Using Wikis in the Classroom

What is a Wiki?

Wikis are websites that allow visitors to join in participating and collaborating with others as they work to develop a database of information. The term wiki is derived from Hawaiian language meaning "quick" or "fast". Without the need for special technical knowledge or tools, individuals can edit, add, or revise previously posted information to help expand on the works of others. In this way, a wiki is always "under construction" as posts are modified and updated by the group of collaborators. A popular example of a famous wiki includes Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia designed by millions of contributors and editors. Unlike a blog, which only allows visitors to share their ideas about an individual post in the form of a comment, wikis allow a community of individuals to alter the previous work of others - shaping the information in a way that better expresses a group perspective rather than that of an individual.

Who Uses Wikis?

Wikis can be developed, used, and shared by anyone whether they are students, business employees, or just individuals who wish to share certain information. By incorporating text and photos, people may design a wiki to share knowledge about friends and family, travel, art, research, products, or just about anything else you can imagine! Wikis can also be customized to require approval by previous moderators before a new individual may alter the information, helping to prevent the work from being edited by someone who may intentionally misconstrue previously posted information.

Why Use a Wiki?

Wikis serve as a platform that can assist individuals in building deeper connections between new and old knowledge while advancing evaluation and synthesis abilities. For example, using discussion and critical thinking, students can engage with one another to pull together and write about a myriad of alternate perspectives focused on a singular topic. This can better help them to learn strategies for overcoming challenges and finding solutions as a team.

Wikis in the Classroom

For educators, wikis can serve as a fantastic resource for student collaboration, research, and presentation. Whether a wiki is designed to be a collective space for student-to-student support or to focus on a particular area of study, wikis can help to provide a means for expanding the learning experience using real world applications. Three examples for using wikis in the classroom include writing a collaborative story, creating virtual study guides, and developing an encompassing knowledge base.

1. Collaborative Story: Students can gradually develop a story as a class, entering to add and edit sentences as they acquire new vocabulary words. The story can be a single document that unfolds as students progress, or students can develop alternate versions and endings to the story. Each time a student visits the wiki to contribute, they gain further practice in learned concepts as they read and re-read the story prior to adding new information.

2. Virtual Study Guides: Students can choose to examine particular parts of a current lesson to help pinpoint main ideas that are critical to know for upcoming tests. By working together and analyzing concept material, students can take turns being responsible for designing a study guide both for individual and peer use. This helps provide useful materials for the class while giving individual students meaningful practice with important information.

3. Knowledge Base: Students can gradually add new information to a wiki as they learn a variety of knew concepts - math, science, social studies, English, etc. - throughout the year. This database can serve as a helpful, organized review for students as they refresh their memories about things they have learned and proudly showcase the information to friends and parents. For each subject, students can upload example pieces of work such as writing, images, videos, and discuss their perspectives of the concepts.

Ultimately, wikis provide a means for individuals to collaborate in flexible and creative ways using nearly any topic as a focal point for group work. Whether simply a database of useful resources (such as our student resource wiki) or a collection of memories and knowledge, wikis are just another way to help learners expand perspectives and share ideas with members of the community as well as people from around the world. For more information, feel free to check out the Wiki Walk-Through.

(Snapshot of the teacher candidates' Student Resources Wiki)

The Importance of Adhering to Copyright and Fair Use Laws

Using Images to Enhance Learning

There's no doubt that documenting our personal perspectives and projects online is a wonderful way to share experiences and expand points of view. For many of us, especially teachers, adding visuals to accompany the information we post on our pages can help us to better reach our readers or even serve as a helpful reminder for ourselves. However, we may not always have the appropriate images in our own collections to do so. Luckily, we can often turn to the Internet's archive of images to assist us. Though there are many individuals who generously share their work online for others to use at no cost, this does not mean that every image we find is free to use. This is why it is critical for us to be aware of the Copyright and Fair Use laws that have been set in place before we decide to "borrow" an image. In knowing what we can and can't utilize, we protect ourselves from lawsuits and the work of others from being stolen.

Being Aware of Copyright and Fair Use Laws

So how do we know which images we can use and what we can and can't do with them? The University of Maryland has developed a Copyright and Fair Use page specifically designed to inform individuals of these details. For a brief overview, I will also discuss some of the fundamentals of these guidelines in this post.

What is Copyright?

As cited within the aforementioned page, copyright is defined as "a legal device that provides the creator of a work of art or literature, or a work that conveys information or ideas, the right to control how the work is used". By the definition alone, we can see how copyright laws are a great advantage for anyone who wishes to share their information or images while maintaining the proper recognition they deserve for their hard work. This law helps to facilitate and advance our ability to access knowledge while providing creators with an economic incentive to continue creating and sharing new works.

What can be Copyrighted?

According to the United States Copyright Office, there are 3 fundamental requirements for something to be copyrighted:

1. Fixation: The item must be "fixed," meaning it is tangible in the sense that it is physically written, recorded, posted online, or stored on an electronic device.
2. Originality: The work must be original - either entirely or partially. Partial originality includes works that are combined, adapted, or transformed in new ways that would make them eligible for copyright protection.
3. Minimal Creativity: The work must include something that is above and beyond the original (verbatim use is not classified as original). References to original works, however, are considered original.

In addition, copyright protection allows authors 4 basic protections:
1. The right to make copies of the work
2. The right to sell or distribute copies of the work
3. The right to prepare new works based on the protected work
4. The right to perform the protected work (such as in videos or plays) in public

What is Fair Use?

The term fair use is the ultimate limitation on a copyright holder's exclusive rights. It refers to the ability for others to replicate or copy an excerpt of a creator's work for specific purposes (such as teaching, research, news, or criticism) without the need for permission or payment. Yet, in asserting our right of fair use, we must carefully consider and weigh 4 factors:

1. The purpose and character of use
2. The nature of copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used
4. The effect of use on the potential market for the copyrighted work

Examples of limited portions that may generally be used in a classroom (with appropriate citations) include:
- Poetry (250 or less words from two or less pages)
- Prose (copies of an article, story, or essay that are 2,500 or less words and excerpts up to 1,000 words or 10% of the total work - whichever is less)
- Illustrations (copies of a chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon, or picture contained in a book or periodical issue)

For instructors, copying must meet tests for brevity and spontaneity.

Conclusion:

As we can see, there are specific rules to follow when using the work of others. To best protect ourselves and our students, we should understand and teach these rules before beginning online projects. Some useful tips to remember would be:

1. If using the Google Search Engine, filter your image search using the advanced tools that can search by usage rights (some images may be available for use with or without modification and/or for commercial or noncommercial use)
2. Search within archives that are part of the public domain
3. Use websites such as Pixabay or Pics4Learning to access free images

For more in-depth information, be sure to refer back to the UMUC page for further details!