Wikis in Education

 
Articles Synthesis
     Trentin (2009) focuses on the use of wikis as collaborative writing environments and the ability of teachers
to use wiki tracking functions as a way to track the individual input of group members in virtual collaboration
projects. Trentin (2009) suggest the use of wiki features such as “versioning, tags, comments, linkers) to support
the monitoring of both the students’ activities and their level of contribution to the collaborative work.”
Matthew, Felvegi and Calloway (2009) write about the use of a class wiki by pre-service teachers affected their
learning process. The authors give a limited introduction to wikis and review relevance to theories of Situated
Cognition, Constructivism and Communities of Learning. The study methodology was discussed and a it was
concluded that wikis “require students to actively participate in the creation of knowledge rather than passively
absorbing knowledge [which results in] deeply processing and learning the material” (Matthew et al 2009).
     Michael John Roe (2010) writes from the perspective of administrator and therefore his article focuses
mainly on implementation in relation to national standards and how wikis can support development of major
competencies needed for students to become globally competitive. The article examines the importance of the
use of wikis by students, teachers and parents and highlights the advantages of creating collaborative
workspaces. Roe (2009) states that wikis allow “students the freedom and ownership over their learning… [and]
are able to demonstrate their knowledge of the standard by engaging in their learning the way they learn best
(multiple intelligences).” In the article about digital literacies written by Michael Knobel and Colin Lankshear
(2009), the focus is on wikis and their ability “for promoting online and off line collaboration and for
disseminating research and practical resources among educators in accessible ways”. The article continues by
exploring the use of the wiki Newlits.org for developing wikis and for the development of future material. The
final article by Twu (2009) provides the reader with effective strategies for using wikis in the context of learners
from differing cultural groups and how they may perceive information in different ways. The article points out
that context specific communications of a wiki help high context cultural learners, and it offers nine suggestions
on how to use wikis to aid the learning of these students. The article stresses the “educators’ role…to support
learners in weaving their social networks through social interaction and to help learners apply a wiki to
enhance their learning experiences.” (Twu 2009).
 
Potential Applications in Education
     Wikis offer a vast array of application in education that range from system-wide uses all the way down to
the classroom. Systems can use wikis to pool resources and interact with teachers without the cost and time
constraints of physical meeting. Wikis can be used by teachers to collaborate with other teachers in their field
to post best practices and to keep up to date with innovations in their field. Teachers in the system can post best
practices and actively collaborate on implementation of content.  In the classroom, projects that stress collective
intelligence can utilize wikis to fully realize the concepts and expound upon what collaboration traditionally
has become. Teachers can use the wiki as an online classroom with assignments, notes, assessments and projects
posted on the site. Teachers can also have students post their work on the wiki making it easier to grade and to
provide feedback. Students can use the wikis to collaborate with and assist fellow students and to find the
resources they need to understand newly presented concepts. For students that have missed school or who are
transferring from a different school, they can use classroom wikis to get up to date with content and
assignments.    
Personal Reaction to Wikis
     I was first introduced to wikis a few years ago when I stumbled upon an article about Wikipedia. I did not
appreciate the usefulness of this innovation then because I did not see the scope of a wiki beyond providing
encyclopedic knowledge. Since I began my classes for instructional technology and had to start my own wiki, I
have more fully grasped the potential uses of the wiki and have been amazed and inspired. I began a class wiki
and department wiki for my special education department as well as a wiki for my students. I enjoy the many
different applications for wikis and am excited by the potential uses it may have in my future instruction. I
appreciate its simplicity and ease of use and believe that this feature will contribute to the wikis success and
staying ability. I agree with Knobel and Lankshear (2009) when they say that “through collaborative interaction
and participation, the contributions of all progressively enhance the quality, richness, and usefulness of the
affinity space, and enrich participants’ personal and collective competence and knowledge.”
 
Merits
The word wiki is derived from the Hawaiian word for fast and that is an apt description considering the ease of
use and the ability to quickly shape and edit. Wikis are extremely easy to use and require a minimum of
technical expertise (roughly equivalent to the creation of word processing documents).  The ease of use allow
users to focus on material generation and exchange which elevates the usefulness of the tool. The format of
wikis provides a unique way to interact with others and opens up new and exciting uses for educators.
“[e]diting the wiki pages can be open to the public or limited to a select group of users with a password,
although only one user at a time can edit a page” (Matthew & Felvegi & Calloway 2009)
 
Barriers to Implementation
     Though there are few major obstacles to implementing wikis in the classroom, some barriers do exist. Some
functions of wikis can be tricky for those students who do not have a introductory knowledge of the workings
of websites (which surprisingly can be a large minority of students) and “for students with limited access to
computers and limited access to the Internet, contributing to the wiki [can be] burdensome.” (Matthew &
Felvegi & Calloway 2009) Because of the nature of many applications of wikis in education, regular access to the
site is a necessity. Many students have limited or no access to the internet at home either because they must
share the connection, parents limit their ability to use the internet or they have no access at all. Though this
represents a small percentage of students, some type of modification is required to meet the needs of all
learners. An unrelated barrier that I have already faced with the creation of my class wiki is the need for
content control by my administration. They have required me to present to them an outline of all content
before I post. This seems like a reasonable request, but once I have presented the outline to my administrators it
takes days and sometimes weeks before I receive permission to post. This is not conducive to the spirit of a wiki
which is fast paced and interactive.
 
Impact and Evolution in Education
     Wikis offer education a fully interactive learning environment that is attractive to students, folds aspects of
social networking, bridges the gap between education and real-world applications, and increases the amount of
instructional time by eliminating the constraints of traditional instruction. From my personal experience with
wikis in the classroom, students are attracted to the idea of exploring content online and being able to display
and share their work with others. My students often interact with each other online with assignments that are
posted online. Using the wiki also gives them a chance to work on their own and self-discover new material
that was not originally part of instruction. Wiki allow my students to have a deeper understanding of the
content because they are “fundamentally grounded in social and cultural aspects to support learning because it
facilitates learning through social interaction: creating, editing, collaborating, and synthesizing multiple ideas.”
(Twu 2009) Wikis will allow teachers to become full-time facilitators because classes can be setup in a way that
is self-guided and automatic. Teachers can now focus away from delivery and actually focus more on content
and understanding.
 
Citation
Knobel, M. & Lankshear, C. (2009). Digital Literacy.  Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy,  52(7), 631-634.
doi:10.1598/JAAL.52.7.8.
 
Matthew, K. & Felvegi, E. & Calloway, R. (2009). Wiki as a collaborative learning tool in a Language Arts
methods class. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42(1), 51–72
 
Roe, M. (2010) Wiki technology and the return to rigor. Leadership, 39 (3), 20-22.
 
Trentin, G. (2009). Using a wiki to evaluate individual contribution to a collaborative learning project. Journal
of Computer Assisted Learning, 25, 43-55. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2008.00276.x.
 
Twu, H. (2009). Effective wiki strategies to support high-context culture learners. TechTrends, 53 (5), 16-21.