Empathy 2.0 and the Wonderful World of Wiki Collaboration

In a perfect world, diversity would abound in people’s daily lives, promoting friendships across racial, ethnic, and religious lines. When that is not possible and students learn in a more segregated setting, wikis provide a tool to reach beyond the school walls, find a diverse audience, and create meaningful discourse. This article narrates an exploration of multiculturalism using a wiki that allowed two schools—one a Jewish day school and one an urban public school—to discuss experiences with intolerance, participate in literature circles, and post student work. Gee’s “situated learning” justifies this collaboration as a way to make meaning through literature by putting it into social and cultural contexts.