Wikipedia

Have you discovered the world of wikis? If not, your students probably have! Wikipedia describes itself as the world's largest free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Remember those encyclopedias that we grew up with? We'd travel to the library, research our topic, find some outdated information from large, heavy encyclopedias that were arranged alphabetically and of course, use other resources as well.
With Wikipedia, information is constantly updated and reviewed for accuracy. Start exploring wikis with a topic that interests you as an introduction to this exciting research tool. For example, one instructional technology tool that has been receiving a great deal of press is the interactive whiteboard. I recently searched the Wikipedia entry on the SmartBoard and was able to effortlessly add some classroom use extensions under that category. If you would like to learn more about SmartBoards, this is a great resource.
The Internet has expanded from an environment where one accesses material to an environment for content creation. Wikis are just one example of the power of the Web 2.0! And from an accessible point of view considering Universal Design for Learning, when content is digital, it is, by definition, accessible to those who are print disabled whether due to visual impairment or reading disabilities.