Reflection on a Wiki

Firstly here is the wiki link.

http://danielletrewin.cquniversityschoolofeducation.wikispaces.net/

I aslo found a great you tube clip on "Wiki's made easy"- its such a simple clip that suited me perfectly!

I thought I would reflect on the wiki I created as we are into Week 4 and I'm becoming more familiar with it. I thought I would start with a quick summary of the benefits and disadvantages of this style of ICT.

Benefits

Overall, some benefits of working in a wiki would be:

• Anyone can edit with minmum fuss.
• I would image students would want their postings to be of a high standard, especially when posted out to the world.
• Hence it would improve their reading and writing skills and encourage problem solving.
• Its easy to use and learn - easy to operate and navigate around
• Its instantaneous, a virtual textbook in the making.
• It is always current and can be added to by learners, so it remains relevant and up to date.
• Its a flexible tool, integrating learning with ICT use.
• You can access just about anything - bringing the world into the classroom and discovering bigger perspectives, from real life experts.
• By collaborating with others this would lead into more critical thinking.
• I got excited when I started to realise I was creating something live and real, especially when other people contribute.
• Some learning theories used would be Connectivisim (contact witht he world) and constructivist (how the groups would create meaning form the content and structure)

Disadvantages

Some issues or disadvantages may include:

• Anyone can edit or open for example confidential information
• Open to SPAM, vandalism and sabatoge.
• Copyright and plagiarism - who is liable and are the creator's contributions their own.
• Education about the above - how to reference other peoples, text, photos and data.
• Requires Internet connectivity to collaborate
• No face time connections, very isolating for students.  Sometimes a phonecall will solve so many problems...
• The information can begin to look disorganised and time must be spent on tidying it all up.
• Downloading of personal files - their awreness of leaving a digital footprint.

All in all I really enjoyed the wiki. I found it much more interactive and collaborative and really flexible with regards to adding content and links etc.

In the Classroom

I believe Wikis would contribute to the learning of the students by:

• Stimulating writing, it becomes fun!
• An online, relevant up to the date text book, via collaboration.
• Low cost but effective communication and collaboration tool (with emphasis on the text)
• Promotion of reading, revision and tracking of comments, opinions, similar in perspective
• Promotion of a way for information to be distributed to many (such as class timetables, reflection from the lesson of the day)
• Group assignemtnts.
• Pre class tutorials, workshops, readings that students can look at beofre the class, making any notes about issues , problems beofre the class begins. 
• Reflection about assignments, etc on the wiki.
• Writing to a bigger audience - cross cultutral expereince for stuidents around the world to share information.
• Encouraging a "higher thinking" outcome, using Blooms Taxonomy.
• To summarise their findings on the wiki, so others can edit collaboratively to improve accuracy and completeness of the information.

Wikis in general can allow students to:

• meet virtually at their convenience and work on projects together. This is so relevant for me as I'm studying part time via Distance Education.
• to gather, organise and share writing, photos, video presentations and other digital creations.
• enable rich, flexible collaborations that have positive, psychological consequences for the group.
• preparing your students to make innovative uses of collaborative software tools.
• for the group.

 

Ethical, safe and legal issues associated with wikis.

In terms of operating safe, legally and ethically it should be noted that trust is a key issue of the use of any wiki.
Students should be encouraged to develop a set of rules outlining proper behavior when creating or contributing to a wiki. Consequences should also be discussed; these include those that might occur within the school, and more serious breaches which may involve outside intervention.

• Being a read write tool makes wikis particularly susceptible to vandalism. Copyright and plagiarism may also become issues as anyone can contribute to the site. Uploading information to wikis involves copying and communicating material. Teachers must continue to monitor content and educate students about referencing any images or work that is not their own. Some wikis may be blocked within school systems. Before embarking on any project teachers should familiarise themselves with the schools policy on the use of wikis in eLearning. Lastly, work and valuable time may also be lost through poor editing. Students should be shown how to retrieve lost information on the wiki site.