What's a wiki? In 1995 Ward Cunningham wanted to construct a website that would allow people to collaborate ideas and information. He created what we know as a “wiki”. He coined the term wiki after the Hawaiian word wiki-wiki which means “quick”. This type of website allows any visitor to become a participant. Anyone can create or edit the actual site contents without any special technical knowledge or tools. All you need is a computer with an Internet connection. It is an on-going collaboration which purpose is the sharing of people’s ideas and knowledge. A well known and common example is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia with millions of contributors and editors.
SIDE NOTE:
On March 15, 2007, wiki entered the online Oxford English Dictionary
Who uses wikis? Wikis are used on personal projects by trying to share things online, such as family information and photos, but also it’s very popular with educators in the K-12 community, as well as in college courses as we use here in EDUC 422. Educators are seeking further education in professional development workshops and communicate with their professional peers. It is easy to use and readily accessible for the classroom environment.
Pros and Cons? There are a few pros and cons that were talked about in the wiki world and on the discussion boards. Most of it was all positive feedback from the thread discussions. Some benefits with wikis are that they are engaging and creative, they encouraged critical thinking, promoted collaboration and contributed to a new type of learning in education.
Some cons in the wiki world are there are people who vandalize the site with misinformation and malicious statements. Fortunately they can be easily corrected and removed by serious and responsible wiki contributors. It also opens the door to privacy issues. Students need to protect their identities and be informed of the dangers of online predators.
Popular wiki creation sites for educators:
Wikispaces [www.wikispaces.com]
PBWiki [pbwiki.com]
Pikiwiki [pikiwiki.com]
Wikidot [http://www.wikidot.com]
Netcipia [netcipia.com] wiki + blog in one place
Zoho [zoho.com] full Office-like productivity suite + wiki
Thanks for posting all these links for wikis. By the way, I like your self portrait!
ReplyDeleteDear Sally,
ReplyDeleteWow, that a thorough account on the benefits of a Wiki - this post reminds me of a WebQuest, which is awesome! After reading your post I am more comfortable with our pending Wiki assignment, and I appreciate your listing several additional resources.
Your entire blog site is attractive with the visuals and the organization..
quite impressive!!
Sincerely,
A.J.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFinally, some clarification around why a wiki is called "wiki"! I have been so curious about this. Also, thank you for describing what a wiki is so basically. Before these past few assignments it was a big mystery for me.
ReplyDeleteI agree! You're definition of wiki is crystal clear. And I like that you included the cons of wikis - because I often don't even think about that!
ReplyDelete