Esposito,+Donna

Donna Esposito EDC921 Spring 2008 Deliverable #3 Proposal


 * To**: HVCHS Administration
 * From**: Donna Esposito, HVCHS Media Specialist


 * Proposal**: To implement a wiki in the media center as a means of communicating and collaborating with teachers about research assignments.


 * Description**: A wiki is a “quick” website where anyone can read, write or edit the content of the space. It is collaborative tool, so all members of the community (librarians, teachers, and students) can work together to create and update the space. It is easy to use and requires no programming skills or experience. This wiki will be an ongoing and continuously changing work space.


 * Services & Needs:** The media center wiki would serve as a space to create research guides or pathfinders for student assignments. The purpose of using a wiki, instead of our current website design tool (FrontPage) is that a wiki is a quicker and easier way for teachers and the librarians to create web pages, add and/or change content, edit each others work and create links to other pages and resources. Each research guide or pathfinder would have its own wiki page. This wiki page would direct students to reliable book, database and web resources that would enable them to complete their research assignments easily and efficiently. Wikis can be easily updated from any computer, in any location. Wikis use a simple visual editor which allows anyone to become a web designer. In contrast, using a web design tool limits most users from creating web pages. Web design tools require thorough knowledge of the application. WebPages can only be updated on the computer where the software is installed. It is a time consuming process and updates require administrative privileges or an IT request to publish a page. WebPages are static, whereas wikis are dynamic. One of the strongest features of a wiki is the ability to make quick, up to the minute changes that can be saved and viewed immediately. Using a wiki will meet the publishing needs of the media specialist and teachers, as well as the information needs of our students. For the purpose of this wiki, only teachers and the media specialist will have editing capabilities. Future wikis can be created for student input as well.


 * Evidence:** Wikis are being successfully used by the school librarian community to promote collaboration and communication. Here are a few examples.

1. http://nhshighschool.wikispaces.com/ - The New Hope Solebury High School Library is using a wiki for its entire library website. If you click on the pathfinders link on the sidebar, you will go to the pathfinder wiki page. This page will contain links to approximately 15 wiki pathfinder pages. I recently spoke to the librarian at this school and asked her why she decided to use a wiki for her entire library website. Her major reason was one that I previously stated. She did not have the permissions to publish her own WebPages. She had to contact her IT department every time she made an update to a webpage. Using a wiki gives her the freedom and flexibility make changes instantly.

2. http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/pathmenu.html - Joyce Valenza, Springfield Township High School’s librarian is also successfully using wikis to help students navigate through research assignments. A pathfinder link from her website will include links to over 20 different wikis. Ms. Valenza has applied a different approach to wiki pathfinders, each research guide has its own wiki. I am proposing creating one wiki for all research assignments which links to additional wiki pages for each research topic.

Example Pathfinder wikis at this site: Doing the Decades, Literary Criticism Pathfinder, Primary Sources, Endangered Species, College search

3. http://westwood.wikispaces.com/ - This is an example from my online course “Using Blogs and Wikis to Foster Literacy”. This wiki is demonstrates an online space where both the teachers and students have editing capabilities.


 * Roadblocks**: Although wikis have been around for several years now, they are still a fairly new technology. One problem that I foresee are teachers who are not using any form of technology . They are not likely to embrace wikis or any other Web 2.0 tools. Another obstacle that I might encounter with implementing a wiki is the negative association from Wikipedia. For years teachers and librarians have be trying to lure students away from using Wikipedia as a source for research. Now I am proposing the use of wikis for both students and teachers. Lastly, their may be some concerns from our IT department about accessing wikis.

I believe I could overcome most of these roadblocks by providing training to staff in the use of wikis. If I could get one or two teachers to buy into using wikis as a collaboration tool, I believe that other teachers will follow once they see how useful wikis can be. As far as the negative association from Wikipedia, I would explain that unlike Wikipedia, we know who the contributors and members of this wiki space are, so we will not have to worry about unreliable information.


 * Recommended tools**: I would recommend using Wikispaces for our library wiki because it offers a free and secure wiki environment. Additionally, wikispaces offers a free upgrade to the “Plus” membership to educators, which is ad-free. Wikispaces also provides many tutorials, help pages and generous file storage space. After comparing the reviews of the three most common wiki tools in “Teachers First: Step by Step - Choose a tool”, I decided that wikispaces has the most practical features for my wiki application.


