An International Perspective on Wikis

Throughout my research and exploration on wikis I have found a variety of information from schools and universities outside the United States and their exploration into the world of wikis. With technology already making the world a smaller place, I was interested in seeing how others schools throughout the world were doing with wikis.
One school in Australia Deakin University offers dual mode delivery of degree to students. "Approximately half of Deakin's student body completes some or all of their degree through distance education " (Augar, Raitman and Zhou 2004). The paper I found from Deakin University discusses their research on distance education. Previous research they cited described students' dislike of a lack of interaction in an online class. The focus on the last section of the paper was a discussion on the university's use of wikis as an ice breaker to improve student interaction in online classes. The research reported that, "Overall the wiki proved to be a good technology for online collaboration. All participating students completed the exercise to a satisfactory standard, proving they could use the wiki in the process. Throughout the two week duration of the icebreaker exercise there was no misuse or intentional deletions from the wiki indicating that the security measures taken were adequate and effective" (Augar, Raitman and Zhou 2004). I thought this was a unique of a wiki to promote collaboration prior to entering into an online learning environment.

Another interesting pert of this paper was that they referenced Georgia Tech's use of a similar type of use of a wiki. I thought it was neat that while I am searching for international perspectives on wikis use a university in Australia was using research and an example wiki from my home state as their example of using wikis to promote collaboration and build an online community.

Teaching and Learning Online with Wikis
Author: Naomi Augar, Ruth Raitman and Wanlei Zhou
School of Information Technology
Deakin University
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/augar.html

Change Is Here- Make Sure You Are On Board

“The needs met by wikis—easy authoring of Web content, open access, unrestricted collaboration—are simply not being satisfied by present IT strategies and tools”.(Lamb 2004) Wikis are filling a gap in the new world of Web 2.0 for easy ways to edit and maintain web spaces. The reaction to the new type of Internet collaboration is varied between educators, however, “change is happening. What remains unknown is whether educators, institutions, and developers will join (or coexist with) the revolutionary forces or whether they’ll stand their ground and simply be overrun”. (Lamb 2004) I am optimistic that based on the websites and research I am examined throughout my blog teachers, instructors, and experts are beginning to embrace wikis for classroom activities, classroom web pages, and ways to teach courses. “It’s possible that wikis might simply represent the latest advance in online interaction—a cost-effective and readily adopted knowledge management tool. But as wikis make their mark in higher education, the ultimate implications may prove to be far more profound than mere gains in efficiency”(Lamb 2004). As we continue to look at examples of wikis in education we see more than just a simpler and more efficient type of webpage, but a space in which real higher order learning is taking place and collaboration is being challenged and expanded in our academic environments. The implication of what wikis will become is really based on how instructors, teachers, and researchers receive this new technology and if and when they begin to use it. I am optimistic though that wikis will be a part of the new future of education.

Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not by Brian Lamb: http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0452.asp

The Future of Wikis

I think motivation and collaboration are two key benefits to using a wiki. One draw back that has been discussed is the ability to vandalize wikis or delete parts of wikis. Wikipedia, which is the most widely known wiki, has been criticized by experts, teachers, and librarians for its inability to control postings and its credibility problems. This two drawbacks to wikis are common responses to the incorporation of wikis in the classroom that many teachers express. The future of wikis though is developing and the longer wikis are being used the more controlled and credible they will become. The future of wikis is sites like Citizendum, which was created by the co founder of Wikipedia. Citizendum attempts to address the credibility issues with Wikipedia and is a good example of how over time wikis will continue to evolve. I think the same is true with wikis uses and integration in education. The longer wikis are around and the more teachers that begin to understand the collaborative power of wikis the power benefits and uses we will find for this new piece of technology.

Citizendum Article: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2007/04/wikipedias_new_competition_cit_1.html

Beginning To Make Connections

So it has been an interesting week and I feel very behind in my postings. My husband is currently training in Virginia as a Quartermaster in the US Army. He has been there three weeks and this weekend, I got a chance to visit him for a four day weekend, which was great, but the last thing that was on my mind unfortunately was graduate school. Especially after the eight hour drive home this afternoon. However, now that I am back in town, I have a few thoughts that I would like to share. I am trying to begin pulling together my ideas about wikis.

Definition: “A wiki is a collaborative Website whose content can be edited by anyone who has access to it” (Boulos, Maramba, and Wheeler 2).

Examples: There are a lot of examples of wikis. Wikipedia (ww.wikipedia.org) is one of the most well known examples of a wiki; however there are many examples of teachers who are using wikis for education.

How to Use a Wiki in Education: A wiki can be used for a variety of purposes. The main use that I have explored is the use of wikis for student collaboration and group work. “Wikis can be used as a source for obtaining information and knowledge, and also as a method of virtual collaboration, e.g., to share dialogue and information among participants in group projects, or to allow learners to engage in learning with each other, using wikis as a collaborative environment to construct their knowledge or to be part of a virtual community of practice” (Boulos, Maramba, and Wheeler 2). Wikis can also be used to create classroom environments on the Internet or to create a space to display student work.

