Wikis seem to be very useful in the right context. It appears that they allow the exchange of information between people which can be edited and contributed to freely by users. This is different to a blog, a tool which is operated by and contributed to by one user. It appears that Wikis can be useful within an educational context such as Korea Internation School (view 21st Century Learning video) where the students construct their own textbooks.This brings me to the validity of Wikis in an educational context like a classroom. With anyone being able to contribute to them, it appears that these sites could lack in credibility and also become subject to innappropriate comments and untrue remarks. Being an uncensored digital tool, I have the opinion that Wikis could be beneficial though under close supervision.
Strengths and opportunities of a Wiki:
- Fosters collaborative learning
- Easy to construct
- Engages students in Higher Order Thinking if constructed efficiently
- Allows learning anywhere, at any time
- Can be used for inquiry based learning and problem solving
Weaknesses and threats of a Wiki:
- A public webpage that anyone can view (unless access is only given to certain people)
- Unless carefully constructed, there is virtually no pedagogy involved
Click here to view my Wiki.
I agree jasmine, wiki's are great for collaborative learning, however, due to it being uncensored is hard for teachers to frequently use and have a peace of mind that students are using it for the right reasons and not allowing inappropriate material to be posted. This is a shame because a wiki would be a great tool to use in the classroom; I wonder what implications can be made so that a wiki can be used in the classroom? Do you have any ideas?
ReplyDeleteHi Kadee, it is my opinion that despite the threats, wikis can still be used within the classroom. I believe that certain pages can be locked so that only associated people can read them. Along with this, I think it would be plausible that information such as lesson summaries and homework be added into a wiki in a classroom context.
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