Erin Connery joined the Wikispaces team recently as our Operations Manager. Be sure to tell him hello below and stay tuned for more thoughts from our new team members over the coming months. I studied social innovation at Babson College and much of my education focused on entrepreneurship and social responsibility. After graduating I worked at a corporate social responsibility consultancy for three years. Our team comprised of entrepreneurs and academics and served as one of many parts working to improve the business practices of a multinational corporation (generating multibillion-dollar annual revenue). The power in a large corporate checkbook was exciting to me; we’d tell them how to spend all that money and the world would become a better place! But I soon realized that while the corporate business leaders control a lot of money, and this money can purchase many things (our advice, branding, lobbying power) a large checkbook does not by itself create responsible leadership inside a corporation. Too often "corporate social responsibility" turns into branding and philanthropy. This idea that responsibility wasn’t simply for sale, and couldn’t be purchased, resulted in a more serious lesson: creating a strategy to actually improve responsibility inside a large and complex company required focus that was deliberate and relentless. It required concentrating attention on the target with the power to implement change, which in this case was the managers and leaders inside a company. When trying to figure out how to improve something without a clear definition of success, such as improve "responsibility" or "education" the business has to become much like a classroom. We spent much of the first year in conversation with their corporate team, listening and building personal relationships in order to discover how we might add value, trading role of teacher and student as we collaborated on ideas. This lesson about focus transfers to where I am today, at a company developing a digital classroom. A classroom is, by general definition, "any place where one learns or gains experience." So how do you create "any place"—a digital platform that was customizable for a wide range of users (i.e. K-12 classes)? Improving "education," like improving "responsibility," lacks a clear definition of success, and so requires the same rigorous focus. Unlike corporations, schools and teachers generally have very small budgets. The "education technology" field is full of companies designing technology to make these small budgets stretch farther. But great technology by itself cannot create a great education inside the classroom; it requires teachers. That’s what drew me to Wikispaces; this small company iterated its platform design based on the feedback it received from its users over the course of 10 years. This led to the simple and powerful objective it holds today: to help teachers help students. It seems when the goal is to improve areas as complex and personal as "responsibility" and "education" there is no easy solution. The solution must be created, and we must treat business as a classroom in order to find the focus with which we develop that solution.

This past school year, my mother retired after 25 years teaching in a K-8 school in New Hampshire. At her retirement party I found myself surrounded by her friends, most of them teachers who I’ve known for years. Several use Wikispaces, and one explained that a 2007 YouTube video called "Wikis in Plain English" was her first introduction into what a wiki could be used for. This four-minute video shows how a group of four friends prepare for a camping trip by collaborating on a wiki page. By listing the items they already have, and creating a list of what they still need to bring, they are able to decide who will bring what. The same teacher recalled: "When I watched that short video in 2007, it quickly made sense what a wiki was useful for: quick and easy collaboration!" She then recounted how she used Wikispaces to create an exercise for her students, and how (again, in 2007) she was advised by her school’s administration to cease using wikis altogether. As she put it, wikis at that time were considered "a low-class teaching tool." Over the past decade wikis have become powerful and commonplace tools, especially inside the classroom, so we all had a good laugh at that. But her story brought up a good point: what does the future hold for wikis and teachers? Even more than currently takes place, the near future will see teachers collaborating with teachers to become better teachers. The dictionary defines collaboration as: the action of working with someone to produce or create something. By definition, collaboration creates something. On the near horizon, there are at least three parts that will come together: When teachers collaborate on these platforms, what exactly is created? If you watched the 4-minute "Wikis in Plain English" video, you saw a very basic collaboration take place between four friends, and it was easy to see what was created: the camping group discussed the needs of the trip and created a list of needed items, then decided who would bring what. The discussions and lists eventually informed them: ‘we have everything we need; we’ll have a great trip.’ Similarly, teachers can collaborate to become informed about what content is the most relevant and effective. The syllabus provides teachers with a structure that helps them plan and execute their creative vision of education. Teachers from all over the world will share relevant content, rate the quality of content, and integrate new ideas into their classrooms. This collaboration, and the content being discussed, will help them build a story within the structure of their syllabus. The specific value that is created lies in the quality of content and the number of choices provided to the teacher to ‘create their story’ with. That is the real creation of teachers collaborating. What we’re seeing now and will see more of in the future is teachers collaborating, in a way, with the content itself. Teachers will only continue to have even better resources and methods to teach those resources. In the next post, we’ll look at teaching content that exists as a living document, continually edited and updated, and why this can be so valuable to students. What is your school currently doing to facilitate teacher collaboration? Teachers, how have you collaborated with other teachers in the past? Please share your insights below.

