Definition

A wiki is an interactive website that allows several editors to write, change and otherwise update information on the site. A history is kept of all changes which allows the administrator to reverse changes. In most cases an administrator decides who will have writing and who will have reading access to the site.

Examples

Medical Education Wiki
My wiki about teaching in a medical school. I'm currently looking for writers.
Student Doctor Wiki
Part of the Student Doctor Network originally created at the University of Kansas
Clinical Informatics Wiki
A wiki about medical technology
Family Medicine Faculty Development Committee
A closed wiki only available to members of the committee
Deirdre's Wiki
A wiki of resource links that I use for workshops. 3,000 people have accessed this link.
Ask Dr. Wiki
An informal repository of medical resources that currently has 86 editors.

Useful For

Students

• projects at a distance
• reflective writing that is private
• portfolios

• writing assignments
• casebased exercises at a distance

• answering questions

• PBL at a distance

• accessing learning resources

• peer reviewed writing

Faculty

• research at a distance

• collaborative projects at a distance

• faculty development

Committees (private to committee)

• planning events

• storage of minutes, reports etc
• agendas
• resource sharing
• article sharing