Wikis
From LTCWiki
Recordings of workshop presentations
We have recently made Camtasia recordings of some of our wiki workshops. The following are now ready for viewing:
This 40 minute recording goes over the basics of how to create and format wiki pages on the LTC's wiki installation. About 4 minutes into the recording a 'Wikis in Plain English' video is played which has no sound. You can view the video lower down in this wiki page.
2. More wiki formatting, skins and permissions
This 15 minute recording continues an exploration of wiki formatting, show examples of different skins and talks about the possibilities for controlling editing permissions.
This 10 minute recording explores a number of wikis that have been created both at the University of Manitoba and elsewhere.
Commoncraft Video: Wikis in Plain English
A video that in 3 minutes presents wikis in terms of the problems they solve and basic approaches to their use - Wikis in plain english
Ten things to know about wikis
- Wikis are collaborative. Organizations use them to create collaborative documents, brainstorm and share ideas
- Wikis record a history of edits and changes, allowing for easy comparison and overview of the life of the document (Including restores)
- Wikis allow for simple markup language - with many of the more developed platforms offering MS Word-like functionality for editing the appearance of a document. Wiki's can also implement limited or full HTML editing as well as their own language
- Many Wikis have a discussion feature which allows learners to discuss the contents of a document, rather than editing the core document itself.
- Wikis can be configured so individuals can create their own "sub-wikis" with individual pages and links - a great resource for students creating a personal database of resources
- Wikis are an excellent way of creating "living documents" for courses. The work of students from previous courses can be used as the basis for current students. Knowledge can be built on the knowledge of others through the collaborative functions of wikis
- Wikis serve many uses of giving learners access to resources (and if the instructor so chooses, enabling interaction). For example, course notes can be posted in a wiki, allowing learners to discuss and ask questions...conferences use wikis as a means of sharing resources with participants.
- Wikis can be used for peer review or group work. Learners can share their work in a wiki, and class members can review and comment on wikis through the discussion tab
- Wikis are an effective project management tool - for instructors developing resources...or learners working on a project - due to the history, discussion, and collaborative features.
- Wikis can be locked down and access restricted to only certain students (This can be done through a variety of ways up to and including LDAP authentication)
The Wiki Philisophy
The Educause Centre for Applied Research (ECAR) has published a research bulletin entitled "Supporting Knowledge Creation: Using Wikis for Group Collaboration" in which the authors argue that a number of conditions determine the successful use of wikis for knowledge creation. These conditions include:
- "a strong need to establish conventions to determine long term success"
- "such a system (wikis) only works with users serious about collaborating and willing to follow the group conventions and practices"
- "large successful wikis usually have some type of constitution or philosophy that establishes goals and provides guidelines for individuals who want to participate in the group."
"Research indicates that wikis go beyond technological innovations and related benefits and also offer a change of philosophy in relation to the knowledge creation process ... 'Wikis introduced groundbreaking innovations at the level of process, philosophy, and even sociology of such collaborative authoring' .. . 'Wikis offer a management philosophy that manages knowledge creation through evolution of norms and values rather than directives and incentives'"
".. conversational technologies such as wikis need people to share their knowledge, invite critique, present multiple points of view, and seek to change others' ides. Organizations that do not value such open-minded and non-hierarchical exchange of ideas may not find conversational technologies useful...'wikis work best in organizational cultures in which there is a high level of trust and control can be delegated to the system'"
Defining Wikis
Wikis - or more broadly, collaborative writing - have captured the interest of business leaders and academics. Well known, and increasingly referenced, is wikipedia - an online encyclopedia written by amateurs.
A wiki is basically a simple web page that anyone can edit. At least that's the standard description ... or what wikis were when first started. The openness of wikis has encountered the reality of human behaviour (or more precisely - spam). Wikis are chaotic, informal knowledge spaces. Wikis enable individuals to create a collective resource. Whereas blogs enable individual voices, a wiki over-writes individuality.