This past school year, my mother retired after 25 years teaching in a K-8 school in New Hampshire. At her retirement party I found myself surrounded by her friends, most of them teachers who I’ve known for years. Several use Wikispaces, and one explained that a 2007 YouTube video called "Wikis in Plain English" was her first introduction into what a wiki could be used for. This four-minute video shows how a group of four friends prepare for a camping trip by collaborating on a wiki page. By listing the items they already have, and creating a list of what they still need to bring, they are able to decide who will bring what. The same teacher recalled: "When I watched that short video in 2007, it quickly made sense what a wiki was useful for: quick and easy collaboration!" She then recounted how she used Wikispaces to create an exercise for her students, and how (again, in 2007) she was advised by her school’s administration to cease using wikis altogether. As she put it, wikis at that time were considered "a low-class teaching tool." Over the past decade wikis have become powerful and commonplace tools, especially inside the classroom, so we all had a good laugh at that. But her story brought up a good point: what does the future hold for wikis and teachers? Even more than currently takes place, the near future will see teachers collaborating with teachers to become better teachers. The dictionary defines collaboration as: the action of working with someone to produce or create something. By definition, collaboration creates something. On the near horizon, there are at least three parts that will come together: When teachers collaborate on these platforms, what exactly is created? If you watched the 4-minute "Wikis in Plain English" video, you saw a very basic collaboration take place between four friends, and it was easy to see what was created: the camping group discussed the needs of the trip and created a list of needed items, then decided who would bring what. The discussions and lists eventually informed them: ‘we have everything we need; we’ll have a great trip.’ Similarly, teachers can collaborate to become informed about what content is the most relevant and effective. The syllabus provides teachers with a structure that helps them plan and execute their creative vision of education. Teachers from all over the world will share relevant content, rate the quality of content, and integrate new ideas into their classrooms. This collaboration, and the content being discussed, will help them build a story within the structure of their syllabus. The specific value that is created lies in the quality of content and the number of choices provided to the teacher to ‘create their story’ with. That is the real creation of teachers collaborating. What we’re seeing now and will see more of in the future is teachers collaborating, in a way, with the content itself. Teachers will only continue to have even better resources and methods to teach those resources. In the next post, we’ll look at teaching content that exists as a living document, continually edited and updated, and why this can be so valuable to students. What is your school currently doing to facilitate teacher collaboration? Teachers, how have you collaborated with other teachers in the past? Please share your insights below.

