Wikis

Wikis are the epitome of the read-write web. They can be used to teach students vital collaboration skills, including:

• Suggesting topics (what wikipedia calls stubs) that others would find worth developing.
• Developing stubs suggested by others.
• Revising other people's writing.
• Coping with having their own writing revised, corrected, or deleted.
  

Students could create their own "help topics" wiki or online reference manual for any subject, such as wikibooks. An easy entry into this topic is for students to work with wikipedia, including learning its rules and expectations.

Wikis are often misunderstood and maligned based on popular assumptions regarding wikipedia. Here is a link to an article busting these myths and providing links to "real world" uses of wikis.

Here is a link to a wiki I created for a computer class at my college that will be developed by students. Click here to visit my Computer Help Topic Wiki