I. Introduction 

II. Analysis of Instructional Problem

III. Requirements of Learning Environment    

IV. Implementing Wiki in the Classrooms

           A. How To Steps

           B. Supplemental Materials for Wiki

V. Wiki Tutorials (Ideas/Trainings)

VI. Evaluation of Wiki 

          A.  Reviews/Findings

            B.   Our Project in Practice

          C. Evaluation by Team Members

VII. References

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

A. Barriers to Technology Use in the Classrooms

In this project, Team 1 is trying to solve the educational problem that teachers are resistant to incorporate technology in the classroom due to lack of time, skills and training. Our team did online research and found several studies that corroborate this theory. A study done in April, 2009 by Ruiling and Overbaugh showed that the most serious problem in K-12 technology implementation was lack of time that teachers could spend on technology usage and training, followed by technical problems that could not be taken care of in a timely manner. Teachers are the agents or catalyst for incorporating technology in classrooms and the basic need for access to technology, technical support, training, and time to learn are the factors conducive to a teacher's learning to teach effectively with technology (Dexter, Anderson and Becker, 1999).

 Inspite of ready access to technology, favorable policy environment and increased training, the high-level technology use in classrooms is still low (Ertmer, 2005). Some studies have argued that training and time are secondary reasons and teachers pedagogical beliefs are infact the primary reasons why technology use in the classrooms is still low. An effective approach to solve this problem might be to introduce teachers to the types of technology uses that can support their most immediate needs. This should increase teachers confidence for using technology so that, over time, higher level uses become more plausible (Ertmer, 2001).

“As schools continue to acquire more and better hardware and software, the benefit to students increasingly will depend on the skill with which some three million teachers are able to use these new tools” (President’s Panel on Educational Technology, 1997, p. 47). If teachers are given enough support, training and time to incorporate technology effectively in the classrooms, this will not only enable teachers to use computers to their full potential but will enable students to reach their full potential as well. 

B. Relevance of Wiki to Education 

Wikis have a tremendous potential in aiding education in K-12 classrooms.  Wikis are being used by educators to conduct or follow-up after professional development workshops or as a communication tool with parents. The greatest potential, however, lies in student participation in the ongoing creation and evolution of the wiki. Wikis can be used in classrooms for pedagogical, administrative and social goals. Wikis are easy to use for everyone, not just technical users by providing a simple interface, a visual page editor, and a focus on community collaboration. "Wikis are an exceptionally useful tool for getting students more involved in curriculum. They’re often appealing and fun for students to use, while at the same time ideal for encouraging participation, collaboration, and interaction" (Teaching.org 2008).

Wikis can be a very useful addition to any classroom. They are engaging to students, easy to use, and focus on literacy whenever students genuinely interact with them. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia (www.wikipedia.org), is the most famous example of a wiki. Teachers and students are beginning to engage with this technology more and more, creating a variety of wiki types, which are engaging to students, easy to use, and focus on literacy (Morgan & Smith, 2008). A case study was published in Learning & Leading with Technology journal in May, 2009 that discribes how a fifth grade teacher John Blain of Buffalo (New York) public schools infused technology into his literature lessons by adding an online literature discussion. Students were assigned to read a few books and the teacher set up a wiki with some discussion pages and invited students to respond to the questions. He also encouraged the students to generate their own questions and discussion threads on any aspect of the book that interested, confused, or intrigued them. Students responded to the discussions at their convenience within a specified time period. Blain then used the students' comments posted online to generate classroom discussion. The discussion format proved to be an empowering activity that enabled students to take control of their learning. It gave them a voice in their learning because they could express themselves without feeling intimidated by the presence of others, including their teachers. The online discussion also created a learning place where students could read, write, and explore around the clock (Ikpeze, 2009).

Another article published in the Journal of Information Systems Education in 2008 by a group of teachers argued that teachers could benefit from an "open classroom" model of education which expands upon Ferris' (2002) collaborative partnership model of education by integrating "open" technologies such as Wiki. These technologies engage the students and will bring third order change to traditional classroom environments. The article illustrates this arguement with two successful cases from authors' personal teaching experiences (Watson, Boudreau, York, Greiner & Wynn, 2008).

Some examples of uses of wiki in K-12 classroom are as follows. 

Creation of Learning Student-Centers: Learning systems are needed to encourage divergent reasoning, problem solving, and critical thinking. Student-centered learning environments have been touted as a means to support such processes. With the emergence of technology, many barriers to implementing innovative alternatives may be overcome.

Language Arts in Elementary Schools: Elementary students can use wiki for literature review. Instead of sharing their thoughts on paper, they could post them to the wiki, respond to their peers thoughts or questions and best of all perserve this work in a easy way to review later.

Collaboration Between Teachers: Wiki could have a lot of potential in allowing teachers to work collaboratively. They could work together creating lesson plans, track how the lessons are being implemented in their various classrooms and give suggestions. This could be a few teachers in the same school doing an interdisciplinary unit, or teachers of the same subject in distant places working on the same unit together.

Collaboration Between Students: Students can use wiki to collaborate on their projects by posting ideas and information. The wiki could also be used to record and organize data, and plan eventual papers/presentations. Teachers can act as facilitators in this process. 

Student Portfolios: A wiki makes an easy shell for electronic portfolios where students can display and discuss their work with others. It would also be an excellent forum for peer editing and peer feedback to help students improve their writing skills.

C. Conceptual Background 

 Wiki is the name used to refer to a website with pages can be edited by any visitor, allowing the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked Web pages, using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor, within the browser. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites, to power community websites, for personal note taking, in corporate intranets, and in knowledge management system.

 Ward Cunningham is the man who created the first wiki.  He  called  it WikiWikiWeb  (using the Hawaiian word "wiki" in place of "quick"). In  early 1995 Cunningham went public with the first wiki, inviting a selected group of programmers to participate in his experiment. Ward Cunningham's first wiki met with immediate success, and quickly spawned "wiki clones", alternative versions of the wiki software. The use of wiki websites were liked by groups of free software developers.  But the original Wiki software grew with its users and added features.

D. Target Audience

In this project, we are using wiki to help elementary school teachers integrate technology easily and effectively into the classrooms. This solution is primarily meant for teachers and students of elementary schools but parents will benefit as well.