Wikis : quick, simple, OPEN, collaborative authorship on the Web

Some Information

What is Wiki ?

The beauty of Wiki is in the freedom, simplicity, and power it offers. Ward Cunningham

  • wiki - Hawaiian: wiki, wiki means Quick
  • enables multiple people to see and collaboratively edit the same document, in the same 'place' (Mader, 2008, pg. 5)
  • allows for collaborative construction of information
  • provides an expanded type of interactivity than Web sites. Interactivity that goes beyond a 'click' to being able to share information by people putting their ideas in and taking them out (Nelson, 2008)

  • excellent technology for anything that involves collaboration, sharing, discovery, reflection Information source

  • Una wiki " es un sitio web cuyas páginas web pueden ser editadas por múltiples voluntarios a través del navegador web. Los usuarios pueden crear, modificar o borrar un mismo texto que comparten. Los textos o «páginas wiki» tienen títulos únicos. Si se escribe el título de una «página wiki» en algún lugar del wiki, esta palabra se convierte en un «enlace web» a la página web."

  • Wikis (short, simple video on dot sub -click on triangle to have Spanish subtitles)

  • Lots of information about wikis

WikiDesignPrinciples (Ward Cunningham)

  • Simple - easier to use than abuse. A wiki that reinvents HTML markup ([b]bold[/b], for example) has lost the path!
  • Open - Should a page be found to be incomplete or poorly organized, any reader can edit it as they see fit.
  • Incremental - Pages can cite other pages, including pages that have not been written yet.
  • Organic - The structure and text content of the site are open to editing and evolution.
  • Tolerant - Interpretable (even if undesirable) behavior is preferred to error messages.
  • Observable - Activity within the site can be watched and reviewed by any other visitor to the site.
  • Convergent - Duplication can be discouraged or removed by finding and citing similar or related content.

  • Trust - This is the most important thing in a wiki. Trust the people, trust the process, enable trust-building. Everyone controls and checks the content. Wiki relies on the assumption that most readers have good intentions. But see: AssumeGoodFaithLimitations

  • Fun - Everybody can contribute; nobody has to.
  • Sharing and building - of information, knowledge, experience, ideas, views...

Why wiki ?

  • Wikis enact knowledge building with and for others. The focus is on the community itself rather than on the individual learner (Holmes, Tangney, FitzGibbon, Savage, & Mehan, 2004). The implications of communal constructivism for the university context are of particular import. In the words of Holmes et al (2001), "What we argue for is a Communal constructivism where students and teachers are not simply engaged in developing their own information butactively involved in creating knowledge that will benefit other students. In this model students will not simply pass through a course like water through a sieve but instead leave their own imprint in the development of the course, their school or university, and ideally the discipline." (Fountain, 2005)

  • Why wikis work

  • Pedagogical potential

  • Reasons for using a wiki in class (based on how the wiki is used)

How to wiki ?

What to wiki ?

  • The following ideas are a compilation of many ideas from many authors WikiUseAuthors

    • Faculty are using wikis in a variety of ways As a Course Management System (CMS), As a Website ..etc

    • Resource Collections: Students collaborate on finding resources about a topic (organize articles, websites, videos, and other resources for students). Research project and proposals ( students research, outline, draft, and edit projects within the wiki)
    • Presentation of special topics
    • Peer Review: Post questions for student brainstorming, or have students post papers for peer feedback
    • Group FAQ: Students and/or teachers post and respond to questions on a given topic
    • Expert Involvement: Invite experts or specialists to comment on student work.

    • Online Newspaper: Create a student-published online newspaper Source

    • Information Dissemination

    • Student created content - i.e. Concept Elaboration pages University Laval

    • Online exam review

    • Polling students (you can insert-embed PollDaddy as well)

    • Course evaluations Source

    • Reflective journal

    • Project pages Brown University, Laval University

    • Assignments: Post( or co-elaborate) homework, course materials, study guides, and more.
    • Article summaries, critiques, questions...
    • Glossaries (a kind of wikipedia for specific course ideas)
    • Study Guides
    • Help Pages
    • Project Tracking
    • Choosing Topics and/or Assignments (all students have access to others ideas, planning, etc)
    • Presentation Tool
    • e-Portfolios or Personal Pages (social networking)
    • Committee meeting minutes or Course Notetaking

    • Scheduling meetings or conferences. Insert link to Doodle

Some resources used for the above ideas :

Who '''Wikis''' ?

Some Wiki Educator's thoughts...

Some larger-use wikis

  • Wiki Educator es un proyecto comunitario que trabaja de manera colaborativa junto al Free Culture Movement con el objetivo de alcanzar una versión gratuita del currículo educativo para el año 2015.

Play Here

Wiki Issues

  • Contribution identification Single & multiple authorship, anonymity & signatures, etc.

  • Authorizing No mechanically enforced authority (outside of education), anyone can play, content that stays "resists" (kind of consensus), people often take time to think (not synchronous),

  • Why don't (impolite) people Delete? recent changes, previous versions, IP blocking

  • Objections to Content "I do not appreciate your content or you do not like mine. In both cases, the key words to note are "I, me, my", etc. In other words, wikis do not work in the minds of many critics because the content to be found there isn't specifically tailored to their individual tastes." )

  • Wiki_Assessment.pdf