Although Wikipedia has been around for for quite some time, I got my first interaction with the world of Wiki in my Professional Semester I. It was in my Evaluation and Assessment class. We used WikiSpaces to create a page that focused on an aspect of education and assessment. My group and I decided to do a site on Online assessment tools. Click on this link to see the website. The thing that really amazed me was how much work we were able to do without needing to come together. If we wanted others to know what we had done we would simply leave a message. However that was unnecessary since users could simply look at the edits and compare changes. I do feel I should mention that WikiSpaces didn't eliminate need to meet together. That isn't to say that it couldn't be done without ever meeting together, it's just as a group we decided that some direct collaboration was still needed. Perhaps that could be because that is what we are used to. That brings up the question, is it important to retain certain forms of collaboration, or should we be looking for total integration?
In the UK, Melissa Cole conducted a study in a post secondary institution. She wanted to see how accepting students were of this new approach to learning. The flaw in her study was that the wiki technology was not made mandatory. What she found was that most students had visited the site, but no one had contributed. She administered a questionnaire and what she discovered was that students had not participated because they were confused, or they felt self-conscious about posting. (Cole, 145) - To access this link you will need to log in with a U of L Account. She concludes that although her experiment was a failure, the students were interested in using wiki technology in education, they just need a little more guidance. This comes back to something I have mentioned before in posts and comments on other peoples blogs. These are tools. As teachers we need to decide which tools are appropriate for our students. More importantly we need to first be competent, so that we can give our students the best chance at success. Some ideas on using wiki technology.: 1. Using a technology like WikiSpaces you can create a class website. You can choose to make this public or private. This can take away any anxiety that students might have about posting. 2. Create groups. Decide whether or not the project is best done as a class, in small groups, or as individuals. What outcomes are you trying to achieve. Different objectives will have different situations. 3. Focus on Collaboration. Make sure that everyone feels like they are contributing to the wiki. If done in small groups it's important that the teacher monitors student involvement and participation. I enjoy wiki technology and plan on using it in my classroom where ever I can. Thanks For Reading! References: http://www.wikispaces.com/ (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wikispaces.com/ Koh, E., & Lim, J. (2012). Using online collaboration applications for group assignments: The interplay between design and human characteristics. Computers & Education, 59(2), 481-496. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2012.02.002 Cole, M. (2009). Using Wiki technology to support student engagement: Lessons from the trenches. Computers & Education,52(1), 141-146. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2008.07.003
2 Comments
Kaye Abella
7/20/2013 05:15:58 am
Hi Lawrence,
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Lawrence Bolokoski
7/21/2013 01:51:18 pm
Hi Kaye,
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