Benefits of Wikis: Wikis can stimulate and engage students in the collaborative process and in an activity that encourages the creation of knowledge and deeper understanding, “According to Jonassen et al. 'mindtools' act as cognitive reflection and amplification tools, aiding the construction of meaning, through the act of self-design of knowledge databases [55]. Wikis in particular, and blogs to a lesser extent, enable such activities, and actively involve learners in their own construction of knowledge” (Boulos, Maramba, and Wheeler 2).

Reference: http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1472-6920-6-41.pdf

I am going to continue to draw conclusions based on the information, I have presented throughout my previous blogs. My next blog will further explore the educational benefits of wikis and some of the drawbacks I have found to using wikis in a classroom environment.

The Media Equation: Improving Design Through Understanding

This week I read chapter 1 in The Media Equation by Byron Reeves and Clifford Nash. I found this chapter to be an interesting examination of human technology interaction. The concept of the media equation was developed based on a research study “Social Responses to Communication Technologies” (Reeves and Nash 5). The study discovered, “In short, we have found that individuals’ interactions with computers, televisions, and new medias are fundamentally social and natural, just like interactions in real life”( Reeves and Nash 5). The idea that people respond to and interact with computers is something that I see daily with colleagues and students who talk to their computers, especially when the technology is not doing what they want it to do or not functioning properly. One aspect of the article that I found particularly interesting and valid for my discussion of wikis is the influence of the media equation on the development of media. The design of the media in this case can be improved by examining how people respond to the use and functions of the wiki. The wiki needs to create “positive responses including a feeling of accomplishment, competence, and empowerment” (Reeves and Nash 9). By examining wikis and other media through the lens of the media equation, we could improve how people use the media and in turn the functionality of the media. If the media is easier to use and creates a positive response from people it will make it easier to integrate the media into education. I know a lot of my colleagues would be more willing to try to integrate technology into their classrooms and curriculum if they associated with a more positive social response.

Another Different Perspective of Wikis

I have been both a fan and critic of Wikipedia, since I was introduced to this online phenomenon in one of my graduate courses. I think it is an interesting idea for collaboration; however there are various issues of quality of content and reliability of the source that makes Wikipedia not a valid source in education. However, the Wikipedia model of a collaborative environment where the group is smarter than the individual has an interesting design that could possibly be integrated into the classroom. This week I found an article, From Wikipedia to the Classroom:
Exploring Online Publication and Learning by Andrea Forte, Amy Bruckman from the GVU Center, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, that examines the structure of a wiki and its possible example for creating “authentic classroom writing activities” (Bruckman and Forte 183). I thought this was another unique look at how wikis can be used besides a social networking tool. The article examines the four principles that are commonly outlined for creating authentic writing activities. According to Shaffer and Resnick as cited in Bruckman and Forte’s article, the four dimensions of “authentic” writing activities include:
• personal (students care about it),
• disciplinary (aligned with the intellectual tools and practices of the domain),
• real world (connected to the world outside the classroom), and
• assessment (assessment aligned with learning activities).

It is difficult in my opinion to create activities that meet all four of these dimensions in one activity. The article focuses on a pilot study on using a wiki to create authentic writing activities. The findings of the study point to creating a structured activity that meets lesson and learning objectives, but still allows students some flexibility in the creation of content to publish on the wiki. It also focuses on the importance of audience in creating an authentic writing activity. While the article supports my previous concerns about the problems with privacy and quality of wiki content it does present a unique view of using the Wikipedia format to creating a realistic lesson that engages students in authentic writing that can be academically structured. The writers of this article are taking their findings and creating a science based wiki using a similar format to Wikipedia and combining the knowledge they gained from their study. I think this is a great example not only of using a wiki in the classroom, but using reflection and research as a way to improve upon wikis to make them more classroom friendly.

Article: From Wikipedia to the Classroom:Exploring Online Publication and Learning
http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1160000/1150061/p182-forte.pdf?key1=1150061&key2=8623746711&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=16394746&CFTOKEN=16565407

(You have to create an account to view the article - but it is free to download)

Using Wikis In A Different Way

As we approach the end of the school year, I am trying to still keep my students engaged. My next unit for my seventh grade English class is on creative writing. I thought it might be interesting to look at examples of wikis that are dedicated to creative writing or that might inspire creative writing. I found this interesting wiki after looking at webenglishteacher.com. The Memoryarchive is an interesting wiki that is dedicated to sharing memories. This is the page in the wiki that provides information for teachers and students. http://www.memoryarchive.org/en/For_Teachers_and_Students I think this would be a great wiki to use for students to write a creative writing piece on one of their memories or to interview a family member and write about their memory. The students could then publish their writings on the Memoryarchive wiki, which I think would give them ownership over their writing, since they would be publishing it on the Internet. I think this is an interesting way to integrate wikis into my classroom, that is different and less time consuming than creating my own class wiki. \

