During this fine evening I have been investigating WIKI's. I was surprised to see that WIKI's are for more than just Wikipedia. Wikipedia is one of the few WIKI's that I have been in contact with and I had not realised that a WIKI had a use other than just conveying a lot of information about anything.
While viewing the Common Craft video (LeFever, 2007) I was impressed to see the idea of creating a simple, yet effective inventory list for a camping trip. I believe applications such as both of these could be effective in the classroom.
The idea that I would utilise WIKI technology with would be as simple as a K-W-L chart. As a class the students could have a topic and brainstorm what they already know. This information goes into the WIKI and then from this students add what they want to know. As the learning progresses students can update the page and add more questions they want answers to, so the learning can be more real for students as it's questions they want answering being placed in the WIKI. Finally as students complete class work or, even better, personal study the WIKI can be updated with they have learned. The end result would hopefully be a WIKi dedicated to a particular theme of learning with preconceived notions that students had, questions they wanted answering and then answers presented in their own words. Hargreaves (2001) explains that when knowledge is problem focused and demand driven it becomes more engaging for the learners involved.
Thank you for your time,
- Alex Ricks
REFERENCES:
Hargreaves, D. (2001). Creative professionalism The roles of teaches in the knowledge society. [Electronic Version] London: Demos.
LeFever, L. (2007). Wikis in Plain English. Retrieved July 21, 2009, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY
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