Week Five - Wikis

Everyone has heard of Wikipedia - "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit". If you haven't heard of it, please click here to check it out. A wiki is simply a collaborative website that allows ALL users to easily add, remove, and edit content. That kind of sounds "out of control" but as I get more comfortable with wiki technology, I am starting to see possibilities for easy collaboration! This week we will take a look at what wikis are, how they are used, and find out what features are common to most.

Some Background
Ward Cunningham, the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work". It was named by Cunningham, who remembered a Honolulu International Airport counter employee telling him to take the "Wiki Wiki" shuttle bus that runs between the airport's terminals. According to Cunningham, "I chose wiki-wiki as an alliterative substitute for 'quick' and thereby avoided naming this stuff quick-web."

So really, what is a Wiki?
Let' start with Common Craft's Wiki's in Plain English.


Integration Into Higher Education
Wikis have great potential as an educational tool for both teachers and students because they encourage collaborative learning and resource sharing. The following are just a few of the many ways that wikis can be used in education:

• Group Authoring and Collaboration


• Brainstorming


• Creation and organization of content and study guides


• Lesson summaries


• Group note taking


• Dissemination of classroom information


• Literature circles


• Resource collections


• Vocabulary study

Activity 1
The first activity of the week is to try some basic editing in Wikispaces. There is a wiki set up for us to use called Learning Together With Technology. If you do not already have one, you must set up a Wikispace account. To join Wikispaces click on Join This Wiki from the Wikispaces sidebar. Some wikis do allow unregistered page authoring/editing but most require you to create an account first. This prevents vandals from defacing web pages or adding inappropriate content.

Permission to join the wiki must be acknowledged by the author of the wiki, and in this case that would be me. Once you ask to join, an automated email will be sent to me with your request. Hopefully, I will be able to respond quickly but there may be times when you will have to wait patiently. While you are waiting for your acceptance, you are free to explore the space and its links, comments, and page history features. Once you have been have granted permission to join this space, sign in and the menus and options on the site will change slightly.

Now let's collaborate - follow the instructions on the homepage of the wiki and share your technology success stories and your not so successful stories!!

Activity 2
Once you have finished experimenting with this wiki tool, blog about your experience, and check out some of the postings of your group members. Some things you might consider are:

• How does a wiki differ from a blog?


• When is one more appropriate to use than the other?


• Should you allow your students to use wikis as valid sources for academic research?


• Would you allow your students to submit a paper to you that cites a wiki as a source?


• What policies could wikis enforce that could garner more confidence from the public?

Optional Readings and Resources
Interesting article: Why Wikis?

This article Wikis in Higher Education, a faculty perspective from the University of Delaware, is a lengthy report full of great information. This link will give you an HTML version which will lead you to a pdf version of the report.