Robert Maloy started the Resources for History Teachers wiki in 2009. This is his Wikispaces story. 1. Briefly describe your group, your wiki, and what you use it to do: resourcesforhistoryteachers is a wiki designed for teachers and students, created by teachers and students. Robert Maloy, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, began resourcesforhistoryteachers in 2009 as part of a course designed to help college students prepare for the Massachusetts History Teacher Test. Since that time, resourcesforhistoryteachers has grown beyond its initial focus to become a multimedia/multicultural history learning resource for teachers, students and schools throughout the United States and around the world: The site now includes all of the Massachusetts history standards for grades K-12 as well as the national Advanced Placement (AP) World History, United States History and American Government standards. There are more than 600 pages in the site and the number is constantly growing as users contribute new information and create subpages off main pages. Users of the wiki come from a wide-ranging community of educators committed to developing interesting and engaging curriculum for students studying history, government, economics and geography. The site now features links to multicultural and multimedia resources as well as short summaries of historical events, making it an interactive and engaging experience for history learners. There are links to primary sources, video resources, learning games, resources for teaching the histories of diverse people, historical biographies and many more materials for use in school classrooms. The goal is for teachers and students to have multiple resources for covering, uncovering and discovering the past. 2. Besides the Edit button, which wiki feature is your favorite? Being able to create cross-links between pages is an exciting feature. Teachers and students can access information about an historical topic on one page and then explore more connections about that topic on related pages. Giving users the option to explore the pages in their own way makes this site a unique type of digital textbook for use in schools. Students can follow their own interests as explorers of the past through the lens of multiple types of learning resources. The option to add images to the pages is another favorite feature. Pictures, maps, and other visual resources serve to bring historical material alive for teachers and students while creating visually engaging pages within the wiki. We also like the idea of creating subpages off a main page so that teachers and students can explore a specific topic in more depth by leaving the main page to read and explore the subpage. 3. What is one way you’re using wikis and other web 2.0 tools in your projects? We have found that the resourcesforhistoryteachers wiki can be paired with other Web 2.0 tools to create engaging history learning experiences. One idea is what we call a Wikiquest. Like a WebQuest, students explore multiple online resources as part of a class assignment. But in a Wikiquest, students do their explorations within the resourcesforhistoryteachers wiki, both accessing existing materials and adding new ones so that the wiki becomes a regularly evolving digital text and learning resource. A second idea involves using the resourcesforhistoryteachers wiki in conjunction with social bookmarking sites like Delicious and Diigo. Teachers and students can assemble collections of web materials on their social bookmarking site and then link that material to wiki. This is enabled teachers and students to create stacks of resources about historical figures (historical biography stacks) or events (historical event stacks). Students in classrooms can follow each other social bookmarks while all the wiki users can also access the material. 4. Tell us about a particular moment that made you say, "Aha! THIS is why I use wikis!" Wikis create ongoing opportunities for interaction and collaboration that result in powerful learning for teachers and students. Instead of a teacher lecturing about historical material or telling students to read online sources by themselves, wikis invite students to construct knowledge together by actively exploring existing resources and adding new ones to a public site that everyone can access and use. 5. If you could ask it, what do you think your wiki would say about you? Active learning, critical thinking, and collaborative interaction are the hallmarks of how the resourcesforhistoryteachers wiki functions as a transformative technology for history learning by teachers and students. Wikis make historical knowledge visible and accessible to teachers and students who are both the creators and the receivers of that knowledge.

