Wiki’s present a very interesting capability for online collaboration. The first iteration of the internet was designed by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) as a redundant communications system in case of a nuclear strike. Several universities identified this communications tool and began to use it as a collaborative research and information exchange tool. The development of wiki’s and other collaborative tools are a natural outgrowth of this creative nature.
The ability to review, edit, and add to others work is provides a terrific opportunity for students and learners to work together to extend their knowledge and improve their understanding of topics. Wiki’s also “can empower students by giving them a chance to express their views” Hazari et. al. Expression of diverse viewpoints on wiki’s allows for a greater depth and breadth of topic discussion.
Some challenges for wiki’s are discussed by West and West including security and administration of the site. The security issues are common to all web based sites, these include access by unwanted parties as well as the availability of personal information. The texts list ways to mitigate this including password protection and version control. Another major challenge with the use of wiki’s is the time and effort required for administration of the site. This can be more or less significant depending on the number and types of users and the desired outcome of the course.
Overall, wiki’s provide a significant asset for collaborative exercises and adult education activities. As with all types of web based activities, they are only one tool in the tool kit and should be used in conjunction with other types of instruction in order to best achieve the desired learning outcome.
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ReplyDeleteI think many people argue that sites like WIkipedia are not secure and illegitimate place to gather information. Anyone who has web access can edit the encyclopedia articles on Wikipedia. Vandalism and abuse can happen, and so can author bias. However, I think that the argument for this is weak because a hard copy of an encyclopedia can include the same bias. Administrators on the site provide realtime oversight that paper encyclopedias only get before they are published.
ReplyDeleteKing and Cox (2011) state that administrators can set the parameters to be 'notified' if any wiki is changed. Working not just as an administrator, but an editor, allowing the "removal of irrelevant content"(p. 123).
King, K. & Cox, T. (2011). The Professor’s Guide to Taming Technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Wikipedia and similar sites are an excellent places to gather information but not good locations to use for research. The lack of credible documentation for the information provided means that citing Wikipedia does not meet the requirement to cite original works or research. West and West address the issue of vandalism and abuse. They agree with you that it is not usually a significant issue on wiki type sites because of the ability to "clean up" the unwanted material. This ability to manage content comes at the price of additional time and monitoring requirements for the administrator. Wiki sites are very valuable for collaboration in adult education. The ability to manage content by a broad group of people provides opportunity to broaden the information on various topics of discussion.
ReplyDeleteGreat succinct post.
ReplyDeleteI learned something new from your blog, I did not know the fine folks at DARPA were behind wikis. I knew they did cool research but did not realize they had developed wikis. Agree with the need to be cautious with respect to open cites like Wikipedia. However, as my former law methodologies professor liked to say, any bit of academic writing is only as good as its citations and bibliography. If a cite backs up their content with good sound sources, I would not necessarily dismiss it. But yes, statistically...open sites tend to usually not have same caliber of sources.
As with any technology, there is always a cost...for Wikis, like blogs, this can mean some risk of security. However, benefit of timely feedback compared to waiting six months between academic journal article exchanges is a big positive.
DARPA did not actually create wiki's but they did create the network architecture that allowed for their development. The most significant challenge was creating the environment, the creative nature of the academic world too care of the rest. I have had mixed results with online collaboration. The result seems to be linked to the motivation of the poster. People who want to be involved, and are trying to get something out of the course are much more likely to be active participants. The Army struggles with collaboration in mandatory courses. Many Soldiers do the bare minimum, or even less, and that is exactly what they get out of the course.
DeleteLol...that's funny!
DeleteFirst, Andrew & Katie, you are both funny...Al Gore did invent the internet, come on, everyone knows this.
DeleteSecond, more serious, TX Hunger, I think the last point you made is one of the draw backs of a performance based system based on a standard. There is not a much motivation for soldiers, sailors, or airmen to push much higher then the required minimum. You pass the course, you pass the course and only the high flyers and A-types will push to succeed well beyond the minimal standard. At least that has been my experience as reflected in the number of discussion postings I had with Pilots and Flight Engineers. I had not thought of graded passes with consequences being applicable in a performance based system but you are giving me pause for thought. Either way this is a conversation for another course.
It goes back to Malcolm Knowles and the other Adult Learning theorists, make the postings in wikis, blogs or whatever relevant to the learner and they will participate. However, the reality is this would take much time and effort to develop lessons that could do this and I don't know about the US but in Canada our instructors seldom have the time or training to do this. Most just rely on the canned lessons that usually manage to use some sort of PowerPoint with a formulaic Q&A session at the end to meet the interactive requirement. Depressing.
Charles
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to Wiki's I am in the same boat you are and that is that they are a "tool". Technology is a tool that should help knowledge get to more people and faster than more traditional means. Wiki's serve a purpose and trying to use them outside of that purpose puts more of the attention on the technology. Security is also a big risk and validity/accuracy of information is definitely a probelem. However, Wikis can be password protected and only certain individuas can have access with a history function letting you know exactly who has edited what content areas.
In an effort to become more familiar with using Wiki's, I have been trying to figure how I can use a Wiki in a financial class I am developing for our young unmarried people in our church! This should be interesting! :)
Hi Roy,
ReplyDeleteWhen discussing security, I think one thing that has to be remembered is that the information put on the Wiki should be backed up on a computer. Also, from personal experience of our class Wiki, if the wiki does not think you should be in a "locked" wiki then you will not be able to see anything or even request to join. I had to delete my previous account and then re-register to get to ours!
Sarah