Thursday, 12 April 2012

Group One Tools (Blogs, Wikis and Websites) – Looking at Wikis


According to Wikipedia, a wiki is “a website whose users can add, modify, or delete its content via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a rich-text editor”. Furthering the definition they have given, the site also mentions that wikis are often edited collaboratively, and applications wikis are frequently used for include community websites, intranets and note taking.

For this task we were required to make our own wiki (mine can be found here). The thing I find great about wikis is how quick and easy they are to publish. I believe they are most useful for collaborative learning, such as the Mobile Phone Wiki mentioned in a previous post. Many of the positive and negative aspects of using a wiki are explored in depth in the above mentioned post. To summarise:

Pros
  • Promotes connectivist/constructivist learning styles
  • Easily editable/WYSIWYG GUI
  • Collaborative
  • Can be used to create an online virtual classroom
  • Can be accessed and edited externally

Cons
  • As with any online or computer activity, potential for students to go off topic
  • Data can be deleted by anybody
  • Students could potentially add copyrighted information
  • Some students might be inclined to sit back and watch other people do the work

Uses for wikis:
  • Collaboration of expert knowledge (eg. Wikipedia, various videogame wikis, etc.)
  • Project planning
  • Online note taking
  • Group discussion
  • Solving problems in groups worldwide
  • Ongoing class glossary or resource list

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