Wikis are tool that I’ve become familiar with not only in everyday life through using Wikipedia, but also by developing my own wiki in ETEC 510. More recently, my group in another MET used a wiki on our own initiative to compose, edit, and comment on a group paper we were developing. My overarching opinions on wikis depend on how this tool is used.
In ETEC 510, I composed a wiki article on Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), viewable here, as part of an assignment. In the process of creating the article, I learned coding language and navigation tools that were previously unfamiliar to me. While I found the skills I gained valuable at the time, it was until I clicked on a link to my wiki moments ago that I realized it had actually evolved since the time I had originally written it. Other students had added more information and enhanced the original article. I was surprised and excited to see the newest version on the wiki space. This process helped me better understand the importance of social collaboration and the relevance of wikis in our increasingly knowledge-building society.
In ETEC 520, my group used a wiki in Wikispaces to collaboratively compose a group paper. While I found the wiki easy to read and edit, I found that it was difficult to keep track of who wrote what and why. We color coded our comments and dated them, but in some ways it seemed liked a lot of work to do so. I also had mixed feelings about using tabs the different sections of our paper. After working with this tool, I concluded that I prefer Google Docs more for group projects, however I can appreciate the other affordances for collaboration available in wikis.
Today, I decided to research a more controversial topic on Wikipedia in order to view the discussion tab, which I had never even realized exited until doing this tool kit activity. Suffice it to say, I was shocked at how much discussion went on “behind-the-scenes” of a Wikipedia. Comments ranged from academic arguments to lewd remarks. The history tab was also interesting to view given that comments were made approximately on a biweekly basis.
In terms of my educational setting, I don’t necessary envision myself having students construct a wiki in the target language due to their beginning language skills. That said, however, I could see myself having students construct a wiki with review topics for the final exam. Each year students could continually update the wiki and to promote a knowledge-building community in the process.
Categories:
