Wikis - A valuable learning tool?

Hello everyone,

I have just recently created my own wiki page. Feel free to view this page using the following link,

http://melissawaleswiki.wetpaint.com/

Click on the following link and it will take you to a YouTube site which explains in simple terms the definition of a wiki and its uses. I found this clip extremely helpful which allowed me to create my site and reflect in this post on my experiences.

Wikis in Plain English

The following is a reflection of my understanding of the creation and use of a wiki.

A wiki is an online resource which promotes collaboration between users to add and modify content (Victorian Government, 2005). A wiki’s security setting can be set to only allow members of the site to view and modify content, or open for anyone to post comments and change data. It is the wiki’s creator that determines the level of access to their site.

When I setup my own wiki, I logged onto http://www.wetpaint.com/ and followed the online instructions to open my account. I was able to choose the colour scheme for my wiki and was able to decide the level of access I wanted other users to have. When prompted for a title, I chose, ‘Melissa’s Classroom Ideas’.

The aim of my wiki is to provide a site where members are able to add and modify pages that lists educational websites in an attempt to collate teaching resources and ideas.

After the creation of my wiki, I considered how this piece of technology could be incorporated into the classroom.

I believe that this piece of technology corresponds well with the Learning Engagement Theory (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999). This theory states that productive learning occurs when students are engaged in meaningful tasks through interaction with their peers. Effective collaboration can occur with the Learning Manager creating a class generic page where students can add and modify information pertaining to their classroom academic work. The use of this medium for collaboration with peers emphasises this as a valuable communication tool (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999).

I believe that this tool can be effectively used within the classroom. Students could upload pictures and information that is useful for group projects, thus allowing other group members to edit the project where necessary. To ensure safety and privacy of students, they can configure their settings to ensure that only their peers can view, add and modify content.

This piece of technology is very simple to setup, maintain and control, making it an effective learning tool in the classroom.

Regards,

Melissa.

References

Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory:. Retrieved July 10, 2009, from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

Victorian Government. (2005). Glossary. Retrieved July 16, 2009, from http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/SARC/E-Democracy/Final_Report/Glossary.htm