but could still contribute ideas to other projects. The teacher can act as a facilitator by offering suggestions and asking probing questions to get students to consider particular aspects in the planning of their projects. The wiki could also be used to record and organize data, and plan eventual papers/presentations.
 * Collaborative Textbooks ** - From Edutopia (the magazine) for September/October 2004, the article "Crack the Books" (p. 14) describes the California Open Source Textbook Project (COSTP) which is an initiative to create online textbooks using wiki software and then eventually create printed copies. The founder of the project contends that most of the information in K-12 textbooks is in the public domain. The project aims to help California slash its $400 million dollar textbook budget. You can visit the project online at [|World History Textbook]
 * Student Portfolios ** - A wiki makes an easy shell for electronic portfolios where students can display and discuss their work with others. It would also be an excellent forum for peer editing and peer feedback to help students improve their writing skills.
 * WikiOrganization ** - I used a local wiki on my computer to organize materials for a paper. I was able to save weblinks, documents, and quotes to the wiki and then just go to that particular page as I was writing. Finally, I linked the final product to the wiki. Wikis are a great organizational tool especially in a time when many of our classroom resources are digital and networked.
 * Collaborative Understanding ** - If I were to teach middle school music again, I would try to use a Wiki as part of a music history/music study project for students to clarify their understanding of different styles of music. For example, back in the day, I had 2 or 3 classes of "beginners" each year. As we listened to different examples of music and of singing, I tried to help them understand how the different styles were related to each other (i.e., blues and hip hop). Using a Wiki would allow them to also share links to examples of music to support their ideas and opinions. I would then try to incorporate this project into one of our choir concerts to show that learning about music is about more than just singing or playing an instrument. (And this is based on the assumption that we would have access to computers in the school, and that the students would be able to use the computers after school if they did not have a computer at home.)
 * Collaboration Between Teachers ** - The person I'm doing my consulting project with, after seeing our wiki and learning how they work, suggested using them for teachers to teach collaboratively, which is a use I hadn't thought of originally but could have a lot of potential. They could work together creating lesson plans, track how the lessons are being implemented in their various classrooms, give suggestions - this could be a few teachers in the same middle school doing an interdisciplinary unit, or teachers of the same subject in distant places working on the same unit together.
 * Literature Circles in Elementary School ** - Elementary students, particularly fourth and fifth grade in our district have Lit Circles. They all read the same book and then are required to answer questions about the material and pose questions. A Wiki would be a perfect way to integrate technology into thier Lit Cirles. Instead of sharing their thoughts on paper, they could post them to the wiki, respond to their peers thoughts or questions and best of all perserve this work for the next class to review at sometime during ther exploration of the same novel. Each of our elementary classrooms has at least two computers. ~Becky Small

=Webtools4u2use=

http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/
WebTools4u2use is really more than just a wiki. It is a website / wiki designed for K-12 school library media specialists to learn more about web tools that can enhance their current programs, to see examples of how these web tools can be used, and to share success stories and ideas about how to use and integrate these tools. This wiki begins by giving basic information on the importance of integrating web tools into current practice. It explains how to navigate the site. Many web tools are listed for exploration: podcasting, blogs, photo sharing, social networking, wikis, and more. Each category contains basic information about the particular web tool. It also contains links to “popular tools”--those found most helpful by other users; tutorials; and more.

Wikis in general can provide loads of information and resources. A library media specialist can use a wiki on his or her own to promote the library media center. News, current events, new and popular titles, and more can be added. Students can also be taught to play a role in creating and adding information to a library’s wiki. A wiki can be used to promote current events such as books fairs and summer reading programs. Wikis can be used to promote student interaction and sharing about books they are reading.

Mary Kristin Uptmor

Both the website and article offer examples of wikis from each classification and why classifications 1 and 2 are more widely used than classifications 3 and 4. As a librarian, I think this is a great resource for learning how wikis are working for other libraries and what might work on a wiki for use in my own library. For example, each classification has a page that gives examples of and websites for wikis that allow for effective collaboration among groups. “Collaboration between Libraries” gives examples like [] which is a wiki for “PALINET Leadership Network--wiki used to support library leadership learning. Open to all library leaders.” This wiki offers great information for library leaders. From the “Collaboration between Library staff” page you can link to [|http://wiki.lib.uconn.edu/index.php/Main_Page]; “The University of Connecticut Libraries’ Staff Wiki which is a repository of Information Technology Services documents.” From this wiki, one could learn about what kinds of items could be useful on their own interdepartmental wiki. If you are more interested in learning about how a wiki can be useful for communication with library patrons go to the “Collaboration between Library Staff and Patrons” page to see examples like []. “LoudounPedia is a wiki intended to focus on local information. Both staff and public are invited to share and contribute.” This type of wiki allows patrons a chance to become contributors to the dialogue regarding their county. A librarian could set up a wiki like this one to keep patrons informed of both library and community events, and the librarian would not be the only one in charge of keeping up with all the events. Allowing patrons a vehicle to communicate with each other is the essence of the wikis found at “Collaboration between Patrons.” A good example is []. “Wiki WorldCat (WikiD) is an OCLC pilot project (now defunct) that allowed users to add reviews to Open WorldCat records.” By letting patrons write reviews and sharing those reviews, the library can do a better job of helping patrons meet their information needs.
 * Name:** LibraryWikis
 * Web Address:** []
 * Summary:** LibraryWiki was developed by Matthew Bejune, Assistant Professor of Library Science, Purdue University Libraries, and Doctoral student at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as a place for “learning about and sharing examples of library wikis.” He developed this page as a companion to an article he wrote for //Information Technology and Libraries//. Bejune identified four classifications for library wikis:
 * 1) Collaboration between Libraries (45.7 percent);
 * 2) Collaboration between Library staff (31.4 percent);
 * 3) Collaboration between Library Staff and Patrons (14.3 percent);
 * 4) Collaboration between Patrons (8.6 percent).

Basically, this is a wiki that links you to other wikis. What makes this work is the wiki classifications. If you know which communities you want collaboration between, this wiki can help you find examples of like wikis so you can see what has worked in other libraries. (all direct quotes from [])
 * Name:** Leann Maxwell


 * Title:** Wikibooks - Wikijunior


 * Web Address:**

[]


 * Description:** This site allows students to review books discussed by other students and to edit and add to the wiki about books that they've read. It's a great tool because it gives students a sense of empowerment with regards to adding their knowledge and information about books that they've read. What a great way to encourage the sharing of knowledge about books between students.


 * Author:** Shannon Padgett