Sue Waters: Go Wild With Wikis Part 2 | Steve Hargadon | May 27 2009

·1 hr 3 min·5 clips

A librarian describes using a wiki for parent volunteer sign-ups, showing practical collaboration beyond student projects.

This episode is part two of the 'Go Wild With Wikis' series, co-hosted by EduBlogs Live and Classroom 2.0. Sue Waters, an EduBlogs employee and aquaculture lecturer, facilitates the session with a focus on conversation and participant interaction. She begins by introducing herself and encouraging attendees to share their locations via a map tool. Sue quickly reviews the basics of wikis as editable web pages for collaboration, then introduces her key analogy: just as fish farmers shouldn't start with a location without a plan, educators shouldn't choose a tool before defining their learning outcome. Participants engage through whiteboard activities and microphone discussions, sharing why they use wikis for student collaboration. Examples include using wikis for e-portfolios, parent volunteer sign-ups, and cross-country team snack planning. Sue highlights the importance of teaching collaboration skills, noting that many assume it comes naturally. She shares a story of educators failing to collaborate on a Google presentation, working on separate slides instead. The discussion turns to practical comparisons, such as wikis versus Google Docs, with considerations like student age and account requirements. Sue showcases the Flat Classroom Project as an example of large-scale wiki collaboration, where students globally work on topics like mobiles and cloud computing. She explains how these projects use Nings for communication and wikis for content creation, including videos. Participants raise concerns about access skewing cultural awareness, but Sue argues any cross-cultural interaction helps. The session concludes with tips on avoiding wiki wars, setting ground rules, and starting small with personal use before classroom implementation. Sue thanks sponsors Illuminate and Classroom 2.0, and invites attendees to a hands-on follow-up session in two weeks.

As heard by us

A wiki session that favors classroom practice over software gloss.

Sue Waters keeps the second Go Wild with Wikis session grounded in practice rather than polish. She moves the room through microphone, chat, and whiteboard participation, which gives the discussion a steady, useful pace.

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Why you'd press play

You want the wiki basics and the collaboration traps before the first student erases the next student?s work.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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