Wiki's in the Art Classroom

My Wiki experience before TPTE 486 was very limited. Like most people, I have used Wikipedia but I have never edited a Wikipedia page or created a Wiki page.  I was aware that Wiki's could be edited by numerous people, which is why Wikipedia is looked down upon for research. Wiki's were never used in my public school, or in college. I did not understand the proper use for a Wiki page until we started working with them in class.

I learned that Wiki's have multiple uses for the classroom.  It's a very simple way to share information with your class, or even parents of the students.  Not only is it easy to post information in your Wiki, but it's also very simple to add pictures to go with your information. In class we made our own Wiki page and wrote a biography about ourselves. We shared our Wiki pages to the class, and introduced ourselves. The use of the Wiki was a great ice breaker for the beginning of a new semester.

In my art classroom I would like to use Wiki's in multiple ways. I would like to think it would be a great tool for high school students when collaborating for a class project, or for a weekly blog post, but I believe this could be risky. If Wiki's are used to communicate with students, or students communicating between each other, posts would need to be monitored carefully. Being an art teacher, I will have more students than the average general education teacher and it could get out of hand. Ideally, high school level art students could post in their Wiki's weekly about an artist that inspires their work. The students could post pictures of work and write about how and why the work of a certain artist inspires them. The Wiki could also be used for an art critique tool. Students would post their own work, and other students would comment about the piece. Elementary students would not be able to use Wiki's, but it would be a nice tool to communicate with, and show students work to parents.