Title – Understanding Wikis and

Ethics/Responsibility of Internet Postings.

By – John Pawkowski

Primary Subject – Computers / Internet

Secondary Subjects – Social Studies

Grade Level – 8-12

Teacher Prep Time – 20 min

Class Time – 40-45 min

Anticipatory Set: Have students log onto web site:

www.wikimmunity.org

Objective: The student will be able to enter information about businesses or local attractions and to understand the importance of ethics and personal responsibility when posting information on the Internet.

Input: Wiki’s are web sites that allow anyone to collectively contribute content to a web site. Web sites like wikimmunity.org allow users to enter info related to various topics by creating an article or adding to a previously created article. Pages can be enhanced by uploading pictures of the attraction or business.

Modeling: Show students the wikimmunity.org home page and explain the purpose of this web site, whose goal is to build an informational database on every community in the world, including information about local attractions and local businesses.

Also show students how to create a page on a topic by simply replacing the text on the home page, “Main_Page” with “Whatever_the_topic_is”

Guided Practice: Write a few sentences describing the topic you have chosen to create a page about.

Check for understanding: Ask students to view your newly created page on their computers and ask if there are any questions as to how you created the page.

Independent Practice: Have students pick five attractions or businesses anywhere in the country or around the world that they are familiar with, either from memory or by looking though the yellow pages directory (online or print). Have them write a short article about each business or attraction.

Closure: Ask for volunteers to review several of the pages created and have the class go to the same pages to review page setup. Explain the importance of being ethical and responsble when posting information on the Internet.

E-Mail

John Pawkowski

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