Can a Wiki Increase Collaboration Among Stakeholders on an Elementary Campus?

Dilene Witt-Nelson Lamar University I determined the need for this study based on comments from staff indicating that they would like to be able to collaborate more but have difficulty in finding the time to do so. Our Campus Improvement Plan had a technology goal stating that we would begin an Oak Meadow blog for staff to communicate with one another professionally on multiple subjects. I also felt a campus wiki would help improve communication and collaboration among grade levels. Teachers can post documents or videos to a wiki to share lesson ideas or discuss what did or did not work in their classrooms. Teachers can also discuss ideas for integrating technology into their classrooms. The data proved that most teachers on my campus were not familiar with wikis: 59.4% said they were not familiar with a wiki, 21.9% were familiar and 18.8% were a little familiar with a wiki. Of the 32 respondents, 90.6% said they had not used a wiki in their classroom: only 3 respondents, or 9.4%, had used a wiki in the classroom. When asked if they had used a wiki at home for personal information or professional development, responses indicated that 15.6% had used a wiki at home, 71.9% had not used a wiki at home and 12.5% were not sure.

Based on these results, I developed a plan to create a campus wiki with pages specific to collaboration among grade levels. The wiki has PreK-2 collaboration page, 3-5 collaboration page, Special Ed page, Speech page, as well as pages for our counselor, librarian and campus book study. Data will be gathered on staff usage of the wiki. Copies of documents uploaded can be evaluated to determine what types of items teachers are sharing. A follow up survey will be administered to see if the original attitudes have changed.

There is also research to support the use of wikis for communication and collaboration. Richardson (2010) states Like blogs, wikis are beginning to make inroads in just about every

area of life. Corporations like Disney, McDonalds, Sony and BMW have started using wikis to manage documents and information. MIT, Stanford, and other colleges and universities are testing the waters with their faculty and students. Solomon and Schrum (2007) state that while it is challenging to encourage teachers to use new technology tools. Using these new tools as models and methods to teach them accomplishes two goals. It first provides practice and comfort with the tools, and second offers the opportunity to experience firsthand the use of the technology for meaningful and authentic activities. This confirms my thought process that if I get the teachers to use the school wiki they will become more comfortable with the idea of using one in their classroom.

I discussed this plan with my site mentor as well as our campus principal. Both felt this was a good project and something that was needed for our campus. I was informed by my site mentor and our district instructional technology specialist that a wiki had been set up for Oak Meadow before but that it was not utilized. I suggested that perhaps it was not utilized because it was not well publicized (I have been at Oak Meadow for 5 years and never knew there was a campus wiki). My principal and I also discussed ways to get people to the wiki to look at it. For example, putting information that they are required to read on the wiki so they have to go there on a regular basis. The principal agreed to post her Weekly Bulletins on the wiki as a means of getting teachers to the wiki. I also explained to teachers that this was a tool for us to use as a campus to increase communication across grade levels. A few teachers were open to the idea but others viewed it as one more thing they have to do. I am hoping to change this perception with increasing the resources on the wiki. I believe if I get it started and post items for different grade levels then other teachers will be more willing to use it.

Fortunately, this is not a project on which I have to rely on others to complete a portion of the research or create the wiki itself. The responsibility for this is solely on my shoulders. There is no funding involved because I am using Wikispaces sites which are free for educators. The only thing I have to hope for is that the teachers will post to the wiki itself and therefore, hopefully, attitudes will change by the time I create the follow up survey.

There are those on campus that I will still need to convince that this is a useful project that will help them in the long run. In order to do that, I will ask my principal to allow me to speak at one of our professional development days during our teacher work week before school starts. I will present the information including the purpose for the wiki explaining that it meets a need on our campus improvement plan as well as creates an avenue for communication and collaboration.

If the teachers are open to using the wiki and realize it can be a tool for them, this will not only meet the goal on our Campus Improvement Plan but will increase collaboration and vertical alignment across grade levels. This can only improve learning for all of our students. One of the reasons I felt so strongly about including a page for Special Education was not only to share forms and information about Special Ed Manager (our Special Ed student information system) but to share resources for teaching those with special needs as well.

Sources
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks: Corwin. Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). web 2.0 new tools, new schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.