Wikis defined from Wikipedia: "A wiki is a medium which can be edited by anyone with access to it, and provides an easy method for linking from one page to another. Wikis are typically collaborative websites... One of the best-known wikis is Wikipedia."
At the Dalton School wikis have been used as a collaboration tool and are an example of our natural evoluton towards shared spaces. Dalton has grown from personal storage spaces, to shared department accounts, and now to shared, collaborative web spaces in the form of wikis.
In projects such as Beowiki (Middle School History Assignment) students use their wiki as a shared workspace to collaboratively annotate passages of text. By using a wiki students are now able to continue their work collectively, outside of school, while being in separate locations. Their teacher also has direct access to their work as well as a history of every change between saves.
The most extensive use of wikis has been in the High School Mathematics Department. Dalton Math teachers, grades 7-12, have developed a common virtual space to share and edit curriculum, post math problems, deliver homework assignments, and keep notes. The wiki serves as classroom manager, departmental manager, teaching resource as well as center for curricular discussions.
The New Laboratory for Teaching (New Lab) and Learning has also invested in using a wiki as a platform for communication among its members as well as sharing information among the entire community. The ease of use, and ability for communal editing make it helpful in planning large projects, creating a FAQ list, and creating data repositories.