The title is a bit of a misnomer for me. I find very little cons with wikis. In fact
the one drawback that I can find for the wiki was solved in this class by using
the group section K-State online. Which
allows keeping threaded discussions about the wiki so users can know who did
what but what is expected next without having to keep track of several emails.
From personal experience I like them. They are an easy way
to get collaborating with other students.
The wiki program I have used was very simple to learn to navigate and
easy to learn. I will state that I have only used one Wiki program and not familiar
with others but I would not hesitate to use a Wiki in a classroom setting. I can
see even using a wiki in my current job to facilitate more collaboration and
information exchange across the state.
For online classroom, Wikis are welcome because they bring
variety to classes. While there are a variety of options for instructors to use
on the web, most instructors seem to stick with threaded discussion and essays.
Wiki are neither but still get students diving into the content and thinking
about them more.
Since I am in the Pro wiki camp, I found West and West very
interesting this week. I did not know there was so many Wiki Options out there!
I have already started to explore some of them and astonished that they all
seem pretty easy to use. At least the free one’s . I am not so interested that
I am going to pay for a site just see how they work!
I have to agree with you, I am in the pro-wiki camp also. In the military we use a number of collaborative tools and some of them are “wiki like”. The ability to collaborate from remote, in some cases VERY remote, locations provides a powerful tool for workgroups. The ability to minimize both time and distance allows freedom to work when each member of the team is available. This is a significant advantage over conference calls and video conferencing that forces people in diverse time zones to be up at all hours of the day and night. I recently took a distance learning course with the Army that had students enrolled from Hawaii, three time zones in the US, Germany, and Afghanistan. Coordinating times for conference calls was painful for many of these students. Using a wiki based collaboration tool would have made many peoples’ lives easier.
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteLike you, I see many benefits to wikis in a class. I do like the ability for everyone to work together even if they are not working at the same time or place. I would like the wiki we are using better if there was some form of side bar where people could have ‘conversations’.
I think the wiki is a great example of adult learners being able to direct and control learning. I also think knowing this technology will not only help in the classroom, but can help in other career fields where long distance collaboration may be beneficial.
All in all, I think that I will also be pro-wiki; however, this is my first experience with a wiki, so only time will tell.
Roy,
Greetings, Sarah. I enjoyed reading your post.
ReplyDeleteAs we can see from most of the postings, as well as the readings from this week, there are many obvious "pros" related to the use of a Wiki in the classroom; especially across various time zones as mentioned by TX Hunter, in an early post.
However, I would like to discuss what can become the "outcome" if you will from using the Wiki, as well as other technology tools (Wimba classroom, Blogs, etc.). Having been an online adult learner now for a little over 2 years, I have grown fond of the experience; however, my heart still yearns for the face-to-face connection with other learners. Like discussed in West & West and mentioned in several of my other replies, I like to see the Wiki as a stepping stone to create "learning communities" that can begin to foster a feeling of shared interest and eventually build relationships or "communities" that are not always able to be formed by the standard virtual or physical classroom activities. By allowing the ability for learning communities to begin to develop, learners of all ages can begin to make connections that can lead to more in-depth discussion, research and personal learning regarding the subject matter.
The "sky is the limit" so to speak...however, with technology the "limit" appears to be even more endless!
Blessings…
Alicia
References:
King, K.P., & Thomas, T.D. (2011). The professor's guide to taming technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
I agree with you about the face-to-face contact. I also find the whole online experience very isolating. I think Wikis are great resource and useful tool for online learning, however, the online learning experience leaves something to be desired.
DeleteHi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI am curious, as to what specific applications you foresee for wikis in the classroom? Do you see any limitations? I am still having trouble trying to wrap my mind around applications for wikis in a new recruits in technical training. I think wikis are great for academic and equivalent knowledge exchanges and collaborations but limited due to the reality of the wiki contract, i.e. having to authors who are already at a common level of expertise, a shared field or common objective, requirement for collaboration or community or practice. The other limitation of group think is also a down side and not covered by West and West.
I think group think is a risk anytime you put people into groups regardless of how you do it or project they work on.
ReplyDelete