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)