Recent news stories about social networking sites have administrators on edge. Your school's Acceptable Use Policy may have some specific rules about using tools like wikis.
Once you an envision how your wiki will work and be used, it is best to get your principal or supervisor's approval if you are one of the first teachers using such a "new" web tool. You want to find out the following:
Is it permissible to post learner work to the web?
What is the policy on posting learner’s names (initials? pseudonyms?)
What is the policy on posting pictures of learners or class scenes?
What is the policy on posting any information that might identify the class?
Can these policies be met through security settings, parent and learner agreements?
Does the school filtering prevent access to the wiki tools from school? If so, will your administrator facilitate UNblocking of the wiki's exact URL?
Parental Concerns
The best ways to get parents excited about your wiki are to inform them and to include them.
Prior to giving learners access to the wiki, send home a letter and permission slip with all learners (and give points for a signed permission slip). The letter should tell parents what the wiki is for and how well their child will be protected by the safety features you have in place.
Involve parents in understanding the wiki by providing a parent page or area where they can comment or share experiences. Of course, you will need to provide them with log-in information and/or membership to be able to edit/add content. You need not continue this portion indefinitely.
Fair Use
Wikis can include writing, images, and sound or video files. Most wikis fall under a special copyright agreement called Creative Commons. This essentially means that any content users place on the wiki can be used by others under a "share and share alike" arrangement. AllCreative Commons uses must be properly cited. You and your learners do not own materials you find on the web, such as music, video, or images. You must make sure that anything you do use from other sources is also under a Creative Commons license. Most photos on Flickr are available this way, for example. See further information about copyright and Creative Commons licensing. Important note: Unless your wiki is completely password-protected and seen only by registered learners of your class, you and your learners may NOT use copyrighted materials under "Fair Use." Fair Use does not permit you to place the items on the web.
Vandalism vs. Editing
Learners will be learners, and at least one is bound to "vandalize" another's work on your class wiki. Make sure that your wiki warranty specifically discusses this issue and spells out the consequences of maliciously damaging another learner’s work. Since the wiki will often involve changing work done by others, it is especially important that you have an open discussion about the difference between "vandalizing" and making changes to improve the content. A change intended for the good will always include some written "discussion" of the reasoning behind the change. Be sure that all learners know who is responsible for various sections of the wiki to avoid any "accidental" changes to another student or group's work. Remember:As the wiki owner, you have the ability to rewind history and take the wiki back to a prior state, so no vandalism is permanent.
Learner Wiki Warranty
As active "makers" of the wiki, your learners must warranty its contents the way a company warranties its products. Make and sign a Wiki Warranty (download a customizable Word document sample), complete with stated consequences, for your wiki, even if learners have already signed an Acceptable Use Policy for the school. One very effective way to make them pay attention to the warranty contents is to include it on the wiki site. You may want to post a warranty of your own, perhaps this sample wiki warranty, then allow learners to reopen it and add to it by consensus as new situations arise. Be sure that you lock the warranty page contents unless the whole class is aware that edits are being made. You do not want learners secretly changing it without notice.
Challenges for using wikis in the classroom... and some solutions
Table of Contents
Administrator Objections
Recent news stories about social networking sites have administrators on edge. Your school's Acceptable Use Policy may have some specific rules about using tools like wikis.Once you an envision how your wiki will work and be used, it is best to get your principal or supervisor's approval if you are one of the first teachers using such a "new" web tool. You want to find out the following:
Parental Concerns
The best ways to get parents excited about your wiki are to inform them and to include them.Prior to giving learners access to the wiki, send home a letter and permission slip with all learners (and give points for a signed permission slip). The letter should tell parents what the wiki is for and how well their child will be protected by the safety features you have in place.
Involve parents in understanding the wiki by providing a parent page or area where they can comment or share experiences. Of course, you will need to provide them with log-in information and/or membership to be able to edit/add content. You need not continue this portion indefinitely.
Fair Use
Wikis can include writing, images, and sound or video files. Most wikis fall under a special copyright agreement called Creative Commons. This essentially means that any content users place on the wiki can be used by others under a "share and share alike" arrangement. All Creative Commons uses must be properly cited.You and your learners do not own materials you find on the web, such as music, video, or images. You must make sure that anything you do use from other sources is also under a Creative Commons license. Most photos on Flickr are available this way, for example. See further information about copyright and Creative Commons licensing.
Important note: Unless your wiki is completely password-protected and seen only by registered learners of your class, you and your learners may NOT use copyrighted materials under "Fair Use." Fair Use does not permit you to place the items on the web.
Vandalism vs. Editing
Learners will be learners, and at least one is bound to "vandalize" another's work on your class wiki. Make sure that your wiki warranty specifically discusses this issue and spells out the consequences of maliciously damaging another learner’s work. Since the wiki will often involve changing work done by others, it is especially important that you have an open discussion about the difference between "vandalizing" and making changes to improve the content. A change intended for the good will always include some written "discussion" of the reasoning behind the change. Be sure that all learners know who is responsible for various sections of the wiki to avoid any "accidental" changes to another student or group's work.Remember: As the wiki owner, you have the ability to rewind history and take the wiki back to a prior state, so no vandalism is permanent.
Learner Wiki Warranty
As active "makers" of the wiki, your learners must warranty its contents the way a company warranties its products. Make and sign a Wiki Warranty (download a customizable Word document sample), complete with stated consequences, for your wiki, even if learners have already signed an Acceptable Use Policy for the school.One very effective way to make them pay attention to the warranty contents is to include it on the wiki site. You may want to post a warranty of your own, perhaps this sample wiki warranty, then allow learners to reopen it and add to it by consensus as new situations arise. Be sure that you lock the warranty page contents unless the whole class is aware that edits are being made. You do not want learners secretly changing it without notice.