Social Media and Learning
Wiki Activity: Social Media and Learning
This week in ETEC 565, we used a wiki to discuss the impact of social media on classroom spaces. Our first task was to list a social media sighting from our teaching context on the 66B wiki page. From there we utilized the discussion page of the wiki to discuss the issues and trends of social media and learning. As a class, we were asked to come up with 5 key strategies and 5 key challenges for engaging students using social media based on our discussion over the week.
Normally, our weekly discussions take place in WebCT Vista. Having a discussion in a wiki environment is quite different. The main difference that I see is that the wiki environment does not afford threaded discussions, which for me, is a drawback as I like to reference others’ comments based on what was said prior and I like the organized structure of each forum. This is a challenge of working within the wiki environment as it does not facilitate a conversation as easily and parts of a conversation can even be deleted or edited.
That being said, the use of wikis for group collaboration is advantageous in the following ways:
- Groups can work privately on projects as usernames and passwords can be set up. This ensures safety when working on the web, especially with students who are minors.
- The wiki environment encourages participation and motivates users to share their knowledge as common goals are set and realized. Furthermore, the use of a wiki engages students in their learning and is constructivist as an approach to learning.
- The wiki environment is asynchronous, and as such, groups of people can work on projects when convenient instead of trying to meet at a certain time synchronously or even F2F.
- The wiki environment is visual which affords the creation and completion of projects and the ability to see where the project is at. (Invaluable for our assignment this week)
My experience working in the wiki environment has been positive. A challenge that I think might be difficult for some to overcome however is the fact that others can change your work, or the final product may not be how you envisioned it. It is important to accept this as a fact of working in this environment and to “let go”. Otherwise, the whole experience could prove to be very frustrating. In the end, we are all accountable for what has been submitted and just as if we were in a F2F environment, there will always be people who jump in quickly to the conversation and others who listen and then contribute.
Please continue on to my toolkit post on wikis for examples of my educational (teaching & learning) experience using wikis.