Wikis for Collaborative Learning and Knowledge Construction

This week’s assignment challenged me, as I am not a teacher and never created a lesson plan. I reflected on a book I read in the adult education program titled The Skillful Teacher.  Brookfield (2006) discusses a phenomenon he calls impostorship.  Impostorship is the feeling that one is not intelligent or smart enough to go to college or complete an assignment. Brookfield states that this is common amongst college students, so perhaps you felt impostorship as well this week.

A few months ago, a friend of mine took a graduate school class at Central Michigan University titled Organizational Dynamics.  I remember looking at the course syllabus and found it very interesting.  For this assignment, I searched Google for the Organizational Dynamics syllabus. I managed to find an online version of the course that is currently in session and used it as a basis for my lesson plan.

The main thought I had over the past couple of weeks reference the wiki is collaboration.  West and West (2009) state that educators use a number of techniques and strategies to promote collaborative activities to facilitate learning.  In my lesson plan I attempted to incorporate a few collaborative and individual activities. I enjoy reading, learning and replying to wiki posts, so I incorporated these items into my lesson plan. The students will develop their own wiki page and respond to a question from the instructor by Wednesday of every week. The students must also reply to at least 2 student posts by Sunday of each week.  From my vantage point, learning from others is just as important as learning from the textbook.

I choose to incorporate different types of critiques in my lesion plan. One of the critiques focuses on a website and the other is a critique fellow student’s summary book/movie review paper.

I found the particular assignment very rewarding in that I completed a task with little previous experience and gained a better understating of how wikis can be used as an educational tool.

Click here to access my lesson plan.

Brookfield, S. (2006). The skillful teacher (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

 J. A., & West, M. L. (2009). Using Wikis for Online Collaboration. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Pros And Cons Of Wikis For Adult Learners

                                                            

  I had the opportunity to create a wiki page in a previous course. A partner and I created and collaborated on a wiki page about Josiah Hollbrook.  I agree with Johnson and Johnson (as cited in King and Cox 2011 ) that those that work in teams will retain information longer than those that work alone. I can remember most if not all of the information my partner and I gathered for the wiki project.

     A second pro of wikis is attention to detail and a concern for the information contained in the wiki page to be accurate. Wheeler and Wheeler (as cited in King & Cox 2011.) stated that students put forth much thought into the structure of sentences, grammar, ensuring citations were accurate and overall made sure the information provided in their wiki pages were easy to read. I agree with this assertion by Wheeler and Wheeler. In my previous wiki experience, Mark and I knew that our page was subject to review by not only the teacher, but also by others in our class. We, therefore, wanted to ensure that the data incorporated in the wiki was accurate and applicable.

     A potential con of a wiki is not choosing the correct version or type.  West and West (2009) identified three types of wikis: free services, fee-based-services and self-hosting.  Choosing the wrong wiki solution could affect the designed purpose of the wiki.

     Another possible con or challenge of a wiki in an educational environment is grading. Hazari and North (2009) stated that to alleviate potential concerns of students, “a Wiki rubric should set clear performance expectations….” (p. 189).  In my previous wiki creation experience, I feel the instructor provided clear guidance and instruction in the form of a rubric and I will attempt to incorporate some of my lessons learned in my group’s current wiki project.  

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. P. & Cox, T. D. (2011). The professor’s guide to taming technology: Leveraging digital media, web 2.0, and more for learning. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

West, J. A. & West M. L. (2009). Using wikis for online collaboration. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Is blogging the same as discussion board activity?

Blogging and discussion boards are different. One of the most obvious differences to me is ownership. A few days ago I created my first blog and I am the owner and publisher. All of us in this class recently created a blog, of which we are the owners. We however are not the owners of the discussion board we used over the last two weeks.  I as the owner can essentially edit, modify, delete or discontinue my blog at anytime. Another difference between blogs and discussion boards is accessibility. Shiang-Kwei, W., & Hui-Yin, H. (2008) state “Content that students contribute to a class discussion board is private and becomes inaccessible when the class is finished. In contrast, the content on blogs can be accessed by every Internet user” (p.82).

Pros and cons blogging brings to adult learners.

The pros of blogging are numerous. Learning from others is a one pro of blogging. Lincoln (2007) described a situation in which students from a Battle Creek, MI high school were involved in a blog with senior citizens. The senior citizens provided insight and life lessons to the high school students and ultimately the blog united many in the community and gave them a voice they otherwise did not have. Santos (2011) used Facebook as a teaching tool with her students to write about daily life and experiences.

Blogging creates access. A micro-blog application such as Twitter gives accessibility to world leaders, actors, musicians and athletes to normal everyday people.    

In my opinion a con of blogging is often times people will post rude or insensitive comments. The people that post these comments often hide behind a fake name and often times are not held accountable for their actions.

 

References

 

Lincoln, M. (2007). All but her life. School Library Journal, 53(11), 52.

Santos, A. (2011). Blogs As A Learning Space: Creating Text Of Talks. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 4(6), 15-19.

Shiang-Kwei, W., & Hui-Yin, H. (2008). Reflections on Using Blogs to Expand In-class Discussion. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 52(3), 81-85.