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
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I concur that this is an interesting case study and was delighted to see a case study in the K-8 area. The collaboration process in Section 3- was especially interesting and important to me. The description of how the pair-editing failed and why it was discontinued – due to “student navigator” not being engaged was a curious point. The explanations for this mode of collaboration not working 1)not appropriate for this age 2) creating/editing Wiki pages is not cognitively demanding enough to warrant this pairing 3) students not provided sufficient guidance on navigator/driver roles - were thought provoking as well.
It was nice to see some REAL information on what takes place when implementing a wiki. Outside of the pedagogy I think the collaboration will drive the success of this wiki – I just need more information on what are the best WAYS to collaborate in elementary and middle schools.
I liked the section 3.1 which talked about the network map and showed how logic diagrams are a great tool in just any kind of activity. Any activity that puts more emphasis on logic connectivity helps develop the skills required in later stages of life. I also found the section about pair-editing quite interesting. I have myself practiced pair-programming for few programming competitions and thought it was a great idea (never knew it was called pair-programming till now). But I think when it is applied to pair-editing, the children involved were too young or were not used to group projects on these lines. The article explored three possible reasons and I think they should try to redo the project with specific instructions on how to work in groups like that. Thanks for the great article!
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