Robert Maloy started the Resources for History Teachers wiki in 2009. This is his Wikispaces story. 1. Briefly describe your group, your wiki, and what you use it to do: resourcesforhistoryteachers is a wiki designed for teachers and students, created by teachers and students. Robert Maloy, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, began resourcesforhistoryteachers in 2009 as part of a course designed to help college students prepare for the Massachusetts History Teacher Test. Since that time, resourcesforhistoryteachers has grown beyond its initial focus to become a multimedia/multicultural history learning resource for teachers, students and schools throughout the United States and around the world: The site now includes all of the Massachusetts history standards for grades K-12 as well as the national Advanced Placement (AP) World History, United States History and American Government standards. There are more than 600 pages in the site and the number is constantly growing as users contribute new information and create subpages off main pages. Users of the wiki come from a wide-ranging community of educators committed to developing interesting and engaging curriculum for students studying history, government, economics and geography. The site now features links to multicultural and multimedia resources as well as short summaries of historical events, making it an interactive and engaging experience for history learners. There are links to primary sources, video resources, learning games, resources for teaching the histories of diverse people, historical biographies and many more materials for use in school classrooms. The goal is for teachers and students to have multiple resources for covering, uncovering and discovering the past. 2. Besides the Edit button, which wiki feature is your favorite? Being able to create cross-links between pages is an exciting feature. Teachers and students can access information about an historical topic on one page and then explore more connections about that topic on related pages. Giving users the option to explore the pages in their own way makes this site a unique type of digital textbook for use in schools. Students can follow their own interests as explorers of the past through the lens of multiple types of learning resources. The option to add images to the pages is another favorite feature. Pictures, maps, and other visual resources serve to bring historical material alive for teachers and students while creating visually engaging pages within the wiki. We also like the idea of creating subpages off a main page so that teachers and students can explore a specific topic in more depth by leaving the main page to read and explore the subpage. 3. What is one way you’re using wikis and other web 2.0 tools in your projects? We have found that the resourcesforhistoryteachers wiki can be paired with other Web 2.0 tools to create engaging history learning experiences. One idea is what we call a Wikiquest. Like a WebQuest, students explore multiple online resources as part of a class assignment. But in a Wikiquest, students do their explorations within the resourcesforhistoryteachers wiki, both accessing existing materials and adding new ones so that the wiki becomes a regularly evolving digital text and learning resource. A second idea involves using the resourcesforhistoryteachers wiki in conjunction with social bookmarking sites like Delicious and Diigo. Teachers and students can assemble collections of web materials on their social bookmarking site and then link that material to wiki. This is enabled teachers and students to create stacks of resources about historical figures (historical biography stacks) or events (historical event stacks). Students in classrooms can follow each other social bookmarks while all the wiki users can also access the material. 4. Tell us about a particular moment that made you say, "Aha! THIS is why I use wikis!" Wikis create ongoing opportunities for interaction and collaboration that result in powerful learning for teachers and students. Instead of a teacher lecturing about historical material or telling students to read online sources by themselves, wikis invite students to construct knowledge together by actively exploring existing resources and adding new ones to a public site that everyone can access and use. 5. If you could ask it, what do you think your wiki would say about you? Active learning, critical thinking, and collaborative interaction are the hallmarks of how the resourcesforhistoryteachers wiki functions as a transformative technology for history learning by teachers and students. Wikis make historical knowledge visible and accessible to teachers and students who are both the creators and the receivers of that knowledge.

We need your help! We’re currently working on an exciting new project to help educators find and use peer-developed teaching resources. We need feedback from teachers to make sure we’re on the right track. The link below leads to a brief survey, which should take about 10 minutes. Take the survey.  Please complete the survey before 5pm PST on Friday July 17, 2015. We can’t do what we do without your feedback. Thank you! The Wikispaces team

We need your help! We’re currently working on an exciting new project to help educators find and use peer-developed teaching resources. We need feedback from teachers to make sure we’re on the right track. The link below leads to a brief survey, which should take about 10 minutes. Take the survey.  Please complete the survey before 5pm PST on Friday July 17, 2015. We can’t do what we do without your feedback. Thank you! The Wikispaces team

We’re excited to invite you and all the teachers on Wikispaces to join TES, the largest online community of educators in the world. Create an account today to start uploading your original teaching materials. It’s easy to begin: Create a TES account Upload your resources Earn 100% royalty on every U.S. purchase Become an early member and you’ll: Get extra help organizing and marketing your materials Have the opportunity to provide feedback on our platform Later this summer, we’ll be opening up our marketplace to educators to browse, download, and purchase your resources on TES. We’ve been busy working on this new product and look forward to sharing it with you! If you have any questions, check out our FAQs, or contact us.

We’re excited to invite you and all the teachers on Wikispaces to join TES, the largest online community of educators in the world. Create an account today to start uploading your original teaching materials. It’s easy to begin: Create a TES account Upload your resources Earn 100% royalty on every U.S. purchase Become an early member and you’ll: Get extra help organizing and marketing your materials Have the opportunity to provide feedback on our platform Later this summer, we’ll be opening up our marketplace to educators to browse, download, and purchase your resources on TES. We’ve been busy working on this new product and look forward to sharing it with you! If you have any questions, check out our FAQs, or contact us.

In support of National Bullying Prevention Month this October, we plan to share wikis that help educators and students cultivate bully-free communities. Submit your wikis that provide anti-bullying and social-emotional learning resources by October 9th. We’ll select some to share on our blog and social media, as well as more broadly across the TES community. You can submit your wiki by either providing a link to it in the comments section of this post or tweeting it to us @wikispaces with hashtag #antibullying. Join us in putting an end to bullying!