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