Weather to math and stuff in-between

Unlike this blog, where I transmit and you, the reader, can respond if you wish, wikis are built to foster collaboration and cooperation by allowing users to change a web page that contains information. What a wonderful tool for group projects; everyone can contribute, and the team can develop the best product possible because it’s so easy for everyone to see what’s being worked at the same time, rather than dealing with multiple edits and versions. In the world of math, students can show all the work–the process–that goes into solving a problem; if anything along the path goes awry, someone else can easily fix it. The Teachers First web site has some good Wiki Ideas for math: share and rewrite geometry proofs; write out, explain, and solve a mathematical process, be it factoring a polynomial or solving some “wicked” calculus expression; let students post pictures or write about a math concept they’ve experienced or used.

But just as being a US citizen entails responsibility, so does the freedom of editing a wiki entail responsibility: it is “community” work, after all. Wiki monitors have to watch for privacy issues, which can potentially lead to safety concerns; interlopers vandalizing what’s been written, without constructively adding to the site; and, copyright violations and fair use of material. (Creative Commons provides a means for all of us to use material from the Internet in various ways (though at times limited) without violating copyright law.)  Sure, there are rules and procedures wiki users have to follow, but we’ve had a stable society (more or less!) for 221 years (using the Constitution’s adoption date of 1787 as the counting point) following some rules. Educators can use ‘wonderful wikis’ to regularly prove the old adage, two heads (or three, or four…) are better than one.  Wiki away!