Dot 02. More about WIKI

In my last posting, I gave a little introduction about Wiki. Now I hope we can explore a bit more about it. Based on an article from Educause Learning Initiative, I quote seven things we should know about Wiki :

1. What is Wiki?
Wiki is a Web page that can be viewed and modified by anyone who has a Web browser and access to the Internet. Even though this means potential mischief may exist, wikis can be surprisingly robust, open-ended, collaborative group sites. It permits asynchronous communication and group collaboration across the internet. Wikis provide its users with both author and editor privileges; the overall organization of contributions can be edited as well as the content itself. Barriers to modifying wiki pages are minimal, because the user interface is familiar - a Web page on a personal computer.

2. Who's Doing It?
The first wikis appeared in the mid-1990s. Scientists and engineers used them to create dynamic knowledge bases. Its content could be immediately and widely viewed and commented on. These past few years, wikis are being used for a wide variety of collaborative activities. Faculty and staff and staff in higher education use wikis as a "place" for meeting notes, distributed agenda before meeting, and saved the meeting notes in public archive. Some institutions are experimenting with wikis as e-portfolios. Educators and students, amateurs and professionals (artists, writers, collectors) have found wikis useful in expanding community involvement and interest in their subjects and activities.

3. How Does it Work?
To make Wikis work, all we need is Internet connection and a Web browser. In wiki page, we can modify its content by clicking "edit" link, then click "save" button to save the changes made.

4. Why Is It Significant?
Wikis are powerful and flexible that it allows us to use it as a collaborative communication tool for developing content-specific Web sites. Wikis can address a variety of pedagogical needs, such as student involvement, group activities, etc. And because all it needs is internet connection, students can access and participate from any location and anytime, whenever they have internet access.
Wikis have also benefited faculty and students in terms of instructional technology. It allows them to engage in collaborative activities that may not be possible in a classroom.

5. What Are The Downsides?
First, because of its flexibility to be modified by users, it is risky for a manipulation of the information. To counter that, wikis are often monitored to ensure that inappropriate language, spam, and incorrect or inappropriate content are not present. This can be time-consuming. That's why many wikis require authorization, so only people within the group can modify its content.
Second, because wikis are created by a group rather than an individual, structuring the initial content in such a database for easy access can be a challenge.
Third, because it represents the collective perspective of the group that uses it, it may has a collaborative bias. Wikis are well suited to reflecting current thoughts, but perhaps not as effective in obtaining unbiased perspectives on rapidly evolving topics or issues.

6. Where Is It Going?
Wikis may carry an inherent potential to change how we construct knowledge repositories on the Web. Because wikis are easy to use, it allows anyone to become a publisher. Wikis show great potential as collaborative spaces that may become semi-authoritative voices on particular topics. Most students often use Wikipedia as a reliable source of information.

7. What Are The Implications For Teaching and Learning?
Wikis might be the most effective and easiest web-based collaboration tool in instructional portfolio. It's simplicity is crucial for student in group editing or other collaborative projects. Faculty may also use wikis to collaborate on projects where community input can help inform and direct subsequent investigations.

Dot 01. AHA Experience about Wikis, RSS, Blogs

I found that most topics in 611 course are new to me. Maybe I've heard about it or read it somewhere before, or use some of it in my daily life. However, I did not have a good understanding of what its original purpose, how it works or even more, how it can be used especially in education.

Wikis is the example of my first ignorance, i.e. not having a good understanding of its original purpose. I think almost every time I go online, I visit some wikis. Wikipedia is my most visited wiki. But honestly, I didn't know that it was meant to be a collaborative website which anyone can contribute the content, until I took this program. That means, in the past time I considered Wikipedia only as a read-only medium which can benefit me in my work.

[To understand more about wiki, you can see this video]

RSS is the example of my second ignorance, i.e. not knowing how it works. Actually, not just that I don't know how it works, I even don't know what it is. The bad thing is, I never care to find its definition or meaning, even though often when I opened a website and saw the RSS orange icon, I felt there something poked my mind. Oh, it was RSS! It asked my attention to find an understanding about it. But I neglected it. Poor RSS. Whereas if only I know its meaning, its function (it couldn't be there just for decoration), I would have been benefited since before. Poor Me.

[Want to know what RSS means and how it works? I'll let my friend in CommonCraft (again) explain it to you in plain English video. It's a really good video for a technology rookie like me]

Blogging is the example of my third ignorance. Weblog (Blog) is not a new word for me. I made one when I was a freshman in my university. However, I never think of its usage as a medium to share good information, much less for Education purpose. For me, it was only for my personal journal. Well, it's not wrong to have a blog as your personal journal, but how wonderful it would be if the information you share could benefit others too, isn't it? Moreover, to be used in Educational purposes.

[By the way, the video explaining about Blog (in plain English) is already posted in our Blackboard]

Wikis, RSS, Blogs are just three examples I mentioned of my technology-ignorance. I believe the more I learn in this course, the more I realize how I took things for granted, because those technologies are (already) in our everyday life. So, the list will go on.

Connect The Dots

Hi!

I'm Mehkta Sophia Waney. I'm an IDD&E graduate student in Syracuse University. This is my first posting in Connect The Dots. I hope this blog may serve as a tool in communicating my thoughts, my study, especially in IDD&E classes, in order to complete my learning experiences.

As I try to connect the dots of my daily life -knowledge and experiences-, I hope by keeping track of the dots, and then connect them, I might get the big picture. That way, I hope I may have a deeper understanding towards everything I sense, especially in my academic journey.