If there
is one aspect of my higher education experience that has remained constant
throughout each and every course and each and every degree program, it is group
projects. Regardless of the degree
program and in spite of the course topic, group work seems to be a standard in
higher education, at least in my experience.
Prior to coursework within KSU’s Adult Education graduate program, I did
not appreciate the educational value of collaborative assignments, and until recent
introduction with Wiki, I did not particularly enjoy collaborative projects. Now that I have experienced Wiki’s
collaborative capabilities, my perspective on group work has shifted from
dreaded interaction to exciting opportunity. For me, Wiki collaboration takes
group work from static dry tedious email communication to any time user-friendly
information sharing and editing.
As
mentioned in King and Cox’s Guide to Taming Technology, Wiki’s are a practical
tool for collaboration, they are political in that they support freedom of
participation, and they are timely concerning up to date information potential.
In additional to Wiki’s practicality, this collaborative tool has the ability
to create communities of learning (King & Cox, 2011). By connecting people from all walks of life (learner,
expert, professional) who share similar goals and desires, new learning is
generated through reflection, interpretation, and meaning negotiation (King
& Cox, 2011). Aside from Wiki’s
collaborative benefits and learning community potential, Wikis offer several
additional benefits to adult education:
·
Offer
self directed learning opportunities (King & Cox, 2011)
·
Provides
exposure to and preparation for group work within the professional community
(Hazari, 2009)
·
Supports
contextual learning and provides real world problem solving opportunities (West,
2009)
·
Many
Wiki providers offer free services and software installation is not usually
required (West, 2009)
As far
as negative aspects of Wiki go, there are not many:
·
Editing
can be done by anyone if Wiki is not password protected (King & Cox, 2011)
·
Most
free Wiki subscriptions offer limited word processing features (West, 2009)
·
Wiki
customization is limited depending on level of subscription (West, 2009)
·
Free
Wiki subscriptions can include advertising (West, 2009)
As
highlighted, Wiki’s offer several collaborative and educational benefits. Not only does Wiki integration into
curriculum enhance learning through sharing knowledge, encouraging problem
solving, and allowing learners to take ownership of their learning, it provides
learners with a collaborative tool that makes group projects more enjoyable and
learner-friendly.
References
Hazari,
S., North, A., & Moreland, D. (2009). Investigating pedagogical value of
wiki
technology. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2),
187-198. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.er.lib.k-state.edu/docview/200157232?accountid=11789
King, K. & Cox, T. (2011). The
Professor’s Guide to Taming Technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. ISBN: 9781617353338
West, J. and West, M. (2009). Using
Wikis for Online Collaboration: The Power of the Read-Write Web. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 9780470343333
Hello Shandi. I must agree with you. I never used a Wiki before taking classes at K-State and I'm so glad that I have had this experience. It has made group projects more enjoyable for me. As an introvert, I've never been fond of group work and always felt I did my best work solo. What's nice about Wikis is that you may still work on your own time, at your own pace, providing your own input yet the entire group may contribute or build upon the themes that you introduce. The writer also has a chance to add thoughts to others work. I love the collaboration that takes place within a Wiki. It seems to lighten the load. It has helped me to learn to work better with others. Another important benefit of the Wiki in education is the fact that they "allow the faculty to have a better sense of group participation as wikis show the history of what content has been added and when." (King & Cox,p.126) This was something in the past that had me shy away from group participation projects. I never liked that I could contribute but others could take credit for my work. There were always those that just seemed to do a little less than most. Wikis provide a record for the instructor to know who's contributing where.Even though the group as a whole presents the final project, the instructor can see who has truly been participating and collaborating and who's hiding in the shadows.
ReplyDeleteKing, K., Cox, T. (2011)The Professor's Guide to Taming Technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Hi Carolyn,
DeleteThank you for taking the time to comment on my blog! Like you, I believe Wiki's are a wonderful way to collaborate with other classmates. You bring up another great aspect of Wiki's in the classroom, their convenience for the instructor. As you mentioned, Wiki's make it easy for instructors to oversee group progress and learner participation by viewing the page history and discussions/comments. Because of these features, I prefer to communicate with group members utilizing the communication tools within the Wiki. This way, everyone gets a clear picture of participation, effort, and teamwork. Wiki's allow instructors to actually view group work as it happens instead of relying on the word of each participant, as a learner or instructor, this is a feature I appreciate. Thanks again for your comments!
This is my first experience with using a wiki and I admit I have not been really on top of it yet. My hesitancy comes from not really understanding how in-depth the project is supposed to be and if it is supposed to function like a blog or look like a wikipedia entry when it is done. Having conducted research on wikis on the internet and looking at other wikis it seems that they are a somewhat dry version of a blog.
ReplyDeleteI am continuing my comment since my keyboard quit....
DeleteAnyhow, I am mostly surprised at my response to creating a wiki since my professional position is technology-oriented and enjoy nothing more than discovering and utilizing new forms of technology both in and out of the classroom.
One area I do see to be a major disadvantage is the limited opportunity to make a creative page. I think that part of technology's beauty is how easy it is to stretch ourselves creatively and make something that is both visually and textually stimulating.
On the positive side I do believe that we are able to work in a more collaborative manner than in the past (email, message board) however, if not everyone has the drive or the determination it can be lacking.
Hi Wendy,
DeleteThank you for your comments! Like you, I also believe Wiki's have limitations regarding design and creativity. As a somewhat creative person, I appreciate being able to personalize my projects. Although Wiki allows one to add art, charts, and videos, it does not offer design templates (at least I have not come across this feature yet). In spite of this limitation, Wikis can still be visually appealing. To overcome this lack of templates and skins, I incorporate several visuals to break up the text and add color to the boring white background. Color text can also be used for section headings which also helps break up the boring. Even though Wikis are a little more difficult to personalize and bring to life, I still prefer this tool for educational group projects. Thanks again for your comments!
I very much agree with you on the fact the good far outweighs the bad in terms of using Wikis for education. I too, believe that I dreaded group activities before using the Wikis for my last two classes. The asynchronous aspect is far more convenient, and the fact that multiple learning styles are diverging into one activity allows for each style to feed off the others. I agree with Carolyn that these activities help alleviate the pressure of the workload. I don't believe that Wikis need to be dry version of blogs. Just as some blogs can be mostly texts and very visually boring or filled with images, videos, and other stimulating multimedia, Wikis are the same. They can be as dull or as elaborate as the creator(s) like. This particular issue demonstrates the one hurdle that I felt was most relevant for me, which is learning the technology well enough to make the Wiki itself as visually-stimulating and welcoming for outside readers as possible. That seems to come with time and practice, as does everything.
ReplyDeleteHi Kayla,
DeleteThank you for your comments! You make a great point that learning technology takes time and practice. One aspect of classroom wikis that I appreciate is the fact that learners can view other group's pages. I like to see what else is out there and where other groups are going with their projects. Another benefit of seeing other groups pages is that we can learn from their formatting. In my previous class, I wanted to add anchors to each section within my group's wiki but no one knew how to do this. I found another group who had already done this and I was able to select the "Edit" button on their page and see the "behind the scenes" of this widget. By doing this, I was able to learn from their page and add anchors to our page. My only suggestion when doing this is to MAKE SURE you do not change anything while in Edit mode on another group's page, in other words, look but do not touch! I have found that Wikis do take some time to get used to but once you have played around on a wiki or two, you can almost be considered an expert. One of the greatest aspect of Wikis is they require very little technical expertise. Thanks again for your comments!