Is this the Wiki era?
The ubiquitous blog has become very popular for one-to-many publication over recent years. Whilst blogs provide various degrees of feedback on postings, they do have limitations. For example, they are not an effective means for many-to-many applications, such as producing a collaborative document.
The wiki concept has been around for some time and there are many different software implementations to suit most situations. Even virtual learning environments - such as Moodle - incorporate wikis as a resource for course design. In fact, the Moodle website makes extensive use of the wiki format to produce and publish its own documentation.
One of the most prominent examples of a wiki is, of course, the popular and very extensive Wikipedia. Thinking of a wiki implementation in terms of such a large scale would be a daunting prospect for any prospective user.
Gradually, it seems that the wiki is beginning to be used for collaborative work within educational and professional development settings. David Warlick, for example, is a great fan of wikis and highlights both the advantages and disadvantages of wikis in his own presentations. Increasingly, forward thinking educational conferences and organisations are beginning to use wikis to capture and share the views of registered users on various topics.
As an educator, it is best to consider a wiki as an interactive resource for small-scale collaborative work. We have been working with various groups on developing the use of wikis for a range of collaborative activities. Not only does it provide online access for a group of users anytime and anywhere, changes and edits to the content are logged and can be tracked over time, making it easy to moderate content or re-publish an earlier version. It is unadvisable to have free-for-all access to a wiki for obvious reasons!
If you are an educator working with a small group who need to develop a shared document, the wiki offers tremendous scope for such many-to-many collaboration as well as extending the range of e-learning experiences. One challenge is selecting a wiki implementation, although there are also a small number of online wikis that you can choose to register with. Perhaps the biggest challenge is the ease of creating a "solo" blog rather than a "group" or "community" wiki. As our collective knowledge and understanding of using wikis in educational settings evolves, it is possible that the wiki era within education could soon be with us.
The wiki concept has been around for some time and there are many different software implementations to suit most situations. Even virtual learning environments - such as Moodle - incorporate wikis as a resource for course design. In fact, the Moodle website makes extensive use of the wiki format to produce and publish its own documentation.
One of the most prominent examples of a wiki is, of course, the popular and very extensive Wikipedia. Thinking of a wiki implementation in terms of such a large scale would be a daunting prospect for any prospective user.
Gradually, it seems that the wiki is beginning to be used for collaborative work within educational and professional development settings. David Warlick, for example, is a great fan of wikis and highlights both the advantages and disadvantages of wikis in his own presentations. Increasingly, forward thinking educational conferences and organisations are beginning to use wikis to capture and share the views of registered users on various topics.
As an educator, it is best to consider a wiki as an interactive resource for small-scale collaborative work. We have been working with various groups on developing the use of wikis for a range of collaborative activities. Not only does it provide online access for a group of users anytime and anywhere, changes and edits to the content are logged and can be tracked over time, making it easy to moderate content or re-publish an earlier version. It is unadvisable to have free-for-all access to a wiki for obvious reasons!
If you are an educator working with a small group who need to develop a shared document, the wiki offers tremendous scope for such many-to-many collaboration as well as extending the range of e-learning experiences. One challenge is selecting a wiki implementation, although there are also a small number of online wikis that you can choose to register with. Perhaps the biggest challenge is the ease of creating a "solo" blog rather than a "group" or "community" wiki. As our collective knowledge and understanding of using wikis in educational settings evolves, it is possible that the wiki era within education could soon be with us.
Labels: educators, lecturers, professors, teachers
posted by Dave Jobbings @ 11:23 AM
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