WIKIS + MEDIA SPECIALISTS = COMMUNITY! Judy Hauser, Information Media Consultant Oakland Schools Waterford, Michigan

Oakland Schools Oakland Schools is an intermediate school district. We offer services to the 28 public school districts in Oakland County. Michigan has 57 ISDs - regional service agencies that support services as measured by cost, size and quality advantages. Oakland Schools is an autonomous, tax supported public school district governed by Michigan General School Laws. We serve 28 local school districts and public school academies with 204,355 students.

THE REMC WIKIS In 2006 our REMC Director asked me to present workshops on educational technologies with him. I began to prepare materials to teach wikis and podcasts. I had never used either but I was eager to learn.

I found out fast Seedwiki was used to create a template. The wikis were based on the 9 ALA library standards. The wikis were broken into four groups: lower elementary, upper elementary, middle school and high school.

The Purpose The purpose of creating the wikis was to encourage the participation of media specialists statewide. With rich content media specialists could refer to the wikis for ideas on how to meet standards and guidelines.

The Standards and Guidelines

Adding Content to the Wikis Our REMC Advisory Group got the first crack at the wikis. During a meeting groups entered ideas in the “Content Knowledge” and “Instructional Strategies” columns.

Wiki Joy As media specialists added content to the wikis they suggested the addition of more columns to accommodate some standards unique to Michigan schools.

Can I Get a Shout Out for Michigan! The GLCEs - Grade Level Content Expectations K-12 Math, Social Studies, English Language Arts and Health

The METS!!! They also suggested a column for the METS - The Michigan Educational Technology Standards

Curriculum Considerations for Media Specialists in Michigan The Michigan Curriculum Framework The GLCEs The ALA Standards The Big6 The METS The Online Learning Requirement Individual school district media center standards

Marketing the Wikis The REMC Advisory Group members had a few months to fill in content individually or with other media specialists in their districts. An announcement with an explanation of the purpose of the wikis was sent out on the MAME (the Michigan Association for Media in Education) listserv. Media specialists from around the state contributed to the wikis. I teleconferenced with one school district to work with their media specialists.

The REMC Wikis The REMC wikis are still available on seedwiki Go to and type in “remc17.” You will get a list of the 36 wikishttp://seedwiki.com/

Lower El Wiki - Standard 6

Upper El Wiki - Standard 8

Middle School Wiki - Standard 1

High School Wiki - Standard 3

The Michigan Association for Media in Education Annual Conference Wiki MAME is the statewide association for school library media specialists.

Creating the MAME Conference Wiki I used the 2006 conference wiki extensively to access conference information. I also used the 2006 ALA conference wiki to locate information. I shamelessly borrowed from both wikis to create the MAME conference wiki!

MY OBVIOUS REASON (AND THE ULTERIOR MOTIVE) TO CREATE A CONFERENCE WIKI! OBVIOUS REASON: market the annual conference ULTERIOR MOTIVE: motivate media specialists in Michigan to use a wiki

I Used PBwiki

Up-To-Date Information I updated the sessions grid as soon as a change was made

Media Specialists Participated

Enhancing the Wiki As media specialists added content I would go in and add links. For example, if someone recommended a restaurant in the conference area I created a link to the restaurant website. To make the website more interesting I also added colors and changed font sizes.

Static Information I added images like conference and hotel registration forms as jpegs so they could not be edited.

Backing Up the Wiki Data Even though wiki sites store edited versions of data I used my own low-tech backup plan. When changes were made to the wiki I went into Edit Mode, copied the code and then saved it as a Word document.

MARKETING THE WIKI I sent an update to the MAME listserv at least once a week. The updates reminded members to go to the wiki to find conference information or to add comments and questions.

The 2007 MAME Annual Conference Wiki Because of the positive feedback on the 2006 wiki, I used it as a template for the 2007 conference wiki.

Flickr photos representative of the host city were The skin was The MAME logo was Some links were removed and others were added.

The MAME 2007 Conference Wiki

The School Library Marketing Wiki

The Beginning A committee made up of media specialists, Library of Michigan staff, ISD and REMC employees and the Director of MAME was formed to develop a marketing product to be given to school administrators. I was asked to create a wiki to facilitate brainstorming.

The School Library Marketing Wiki

The Wiki Wheel

The Wiki Categories

Sample Page With Added Content

Sample Page with Added Content

One More Project to Mention! Podcastingatschool.seedwiki.com

THANK YOU!