Week+3+Innovation+Leeanna+Tims

Innovation: Wiki Wikis are steadily becoming an innovation to use in education. According to Forte and Brackman (2007) the earliest use of wikis in the field of education occurred at the college level in 1997. The diffusion of wikis in education has been slow along with the research available to support the use of wikis in the classroom. Parker and Chao (2007) noted a steady increase in educator use of wikis not just for use with their students but also with colleagues as a form of collaboration. According to wikispaces.com they are hosting 1,830,000 wikis of that, 323,000 are the K-12 education wikis. That would mean 17.65% are K-12 wikis. Wikis are a web-based technology that allows the users to create a website that can be used for collaboration, communication, and creativity. Within the wiki users can edit, discuss, create, and collaborate on projects for whatever purpose they may choose. Wikis are considered part of Web 2.0. Wikis, SMART Boards, and digital storytelling are all technologies that are being used the the educational setting. SMART Boards and digital storytelling are more commonly used in the classroom and are farther along in the diffusion process than wikis. According to Hester and Scott (2008) there are very few studies exploring wikis as an innovation. Hester and Scott (2008) did not complete a diffusion study of wikis, instead they created a model to aid in the diffusion of wikis. Hester and Scott (2008) suggested for diffusion to occur one must consider the “relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity” (p. 3) of wikis for use in organizational settings. The decision to choose wikis over SMART Boards and digital storytelling comes from personal interest and the idea that wikis can be very beneficial to use in the elementary setting with academically gifted students. Wikis if used properly can allow for differentiation of the curriculum in the regular classroom for gifted students. SMART Boards and digital storytelling to not allow for the same depth of differentiation that wikis would. The creation of a presentation to present to a board of directors on why wikis would be beneficial to gifted education is a step in the right direction for the diffusion of wikis in gifted education. References Forte, A., and A. Bruckman. 2007. Constructing text: Wiki as a toolkit for (collaborative?) learning. Paper presented at the 2007 International Symposium on Wikis, in Montreal. Retrieved from []  Hester, A.J. & Scott, J.E. (2008). A conceptual model of wiki technology diffusion. Retrieved from [] Parker, K. R. & Chao, J. T. (2007). Wiki as a teaching tool. Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects, 3, 56-72. Retrieved from []