A Interesting Case Study

One thing that I have really been looking for as I explored wikis in education is examples of good integration and evidence of student learning through the use of wikis. Because the question really comes down to when as teachers we decide to embark into the world of wikis, is this really going to help my students learn? If the answer is no then I am wasting my time trying to learn about this new technology (at least this is the answer that many of my colleagues readily and probably too quickly toss out about most new technologies), but never the less it is true if it does not show true potential to help students learn then we shouldn't be investing time and money into it. So this week, in my continued to quest to disprove the naysayers at my school and prove that wikis are a great tool for collaboration and learning, I found a great case study on wikis used as a part of a collaborative storytelling project in a primary school in Canada. The case study determines that using a wiki as a collaborative web-based storytelling tools is feasible and beneficial. It also provides good guidelines for ensuring the activity is successful in section 4. Implications. One thing the case study advocates is letting the groups’ self-organize. In previous postings, I have talked about assigning students roles to ensure participation, however this is another interesting way to examine the structure of the wiki. If students choose their own organization and roles perhaps they will take more ownership over their work, since they chose their own role in the project. This is an idea that the case study supports. For all you educators out there that want to see an interesting implementation of a wiki and the subsequent research, I found this to be an extremely interesting case study.

Wiki as a Tool Case Study: http://iit-iti.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/iit-publications-iti/docs/NRC-48234.pdf

Selecting A Wiki For the Classroom

This has been a long and busy week. I really don’t understand why my school has its Spring Break in March, because I could really use another one right about now. Despite my feelings of exhaustion this week, I was able to find a very interesting research based article out of a University in Canada examining the features and criteria for selecting and using wikis in education. As part of my attempt to coalesce my ideas about wikis, I wanted to determine a way to evaluate the selection of a wiki for educational use. Some of the things that I believe are important in determining if a wiki should be used in education is cost, usability, and privacy controls. In education, funding is always something that must be considered, however there are a number of wikis that are free for educators. How easy a wiki is to use for both the teacher and the students is very important. Teachers already have a lot of other things to deal with that are time consuming, so in order for technology to beneficial it should not add to the teachers workload and frustrations, instead it needs to be easy to update and maintain to make it feasible for most teachers. The other issue that must be considered before using a wiki in the classroom is privacy controls. In order to protect our students, teachers need to make sure that they have the ability to password protect their wiki in order to prevent just anyone from commenting on your class wiki. The article I read this week identified these as well as other criteria. They came up with an interesting list of consideration for choosing a wiki as well as other considerations that need to be made for implementing wikis in education. One consideration that the report notes is the formatting of each wiki is different and for on you might need to know html, while another wiki might just require you to click a button. This is something I considered when creating my own classroom wiki. I have limited knowledge of html, and most of my students have even less knowledge of html, so I had to find a user friendly wiki. So I don’t think that this is a problem, because there are so many different wikis and choices now that most people can find a wiki that suits their formatting needs. Another idea that the report introduced that I thought was interesting was the fact that unlike thread discussions it is often difficult to see who the editor of a wiki is, so that credit can be appropriately given. One thing I did to counter this issue with my class wiki is that I have students sign in with their name and password to the wiki and then when they edit PbWiki sends me an e-mail with the name of the person editing and which information they changed or added, so I can give credit. That is how I approached this issue, however with a larger class or a school-wide wiki this is something that must be considered and addressed.
I thought this report presented an interesting look at wikis and educational use.

Technical Evaluation Report - Educational Wikis: features and selection criteria: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/163/244

Wiki As An Equalizing Tool

I have continued to explore the idea of collaboration using wikis and this week I also found an article that discusses the collaborative possibilities of both blogs and wikis. The article
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES Blogs and Wikis: Environments for On-line Collaboration is a scholarly examination of blogs and wikis and their use as a collobrative tool. The reason I enjoyed this article is because it explores the concept of Web 2.0. I guess it is still a novel idea to me, since I just learned about the idea, but I find the comparison between first generation web to Web 2.0 very interesting. One idea that the article presents that I had never thought about, but is a great observation is that, “Discussion forums are often seen as an equalizing tool, which encourage universal participation in discussion compared to face-to-face dialogue” (Godwin-Jones, 2003, pg.12). This is a great aspect of using wikis and blogs to foster discussion and student collaboration, because it allows each students voice to be heard equally. One of my biggest concerns when leading discussions in my classroom is that students that have opinions or want to speak are afraid or feel like they are not being listened to, because other students are confident and sometimes louder with their opinions. I attempt to foster a classroom environment where students feel they can share and discuss freely, however I know that in reality I struggle to accomplish creating that environment. The great part about a wiki is this environment is almost automatic. Students feel a certain amount of freedom, because they are not face-to-face and they can share their ideas without any interruption. This is an aspect of the wiki experience that I had not thought about, but it adds to the arguement, why not use wikis in education? Check out the article at http://llt.msu.edu/vol7num2/pdf/emerging.pdf. IT provides soem additional resources at the end that will be benefcial as well.