In Wikis for School Leaders: Using Technology to Improve Communication and Collaboration, author, online educator, and technology expert Stephanie D. Sandifer provides strategies and how-to advice on the way in which wikis, which when used strategically result in a more efficient use of time, better communication, and increased adult learning for the members of your school community.  Read below to see how to maximize the effectiveness of your professional activities through the use of wikis and raise student achievement in turn.

What Is a Wiki?

Essentially, a wiki is a website that can be edited by anyone or by anyone with appropriate privileges if the wiki is restricted to registered users. Most important, a wiki is a website that can be edited by anyone, without needing to know HTML (hypertext markup language) or some other scripting language. At the most basic level, editing a wiki is as easy as editing a document in a word processor or an email. While wikis are simple to use, they can include added functionality that give the users a robust set of collaborative features including embedded media such as videos, streaming video, slideshows, shared calendars, databases, and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds, to name a few.

Why Use a Wiki?

Many companies are embracing wiki use in their organizations and are finding that for communication, collaboration, and knowledge management, the use of wikis positively impacts productivity, lowers production costs, increases creativity and innovation, and improves overall team collaboration. This becomes increasingly critical as companies expand globally with dispersed teams working in different time zones.

When & Where in Education?

Wikis can be useful for district office departments, intradistrict teams, school administration and leadership teams, campus department or grade level teams, and in a variety of other settings. In fact, wiki use can be unlimited with regard to nonsensitive information; however, no one should store student or employee personal information on a wiki. Even with that limitation, the impact of wiki use in a school or district office can dramatically improve nearly all operational processes. See below for a list of different ways to use wikis in an educational organization: