Overview

From WikiTextbook

WikiTextbook grew from a discussion between Steve Margetts, Head of Economics and Business Studies at (Torquay Boys' Grammar School), and Ian Grove-Stephensen (Chalkface). Ian agreed to allow Steve to put the site on Chalkface's servers and to provide IT support when required. It was first published in March 2005.

It was set up partly in response to the phenomenal success of wikipediaand the belief that the wiki principle could be applied successfully to education. It is hoped that WikiTextbook will allow teachers to collaborate in the production of class and revision notes and become a portal for other sites.

We believe that WikiTextbook should be a free, high quality and up to date resource that is available to all.

It started life by dividing the site into GCSE and A level subjects. Exam board specifications were then used to decide upon which pages would be created; this would mean the site was tailored specifically for students following British examinations.

Blank pages were then produced and were ready for people to edit.

Almost a year on I am unsure of the success of the site.

I have placed a lot of material in the GCSE Business Studies section and this has been used by many students and teachers. Links to relevant website have been added by various users and students have created their own pages, e.g. students' notes on motivation. This has undoutably been a success and the site is the first port of call for the students when they have a question.

There are many areas of the site that are still empty - waiting for content to be added! The question is how to let teachers know that WikiTextbook exists? This is a project created by myself with the help of Ian and there is no money to spend on advertising. This is why part of me feels that the site is yet to be a success. It is not a failure, but it has yet to fulfill its potential!

I hope the future will bring teachers to the site who believe in the potential of wikis and are willing to share their resources. The future of WikiTextbook will depend on how many teachers and students find, use and contribute to the site.

Since it was set up there has been an increase in the amount of debate regarding the use of wikis in education.