 * Future Plans:** Once the pathfinder wikis are complete, my vision for the long term is to create a “Online Student Research Guide” which can be used by the entire district. This document would have to be a collaborative effort between school librarians and the Language Arts department. The most practical and logical tool for this type of project would be a wiki.

 Here is the Word version:

References
Boeninger, Chad. "A Wiki as a Research Guide." //Library Voice//. July 13, 2005. Farkas, Meredith. "Wiki White Paper" //TechEssence//. April 8, 2006. Richardson, Wil. “Blogs, Wikis Podcast and Other Powerful WebTools for Classrooms.” Thousand Oaks: CA. Corwin Press, 2006. “Teachers First: Wiki Walk Thru.” Teachers First.com. 2008.

Donna Esposito EDC921 Spring 2008 Deliverable #4 Final Project: Implementation of Wiki from Proposal **Introduction**: As a media specialist, I chose to create a final project that has a practical and efficient use for my library environment. Therefore, I decided to implement my proposal for Deliverable #3. The goal of my proposal was to create a wiki for the media center as a means of communicating and collaborating with teachers about research assignments. This final project will be a description of what I am going to include in my wiki and my future plans for this wiki or additional wikis. As a media specialist, I frequently get requests from teachers to create pathfinders or research guides for class assignment. These pathfinders need to include reliable sources. Sometimes these requests come in at the last minute and I need to create the pathfinder quickly and easily. Often there is very little time to make an update to the library website and publish that update before a class comes into the library to do their research. This is why a wiki is a perfect choice for this environment. In addition, I sometimes get inspired in the evening when I don’t have access to my library website to make update. This wiki can be updated from any location. Lastly, teachers are welcome to edit, update or add content to the pages of the wiki that relate to their class assignment. Each research guide would have its own wiki page and will provide students with reliable book, database and web sources that would enable them to complete their research assignments easily and efficiently. The majority of the work for this final project has been done on the wiki. Here is the link for this wiki: http://hvcentral.wikispaces.com/ 1. Home 2. English ·  Research paper on Hemingway Short Stories Includes suggested databases for Literary Criticisms Includes information on Plagiarism and links to guides on Plagiarism ·  Short Story Criticism – includes bookmark to Gale Virtual Reference Library – Short Stories for Students 3. Health ·  Research paper on Birth Defects Suggested search terms, Suggested databases, links to reliable websites ·  Brochure on STD’s and Contraceptives Suggested search terms, Suggested databases, links to reliable websites 4. Mathematic 5. Science ·  Brochure on Endangered Species Suggested databases and links to websites 6. Social Studies ·  Decades Research: 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s Suggested databases, books and my delicious bookmarks ·  Imperialism Suggested search terms, Suggested databases, links to reliable websites ·  Treaty of Versailles Added an Answer Tips widget ·  Asia Country Analysis – Table of Contents ·  Civil War ·  Revolution and Nationalism Added an Answer Tips widget ·  Teddy Roosevelt and the Square Deal Added an Answer Tips widget 7. Visual & Performing Arts 8. World Languages Media Center: ·  Citations o  This wiki page includes sample citation formats and a Word document with sample formats o  Link to online citation generators o  Link to MLA formats ·  Orientation (future) Changed Themes, colors, inserted logo Anchor links, Tables, Table of Contents Widgets: del.icio.us, Answer Tips, Calendar **Links**: Media Center Website Media Center blog Student Research Guide (new wiki - future) **Future Plans:** Once the pathfinder wikis are all established – they will never be complete because a wiki is ongoing, my vision for the long term is to create a district wide “Student Research Guide” – which will include citation information, plagiarism guides, research models and strategies, website evaluation and more. This document would have to be a collaborative effort between school librarians and the English department. The most practical and logical tool for this type of project would be a wiki. Another addition to this wiki would be pages on library orientation. This September will be my first library orientation at this school, I like to incorporate everything I do for orientation into the wiki.
 * Outline for HVCentral wiki: **
 * Tools and Add-ons used in Wiki: **

Word Version: