Baltimore County Public Schools

Guidelines for the Use of

Wikis for Teaching and Learning

Office of Instructional Technology

Office of Library Information Services

October 2009

The Board of Education of Baltimore County (Board) recognizes that as telecommunications and other new technologies change the ways that information may be accessed, communicated, and transferred by members of society, those changes may also alter instruction and student learning. The Board expects that the employees will integrate thoughtful use of electronic resources throughout the curriculum. The Board supports access by students to information resources along with the development by employees of appropriate skills to access, analyze, and evaluate such resources.

For students, telecommunications in the Baltimore County Public Schools are for

educational purposes, such as accessing curriculum-related information, sharingresources, and promoting innovation in learning. Learning how to use this wealth of information and how to communicate electronically are fundamental to prepare citizens and future employees for the 21st century. Students shall be held responsible for appropriate behavior as specified in the Telecommunications Acceptable Use Policy for Students form (Series 6202, Form A).Telecommunications extend the classroom beyond the school building by providing access to information resources on local, state, national, international, and commercial electronic networks. Telecommunications, because they may lead students to any publicly available fileserver in the world, will open classrooms to electronic information resources that may change daily and which have not been evaluated by educators for use by students of various ages. The Board of Education expects that employees will provide guidance and instruction to students in the appropriate use of such resources as specified in the Telecommunications Acceptable Use Policy for Students Form (Series 6202, Form

A) and the Telecommunications Acceptable Use Policy for Employees Form (Series 4006, Form A).

Background

The Offices of Instructional Technology and Library Information Services provide leadership to schools and offices on the successful development and management of online collaborative workspaces.  

Collaborative online tools allow multiple users to be active contributors to discussions, problem solving, information sharing, and creative productions.

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easily add, remove and edit content for access on the Internet.  Collaborative workspaces are powerful tools to enhance student learning and to deliver professional development. 

Purposes for using collaborative workspaces include, but are certainly not limited to, include the following:

• Curriculum offices facilitating collaboration among teachers
• Staff members in a local school collaborating for a common purpose, such as School Improvement Teams or Leadership Teams
• Groups of professionals with common roles jigsawing to produce resources
• Gateway to teacher-made student assignments, resources, homework help, and guidance.
• Groups of schools working together to solve a problem
• Students collaborating on a joint research project
• Groups of students engaging in grand conversations about texts
• Motivating students to read through online book discussion
• Extending learning opportunities beyond the classroom and school day
• Expanding writing opportunities for students
• Enhancing the editing process by increasing opportunities for peer review and revision
• Debating current events

A Internet is not like carefully crafted one-way informational Web site like that emerged resulting from educational access to the Internet in the early 1990’s.   Instead, it seeks to involve the visitor in an ongoing process of creation and collaboration that constantly changes the Web site landscape. It is a collaborative environment that allows participants to exchange ideas, share successes and challenges, build knowledge and problem solve, and provide support to one another.  A Internet enables documents to be written collaboratively, in a simple markup language using a web browser. A single page in a Internet Web site is referred to as a "Internet page", while the entire collection of pages, which are usually interconnected by hyperlinks, is "the Internet".  The world's largest public example of a Internet is Internetpedia.

Benefits of a Internet:  Creating a Web presence with Internets is easy and quick (Internet is the Hawaiian word for quick).  Internets use WYSIWYG (What Your See Is What You Get) editing so that creating and editing a page is as easy as using Microsoft Word.  In addition, the Insert Plugin option makes it easy to embed video, audio, calendars equations, spreadsheets, PowerPoints and much more to the site. The ease-of-use and various collaborative tools enable students and staff to extend learning opportunities; to supplement face-to-face instruction; and support communication between school-based staffs, curriculum offices, professional development participants, students, and/or other groups with common goals.  The benefits of using a Internet include the provision of:

• Communication tools that enhance collaboration through discussion, shared documents, and shared virtual workspaces.
• Online access to shared resources for curriculum and professional development available from a home or work computer 24/7
• An environment designed to complement traditional instruction, promote a constructivist approach to learning, encourage collaborative problem solving, and improve student achievement.
• Management system through the pbWorks Campus license that enables staff monitoring of Internets authorized, security provisions, and usage statistics.

Successful Implementation of a Internet:  There are several critical components to successful implementation of a Internet..  These components are detailed below. 

Expectations of a Successful Internet

The most successful Internets are those in which:

• The goals, purposes, and expectations are understood by all
• The administrator of the Internet understands and is dedicated to ensuring success. 

Expectations include the following:

• Administrators of the Internet shall monitor and respond in a timely manner to all activity on the Internet.
• All BCPS policies and guidelines are carefully followed as set forth in the BCPS Telecommunications policies and rules for both students and teachers.  See Telecommunications Policy and Rule for Staff and Telecommunications Policy and Rule for Students.  As of 2008, BCPS may use a "...child's photograph, video, and/or sound recording identified by the child's first and surname..." and also a "...child's intellectual property, identified by [the] child's first and surname..." as long as the content being used was "created during school-sponsored activities and/or learning experiences" UNLESS the child's parent or guardian has specifically opted out via the current school year's student handbook.  Do not publish a student's home address, or home telephone number. (Rule 1110:B:7) See Rule 6202 Items K and L for more information.
• Security features in the Internet are enabled to protect student and teacher privacy by enabling the wiki administrator the ability to invite users and to assign access levels such as reader, writer, editor, page level viewing only.
• Participants are actively involved in collaborating and building knowledge by sharing ideas, posing questions, and providing support to one another.
• Students receive direct instruction on and practice in Internet etiquette and effective online social networking.
• Permission to use copyrighted text and/or graphics must be given by the owner and referenced on the Internet. Additionally, the educator must keep a hard copy of the completed permission form. Use of Web design elements without proper copyright or license is strictly prohibited as referenced in the BCPS Telecommunication Policy at  ../system/policies_rules/rules/1000Series/RULE1110.1.PDF   The copyright permission form is available at ../FORMS_EXHIBITS/6000Series/FORM6202E.pdf

The purpose of this manual is to provide an overview of Internet in the Baltimore County Public Schools and to explain the guidelines and procedures for development, implementation and management.

Creating and/or Upgrading a Internet

To enhance the security and management of Internets, the Offices of Instructional Technology and Library Information Services have purchased Gold Memberships for every staff member from our selected Internet provider: PBWorks.  Gold Membership benefits include:

• Unlimited workspaces. Each staff member may create as many Internets as he/she needs.
• Advanced security settings.  Granular access controls let you control who can view and edit pages and folders.
• Single student login.  A direct feed from our LDAP/Active Directory will add students' user names and passwords.
• Easy setup and management.  Internets can be cloned as needed and managed at the district and school level.
• Multimedia plugins.   Embed video & audio with a few clicks.
• Tags, RSS, and full page revisions.
• Student accountability.  See who changed what, and automatically reverse any changes.
• Support. Get PBworks outstanding support and educator-specific resources.
• Professional Development.   Multiple venues (face-to-face, online, and job-embedded) have been created to provide professional development.

There are four pathways to creating and/or upgrading a Internet to Gold Membership status.  Choose the one that is appropriate for your learning style, preferences, and needs.

1.  If you have already created a pbWorks wiki and are using it successfully with students and/or staff, contact XXXXX to have your wiki upgraded and added to the pbWorks Campus Edition.  You will need to complete a brief online tutorial about the additional features available to you as a Gold Member.
2.  If you have never created a pbWorks wiki and prefer to have hands-on training, attend one of the many training sessions available at various times and locations throughout the County.  After you successfully complete the training, you will have the Internet you created during the training upgraded and added to the Campus Edition.