Wikipedia. It has always been a constant cringe word for teachers. Most hate it and refuse to use it as a resource. The fact that anyone could update it is what scares most people away. What about the fact that it has been proven that wikipedia is edited more by people that want to do right than wrong? In 2004, University of Buffalo professor Alex Halavais tested this by created 13 errors on various posts on Wikipedia, all of which were fixed in a couple of hours. What about the other fact, that wikipedia is well used news source that updates faster than most sites and most newscasts? For example, the Wikipedia entry created about the Indian Ocean earthquake that struck just after Christmas 2004 and created a tsunami that killed more than 175,000 people was able to turn from just a simple post, to a mass read thing able for viewing across the world for anyone with a computer or internet access. Wikipedia is just an example of a Wiki. Wiki can be edited and viewed by anyone. Great for using online to let families know what's going on in your school or in your classroom. Lots of teachers use PBwiki.com which is a site to help people get used to the wiki world.
Another helpful tool to use for a classroom teacher is a RSS feed. This allows teachers to see several helpful sites on one page (like the newsfeed on facebook that shows current statuses) and to see what is used most and most recently. This can be done on Google Reader. You can set up your own settings for what you personally want to see and how you want it to be organized. Try it out today! Just go to www.google.com/reader to subscribe!
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