I'm a convert. I admit that I have always been skeptical of wikis. But through our work during the last two weeks, I see the value of a wiki. It is very much like a collaborative discussion that a group could have on Blackboard, but it also incorporates the collective knowledge idea and allows contributors the sense of accomplishment that people have when they publish their work. As a publications teacher, I leverage that sense of accomplishment with my students every day. I just opened up our class wiki, "Do You Want Fries With That," and showed it to my husband because I was proud of the work that my group did collectively. Our collaborative problem solving was there for everyone to see. And if we don't like it, we can go back and edit, collect more ideas, and build on what we have.

The possibilities of wikis in the classroom... wow. It's exciting to think about. Just like our ITSopedia, students could create a cumulative wiki of their class knowledge base. They could create wikis for particular areas of expertise as well. For example, in my Photojournalism class, we experimented with three or four methods of cutting out the background (COBbing) photos before finding the one that is the most effective. Wouldn't it be great if we could create a wiki of those types of skills, and then students could add on to those as the technology changes and improves? What a great resource for the students coming up next year!