Wikijunior
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Wikijunior is a branch of Wikibooks for children age
birth to twelve. It is intended for teacher, parent, educator and student use
to collaborate with each other over the internet to complete kid friendly,
useful books. All books on Wikijunior are non-fiction and are illustrated with
photographs, sketches and drawings.
No book on Wikijunior has just one author; Wikijunior invites students who are interested to work together with other students and teachers to produce easy to understand books that are filled with friendly and age-appropriate information. All the books on Wikijunior are full of verifiable factual information.
Wikijunior invites the world of students to join, write, edit and rewrite each article and book to continual increase and improve the content. “Everyone is swamped by information coming from all directions. It is impossible to keep up, even in our fields of scholarly specialization. Almost every day, students mention relevant, useful, sometimes even exciting information that is new to us as instructors. But too often the structure of the typical course does not allow such information to be added” (O’Shea, Baker & Kidd, 2008). Wikijuniors would allow these students a place to store their information to be used later on in the classroom or by other classrooms around the world.
As an educator I think that Wikijuniors is a brilliant idea for students who are looking for a challenge when it comes to writing. Encouraging our students to take their writing a step further and to begin collaborating at a young age will only further spark their interest in collaboration as they grow and mature.
I believe that students have the ability to collaborate with each other from a very young age and Wikijunior proves that by allowing students to work together in a virtual writing center to produce books for other students to use. I will use Wikijunior in my classroom to show students what can be accomplished when you work together with other students in and outside of their own classroom.
Reference:
O'Shea, P., Baker, P., & Kidd, J. (2008, November 28). Let a Thousand Wikibooks Bloom. Chronicle of Higher Education. pp. A29-A30.
No book on Wikijunior has just one author; Wikijunior invites students who are interested to work together with other students and teachers to produce easy to understand books that are filled with friendly and age-appropriate information. All the books on Wikijunior are full of verifiable factual information.
Wikijunior invites the world of students to join, write, edit and rewrite each article and book to continual increase and improve the content. “Everyone is swamped by information coming from all directions. It is impossible to keep up, even in our fields of scholarly specialization. Almost every day, students mention relevant, useful, sometimes even exciting information that is new to us as instructors. But too often the structure of the typical course does not allow such information to be added” (O’Shea, Baker & Kidd, 2008). Wikijuniors would allow these students a place to store their information to be used later on in the classroom or by other classrooms around the world.
As an educator I think that Wikijuniors is a brilliant idea for students who are looking for a challenge when it comes to writing. Encouraging our students to take their writing a step further and to begin collaborating at a young age will only further spark their interest in collaboration as they grow and mature.
I believe that students have the ability to collaborate with each other from a very young age and Wikijunior proves that by allowing students to work together in a virtual writing center to produce books for other students to use. I will use Wikijunior in my classroom to show students what can be accomplished when you work together with other students in and outside of their own classroom.
Reference:
O'Shea, P., Baker, P., & Kidd, J. (2008, November 28). Let a Thousand Wikibooks Bloom. Chronicle of Higher Education. pp. A29-A30.