In the last 48 hours since they opened up to the world, I’ve had numerous people tell me that I had to check out Qwiki. I finally did check it out this afternoon and all I can say is “wow!”
Qwiki is a multimedia encyclopedia containing more than three million entries. Qwiki publishes narrated, illustrated, interactive reference entries. To use Qwiki, enter a topic in the search box or select a topic from the featured topics on the homepage. Then watch, listen, and read the Qwiki entry for that topic. Below your chosen Qwiki you will see a selection of related Qwiki entries. You can also find related materials by clicking the “Q” symbol that appears at the end of the Qwiki play bar.
Qwikis can be embedded into your blog or website. Below I’ve embedded a Qwiki about archery.
And as the “wiki” in Qwiki implies, registered users can suggest videos and images to improve the reference entries. In the future registered users will be able to create their own Qwiki entries.
Qwiki could be a fantastic way for students to all kinds of information. For a lot of “standard” curriculum topics, Qwiki’s entries provide a more engaging format for learning about those topics than that offered by textbooks. What I’m really looking forward to though is the day when Qwiki lets users create their own entries to display on blogs and websites.
