This week we are discussing the use of wikis in the adult
learning environment. I have had a small amount of experience in the past using
wikis for different classes that I have taken. Some of the classes had a wiki
that was already fleshed out that was meant to be used as a point of reference
or for collaboration. In other classes, we were tasked with building our own
from scratch so that other students could read through them and evaluate the
content provided. One of the major distinctions between using a wiki vs a blog
is the distributed amount of responsibility involved and in the end, the
overall content and structure is not managed by just one person and can be very
dynamic (West & West, 2009).
Some of the pros and cons that I have encountered are
actually inherent in the nature with the origins of wikis themselves. The whole
concept of creating a wiki is so that multiple users can contribute to an
end-result product (however it can still be updated when things change). The
problem that can sometimes occur with this is that since wikis are usually open
for editing to a very large audience, there can be mistakes, errors, or falsehoods
incorporated into them and can possibly become an unreliable source of information.
On the other hand, the flip side of this problem is that the
Internet in and of itself can be very good at self-policing content that is
posted (sometimes to a fault) and keeping users/authors honest. This lends
itself back to the original purpose of creating a wiki and making it an open
environment for people to come in and contribute further on a topic or provide
updates or edit what is already there. Adult learners can especially learn
through this process of constructivism (as pointed out by Cox & King) and
give them the opportunity to intentionally work with other online users and
share their own viewpoints and experiences in the content of the wiki itself
(2011).
Cox, T.D & King,
K. P. (2011). The professor’s guide to
taming technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
West, J. A. &
West, M. L. (2009) Using wikis for online
collaboration: the power of the read-write web. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Ryan
ReplyDeleteYou did a great blog this week over the Pros/Cons of using a Wiki page. I like you have very minimal experience working with Wiki pages. I have done a couple in past courses and they seemed to work very well in the groups that I worked in. I wouldn’t have called it a collaborated project thought. We each were given a section to tackle and post. So then we posted it and by the end we had a full wiki page that followed the exact requirements of the paper. We barely worked together since we each had a section of the page. It was more individual work and then when we posted it on the Wiki page it became the group project. I didn’t work on my section with anyone else in my group nor did I help anyone else in my group on their sections.
I like your pros and I agree with Cox and King (2011) when they mention that constructivism is a helpful way for adult learners to gain knowledge. Constructivism is a learning theory that knowledge and meaning is generated from one’s interactions and experiences/ideas. A Wiki page provides a platform for this type of learning but also provides interaction within the collaborative writing task environment.
This type of environment also supports the sociocultural theory. Vygotsky (1978) noted that “language and social interaction facilitate learning in the learner’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), defined as the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (p.86). Collaborate scaffolding illustrates how learning took place via peer interaction. I see this type of learning being used when learners are working in Wiki groups and jointly constructing their Wiki page. Learners are able to accomplished higher levels of performance than they might achieve by working on their own.
I think that collaboration Wiki projects can support this type of learning if done properly. Properly, what does that mean? To me, the instructor/educator must be very involved in the process and give very detailed instruction for the project and help guide the collaboration of the group members. In my experience working in a group on a wiki page was called a group project (collaboration work) but it really wasn’t a group effort. I described above it was more of a labeling section and posting. How was your experience working in a group wiki project?
A con that you discussed was the “problem that can sometimes occur with this is that since wikis are usually open for editing to a very large audience, there can be mistakes, errors, or falsehoods incorporated into them and can possibly become an unreliable source of information.” I do agree that this is a weakness of a Wiki page. Li (2013) explains that a Wiki page has “three defining modules that greatly afford collaborative writing: Edit,’ ‘History,’ and ‘Discussion.” (p. 754). The whole point of a wiki but if an individual or group doesn’t want worldwide users of the internet to “edit” the information proper steps need to be taken. I know that there is a way in the initial set up of the page that passwords can be enabled so learners working in a group are the only individuals that have permission to work/edit/change/upload items to the page.
Ryan you have a great blog – Happy Blogging –
Melinda Bennett
Cox, T.D & King, K. P. (2011). The professor’s guide to taming technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Li, M. (2013). Individual novices and collective experts: Collective scaffolding in wiki-based small group writing. System, 41(3),752–769.
My experience with Wikis has mostly been through K- state as well (though I have perused Wikipedia a time or two and also explored the wiki function in Microsoft's SharePoint that my employer uses). Even before taking this class I knew that wikis could be edited and added to by just about anybody which has led me to regard the info skeptically or search for other more reliable sources of information to corroborate what is posted in the wiki. One of the things I am having trouble understanding is if, like our wikis we are creating for this class, are housed on a site that only we can access there doesn't seem to be much risk of the information being wrong. Also, we won't have access to them after the class ends, right? That is what happened to the last wiki I worked on in a class. What if we want to reference this material later on?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reply. Yes, I do agree that it is sometimes a challenge when wikis and other online tools are hosted in a way that they have limited access and may not be able to refer back to them in the future. One thing that I have tried to do in the past is to keep a separate copy of posts and wikis in another location so that I can always go back to it. But, I understand that this is still not answering the question of being able to capture all comments and have others be able to review everything that was said.
DeleteRyan,
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned, wikis support the Constructivists approach to learning (Parker and Chao, 2007). Constructivists argue that learning happens when learners create meaning that is relevant and significant to them. For the sake of communal objectives, the learners focus on making the connection that matter to the community. For example, building the content of a wiki as a group work provides the experience of social learning, which is making consensus meaning thru interaction with peers.
Wikis will serve best for the professional learning community (PLC). It can be used for a group of educators who want to build and share their best teaching practices and techniques that are unique to a certain context. In the context of “a community of practice” (Parker & Chao, 2007, p.58), it provides a stronger connection between group members and powerful engagement when they are group authoring. Wikis fulfill as an educational and professional development tool.
References
Parker, K., & Chao, J. (2007). Wiki as a teaching tool. Interdisciplinary Journal of e-learning and Learning Objects, 3(1), 57-72.
I totally agree with you. People won't respond or contribute to a wiki or blog post unless it is relevant to them in the first place. And, hopefully through this collaboration, they will gain some amount of insight or extra knowledge on the topic that is discussed in the end.
Delete