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Wikis

A wiki is a website where readers can edit existing content or post new content using their browser. Depending on how the wiki has been set up, content changes can be open to the public, or a select group of people. Changes and authors of these changes are documented in the history of the site. If a change is deemed inappropriate, the administrator can change the content back to the previous version.

Wikis are an excellent way of creating collaborative content and reaching a group consensus. Even though the content can be edited by any user after a period of time it reaches a level of stability, where the group of users agree on its validity. Initially, additions or edits to a post could be quite dramatic and opposed, they become less dramatic till a middle ground or consensus is reached.

The term wiki is an Hawaiian word which means quick. Jimmy Wales, the wiki inventor, used this term to describe his software which allows users to quickly and easily edit live content.

The most popular wiki is Wikipedia, an online encyclopaedia that allows anyone to post or edit content. A Wikipedia definition of a wiki can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

How do wikis differ from blogs?
‘Blog entries are made by an author and then usually not changed, with newer entries appearing above older entries in chronological order. Documents in a wiki are updated on an ongoing basis by many people; no one has special status as an author. Where a blog allows readers to comment on posts made by an author, a wiki allows readers to go in and edit the actual document.’
Adapted from Western Oregen University FAQs on Wikis
http://www.wou.edu/ucs/faq/wiki.html [viewed 30-6-06]

The Russel Education Consultancy and Productions site has an excellent diagram that shows how Wikis work. http://www.recap.ltd.uk/Web2/wikis.php [viewed 30-6-06]

Solution

Wikipedia
Wikipedia is an online encyclopaedia and the most popular and largest wiki on the internet. Wikipedia has 3.2 million articles in more than 200 languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/

Wiki News
This wiki is an online news source where any site visitor can contribute or edit stories
http://en.wikinews.org/

WikiBooks
A collection of free, open-content textbooks that you can edit
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page

OSS Watch Wiki
A wiki for everyone interested in open source in higher education in the UK
http://wiki.oss-watch.ac.uk/

Wikitravel
A travel destination site open to the public
http://wikitravel.org/

Wikhow
The How-To Manual That Anyone Can Write or Edit
http://www.wikihow.com/

How

Using Wikis at MQ

CFL offers the use of 2 wikis, Twiki and Tikiwiki, on our innovation server. More information on the use of these wikis can be found in the Innovation section of the CFL website below.

To discuss using wikis with your unit, contact a CFL Educational Developer on cfl-duc@mq.edu.au.

Example from Supporting Student Collaboration through the use of Wikis
http://www.commons.ucalgary.ca/documents/ITBL_eLearningTools_wikis_web.pdf [viewed 30-6-06]

Wikis can be used by students to collaboratively summarize online discussion forums within a course:

Create a series of online discussion forums within WebCT, which relate to the key topics/modules for your course.
Assign groups of students to each of the topics.
Each student group is responsible for moderating and summarizing their selected online discussion.
The groups use a wiki to make draft notes and a final summary of the online discussion, based on guidelines provided by the instructor or developed by the students.

How wikis work
This article gives a brief and clear explanation of how to upload or edit text in a Wiki, using Wikipedia as an example.
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/wiki.htm [viewed 30-6-06]

Jotspot
Jotspot’s Wikis range from the individual (free) to large companies.
Here are 3 viewlets showing how to use their wiki (press the fast forward button to proceed).
http://www.jot.com/wiki/wiki-applications.php [viewed 30-6-06]

Simple Wiki Lesson Plan
A 4 week lesson plan incorporating a wiki for up to 30 students
http://radio.weblogs.com/0120501/categories/wikis/2004/02/16.html [viewed 30-6-06]

Free Wiki Providers

All of these wikis are free to create and use on their server space.
Some of the providers provide additional services for a fee, i.e. more than 5 users, no advertising, or no public viewing etc.

Wikispaces
Public space with unlimited users, where only approved people can edit content
http://www.wikispaces.com/

Jotspot
Free for up to 5 users and 20 pages of content
http://www.jot.com/

schtuff.com
Free wiki service up to 200MB of space
http://www.schtuff.com/

Peanut Butter Wiki
Free password protected Wikis
http://pbwiki.com/

Why

Wikis are an excellent way of reaching a group consensus. Students who might not be confident enough to disagree in a face to face setting, can change content within a wiki space. As everyone in the wiki has equal access and power to contribute, the final content really is a group project, with no scribe (who would edit and summarise according to their bias).

As the content is freely edited, students could feel less precious or self conscious about their contribution and be more experimental in their postings. Conversely students can also be sure that if any content they post is inaccurate or not meaningful to the group it will quickly be removed or edited by another contributor.

Wikis are an excellent method of refining and editing content until what remains is acceptable to all group members and is the core of what they want to communicate. In this process any redundant or marginal content is removed.

Useful Resources

Arreguin, C. (2004). Wikis. In B. Hoffman (Ed.), Wikis. Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/wikis/start.htm [viewed 30-6-06]

Augar, N., Raitman, R. & Zhou, W. (2004). Teaching and learning online with wikis. Paper presented at the ASCILITE Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education 2004 Conference. Perth, WA.
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/augar.html [viewed 30-6-06]

For Teachers New to Wikis
Wiki with useful hints on using wikis in teaching and learning [viewed 30-6-06]
http://writingwiki.org/default.aspx/WritingWiki/For%20Teachers%20New%20to%20Wikis.html

Giles, J. (2005) Nature 438, 900-901 (15 Dec 2005). Jimmy Wales' Wikipedia comes close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science entries, a Nature investigation finds. Internet encyclopaedias go head to head [viewed 30-6-06]

Lamb, B. (2004) Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October 2004): 36-48. Retrieved December 3, 2004, from the World Wide Web:
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0452.pdf [viewed 30-6-06]

Pedagogical Potential
A blog posting in dossiers technopedagogiques. This post lists many of the positive reasons for using blogs in teaching.
http://www.profetic.org:16080/dossiers/article.php3?id_article=970 [viewed 30-6-06]

Supporting Student Collaboration Through the Use of Wikis. Enquiry Through Blended Learning
http://www.commons.ucalgary.ca/documents/ITBL_eLearningTools_wikis_web.pdf [viewed 30-6-06]

Teaching, Learning, and Other Uses for Wikis in Academia
Article by Jude Higdon, The Center for Scholarly Technology
University of Southern California
http://www.campus-technology.com/news_article.asp?id=17502&typeid=156 [viewed 30-6-06]

Using wiki in education
A wiki article on the Science of Spectroscopy website [viewed 30-6-06]
http://www.scienceofspectroscopy.info/edit/index.php?title=Using_wiki_in_education

Wikis in Education
Part of the Teaching Effective Program, University of Oregon [viewed 30-6-06]
http://tep.uoregon.edu/shared/blogswikispodcasts/WikisBiblio.pdf

7 Things you should know about Wikis
Educause Learning Initiative Article
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7004.pdf [viewed 30-6-06]