Get Wiki With It!
As I worked on my first wiki space this week, my mind was on information overload! I began to think of the many uses of wiki spaces for educational, personal, and work related reasons. In creating the wiki space for this week, I tried to focus on my educational technology philosophy and my future administrative goals of keeping students connected to campus resources, meeting their needs, and receiving feedback from them. I also considered the times, as a student, in which I have spent countless hours trying to find an answer to a question by searching the university web site. I thought of particular times I had many questions as a student and orientation would be one of those times.
My internship and practicum experience working in the Dean of Students office at SOSU and working during orientation helped me realize even though a great deal of information is provided many questions remain for students. Evidence of the many questions students have after orientation is verified by the questions received in the Dean of Students office on things discussed in orientation concerning housing, organizations, food establishments, etc. My creation of the “I Didn’t’ Get That” wiki space is an example of giving students another option for asking, sharing, and learning from other students and university personnel during an exciting and sometimes scary time. A good time to allow students to access the wiki space would be at the end of orientation giving them the opportunity to sign on to the wiki space using their cell phones or providing computer access at the orientation site. Staff may use the feedback received from the wiki page to gauge where emphasis is needed during orientation.
The use of wikis has several advantages, one of which is the ability for students and educators to share and collaborate on class projects. A wiki is much more conducive to sharing and posting comments, videos, questions and editing of documents in one space without being bogged down with a mountain of email entries in one’s inbox. This would be particularly advantageous with group projects, considering the locale of students. A course discussion area could be added to a class wiki, similar to the “Sounding Board” used in eCollege for this course. As noted in the EDUCAUSE article on wikis another advantage to wikis is their familiarity to other web pages, the instant availability of changes made on the page, and the ability to export information to Microsoft Word, all of which makes the use of wikis a great place to collaborate and create projects. Wikis may be used as a way to engage the digital natives that are more accustomed to collaborating and sharing on other web pages and sites such as YouTube or Facebook and they can do it from their cell phones. They may also import their own video creations, audios, chat, and instant message through the wiki space.
The article also highlights some disadvantages in the use of wikis. Because users can edit the pages, information may be deleted, intentionally or unintentionally. There is the possibility for students to use inappropriate language or post inappropriate links to the page. Digital natives and digital immigrants used to having no boundaries on other social sites may mistakenly assume they have the same freedoms on a class wikis. Another possible disadvantage is the comfort level of students in the use of this technology. Although a vast majority of students may have access to a cell phone or computer, there are students; even some digital natives unaccustomed to the creation or collaboration used in a wiki. Therefore, time and effort must be expended in the design and monitoring of the pages. Setting appropriate ground rules and expectations for students is crucial. If not incorporated well, a wiki could potentially become a space where some students feel alienated so instructor monitoring and feedback is crucial. It is also important students be given thorough instructions on how to participate using the technology and other ways to participate, create, and ask questions in the course.
The ideas posted by my colleagues will be useful in my future career as an educator. I hope to also be able to use wikis on my current job. I have used what I learned about wikis to set one up for my church’s Wednesday night prayer group that meets through a conference line. It is another way for us to share and collaborate spiritually. I continue to learn a great deal from this course.
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