This week’s informative blog entry is titled "Wikis:
Pros and Cons for Adult Learners." What are some of the pros and cons of
adult learning while utilizing Wiki’s?
I have never utilized Wiki’s until I started here at
K-State. My first class utilized it and
I was blown away. I had never seen a
concept like this where we eventually worked and created a webpage for our
discussion and informational view. My
first Wiki; I will admit did not go as well as I intended it to be. I thought that I had enough material to be substantive;
however, when I looked at the rest of the material that had been presented what
I thought was good and well thought out was neither good nor well thought out. Even
as I grew as an adult student at K-State, I also grew to understand the basic
fundamentals of how to use a Wiki for classroom purposes. Today, I feel that I have grasped a good
understanding however that is far from being a technological master in the use
of Wiki’s.
Pros
·
The use of Wiki’s can “empower the student by
giving them a chance to express their views” (Hazari, North, and Moreland,
2009). By allowing students to give
their own viewpoints it shows that the students are actively engaging in the learning
process. It also assist the students in
some aspects of “reading, writing, reflective and collaborative learning
process” (Hazari, North, and Moreland, 2009).
·
The use of Wiki “documents are available for
editing and commenting to all members at all times” (West and West, 2009). For members of a Wiki this is valuable because
members are not subjected to a hour to hour where a person can comment on the
Wiki.
Cons
·
Wiki’s need to have some sort of secure lock
down. One of the biggest fears is to
have someone from outside of the class to come in and “insert random span or
graffiti messages into their Wiki projects” (West and West, 2009). While most Wiki have features already built
into the system to protect from this it is something that needs to be thought
about it.
·
Evaluation of Wiki can be on the negative side
if the information does not match the purpose of the Wiki. For example; “Is it
accurate? Does it include an extensive
amount of detailing? Is the language accurate enough to be understood easily?”
( King & Cox (2011).
Overall I feel that the use of Wiki’s in the educational
process is mainly a positive approach to the educational value. I have only shown a couple of the pros and
cons of the Wiki project. If you look at
any project, you will have pros and cons for every project that needs to be
completed. Wiki projects need to be
looked with the open eyes and arms and not wanting to pull your hair out
screaming when assigned one.
West, J.A & West, M.L. (2009) Using Wikis for Online Collaboration Jossey-Bass.
King, K.P & Cox, T.D (2011) The Professor’s Guide to Taming Technology. Information Age
Publishing Inc.
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
I do believe also that wikis give a student to express their opinions and views but does it really help them in the learning process? A student’s views are important to their learning but some of the information may not be as relevant as required.
ReplyDeleteI do like the collaborative effort it takes to create a wiki but I do not like the open editing aspect of them. They do need some kind of security so that not just anyone can post spam or false information. I believe that wikis can be a positive influence on education and online courses but they must be researched before an instructor utilizes them.
Sonnie,
DeleteI agree with you, I believe that Wiki's need to have additional security measures. I do not know if the instructor that is incorporating the Wiki into their classroom can utilize additional security features so that not everyone can hijack a page because of whatever reason and let the students who are working on the projects scramble to finish the project.
Do you think that you could do anything different for your own students to help them avoid the mistakes you made on your first wiki? I know my first wiki wasn’t great either, and I feel bad for those people I ended up in a group with since I was kind of thrown into the mix without much real understanding. Once I understood (mostly after the fact) the results of “critical thinking and contextual learning” (James A West, Margaret L West, 2009, p. 2)I felt much better about wikis as a whole as they apply to learning.
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that we can access a wiki as participants at all times. I know for me finding time to work on a project can be at odd moments instead of rational daytime hours. The flexibility with wikis is great! There can be problems with information being saved correctly since contributors have a tendency to overwrite each other’s content when there’s more than one on the site at a time, but I think that is relatively easy to overcome.
James A West, Margaret L West. (2009). Using Wikis for Online Collaboration. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Dianna,
DeleteI do not think honestly that I would have the ability to do anything different or to tell my students anything differently. The fear that I faced with the Wiki is something that every single student has to go through. I guess that the only thing that I would may have done different is to tell my students to not to fear the Wiki, relax and make sure to put substantive information into the Wiki to make sure that the page looks good!
The ease of access of the Wiki is another option that makes the online experience so much more attractive. By not having set hours, it does allow the students to work independently on the project when they have time to do so. It also allows the students to review each other’s work and have the ability to give creative criticism on the work.
Though this class is my first experience using a Wiki, I believe it have potential to develop advanced and in-depth discussions. Some challenges were addressed by Dr. K from the start. requiring a group leader form the project gives him one person to interact with. I did not volunteer for my group because I lacked any experience with the technology. Collaborative online work groups are "anxious" and less cohesive when leadership struggles exist, evident in members changing minds, changing direction, conflict and argumentation, and changing focus. (Oliveira, Tinoca, & Pereira, 2011, p. 1349)Without prompting from the instructor we would need to establish this ourselves, which may have happened anyway, but certainly would have been more stressful.
ReplyDeleteOliveira, I., Tinoca, L., & Pereira, A. (2011). Online group work patterns: How to promote a successful collaboration. Computers & Education, 57, 1348-1357.