Study guides made by learner groups for themselves and peers: each group prepares the guide for one aspect of the unit or responsibility rotates: one unit guide per term.
Vocabulary lists and examples of the words in use, contributed by learners (ongoing throughout the year).
The wiki as the organizational and intellectual epicenter of your classroom. Place all assignments, projects, collaboration, rubrics, etc into a class wiki.
Products of research projects, especially collaborative group projects. Remember that the products do not have to be simply writing. They can include computer files, images, videos, etc. Creating an organizational structure for the content is an important part if the project.
An annotated collection of EXAMPLES from the non-school world for anything: supply/demand, capitalism, entrepreneurship, triangles, alliterations, vertebrates or invertebrates, etc. Include illustrations wherever possible.
What I Think Will Be on the Exam wiki: a place to log review information for important concepts throughout the year, prior to taking the “high stakes” exams. Learners add to it throughout the year and even from year to year.
An “everything I needed to know I learned in Ms. Teachername’s class” wiki. Learners add their own observations of ways the class knowledge has spilled over into the “real world.” For example, a learner might write about actually using a simple algebraic equation to figure out dimensions for cutting lumber for a display or write about ways that her friend shows tragic hubris and is heading toward a fall.
A travelogue from a field trip or NON-field trip that the class would have liked to take as a culmination of a unit of study: Our (non) trip to the Drakensburg and what we (wish) we saw.
A FAQ (or NSFAQ- Not So Frequently Asked Questions) wiki on your current unit topic. Have learners post KWL entries and continue adding questions that occur to them as the unit progresses. As other learners add their “answers,” the wiki will evolve into a learner-created guide to the topic. Example: Apartheid Struggle FAQ or Biomes FAQ. You may find that the FAQ process can entirely supplant traditional classroom activities, especially if you seed a few questions as the teacher.
• Ideas for younger (primary) learners
An annotated virtual library: listings and commentary on independent reading learners have done throughout the year
Collaborative book reviews or author studies. A wiki “fan club” for you favorite author(s).
A primary class “encyclopedia” on a special topic, such as "explorers" or "history of the province" – to be continued and added to each year!
A virtual tour of your school as you study “our community” in primary grades.
A travelogue from a field trip or NON- field trip that the class would have liked to take as A culmination of a unit of study: Our (non) trip to Pretoria and what we (wish) we saw.
Detailed and illustrated descriptions of scientific or governmental processes: how a bill becomes a law, how mountains form, etc.
Family Tradition wiki- primary learners share their family’s ways of preparing dinner or celebrate birthdays (anonymously, of course) and compare them to practices in other cultures they read and learn about.
A Where is Wanda? wiki: a wiki version of the ever-favorite Flat Stanley project. Have each Wanda host post on the wiki, including the picture they take with Wanda during her visit. Even better: keep an ongoing Google Earth placemarker file to add geographic visuals to Wanda’s wonderful wanderings as a link in the wiki. WOW! Where in the world IS Wiki Wanda?
Ideas for and Examples of Educational Wikis
Table of Contents
• Ideas for most learning areas and grade levels
• Ideas for younger (primary) learners
• Examples of Educational Wikis
• For More Information...
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