The messiness of wikis can be intimidating to newcomers. It doesn't make sense that openness could create as much order and structure as it does. Why do people contribute? What motivates individuals to spend time editing and proofreading sites? What about vandals who simply delete text? But wikis are not without governance or management. Wikipedia has extensive resources available on how to handle concerns arising from community conflict. Democracy and openness drive actions in this space. Consider their Policies and Guidelines or Resolving Disputes.
Wikis enable a history that allows individuals to reset or change any amendments. If, for example, an individual deleted important text, or inserted spam, community members can restore the site to previous states. Openness, while enabling potential for abuse, also creates a sense of communal ownership (in a recent presentation, I used a wiki to plan my keynote. I kept the wiki open, and found that spam was posted within a few weeks...but also that many readers took it upon themselves to delete the unwelcome content). Openness creates community, which creates responsibility wikipedia
Are wikis accurate?
Some studies suggest that Wikipedia is as accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica. Others are not as charitable. Perhaps of greatest value is the ability for wikipedia to correct errors...an option not as quickly available to Britannica. The struggle of expert and amateur in the knowledge process is one that will continue in wikis, as it does in citizen journalism and other "do it yourself" media models. Citizendium is a new project by a wikipedia co-founder to generate greater credibility for wikis as knowledge sources by relying on experts as editors.
Educators have taken varying approaches to handling the wikipedia issue - some outright ban its use...but others are more tolerant. It is important for educators to realize that even if they ban wikipedia use in classrooms, students still use it for sources of knowledge. Perhaps the best response of educators would be to contribute to making wikipedia more accurate...rather than minimizing its use.
Collaborative writing tools (like Google Docs) enable many of the functions of a wiki, but in a much more controlled environment (individuals need to be invited in order to contribute).
How can wikis be used in the classroom?
Wikis, like any tool for learning, are limited in use primarily by the creativity of the instructor or designer. Common uses include:
- Course notes
- Course syllabus
- FAQ
- Collaborative writing...group work
- Brainstorming
- Inviting experts (whose work may/may not be the focus of the wiki) to review completeness of learner wikis
- Content creation with educators from other universities/schools
How can teachers introduce wikis to students?
Source: http://writingwiki.org/default.aspx/WritingWiki/For Teachers New to Wikis.html (May 22, 2007)
- Introduce students to the rules for writing on wikis. Wikipedia , for example, does not allow for reporting original research. Instead Wikipedia seeks the goals of traditional encyclopedias, to present known knowledge.
- Develop a system for recording the efforts and accomplishments of individuals. (You can accomplish this by having students sign the pages they author or contribute to.)
- Talk with students about the conventions they will establish for co-authoring texts. At Wikipedia, for example, the authors' names are not listed on the articles. Instead, users need to select history to see who wrote what.
- Almost every wiki has a StyleGuide: a guide to the writing customs and the culture of the wiki. Have students collaboratively write a StyleGuide for their wiki.
- Ask students to play particular roles. One important role is the "Guard"--the person who watches the wiki pages and ensures that spam or bad edits are not entered, undermining the hard work of the wiki authors.
What obstacles can teachers expect?
Source: http://writingwiki.org/default.aspx/WritingWiki/For Teachers New to Wikis.html (May 22, 2007)
- Wikis conflict with traditional assumptions about authorship and intellectual property.
- Students are sometimes reluctant to contribute to wikis because they lack confidence in their writing, they worry about not receiving credit for contributions, or they do not like their ideas, words, contributions being revised or deleted without consent.
- Some teachers and students are uncomfortable about the advantages and disadvantages of public writing.
- Some technology averse students do not like having to learn how to use wikis and/or find even the relatively simple steps for editing or posting work daunting.
- Because Wikis are not presentation software, use of visuals and design options are limited.
- Although selecting "restore" to replace content that was inavertently deleted or intentionally hacked is easy, the editing process is nonetheless a hassle.
Here'a an example of a wiki being used by a third-year computer science technical communication class to write a textbook for the upcoming first-year Introduction to Programming students.
Examples of Wikis:
Wikipedia the mother ship
Wikibooks open content textbooks
Wikiversity: "Wikiversity is a communal effort to learn and facilitate others' learning."
Curriki
Educational Use of Wikis
Wiki Tools
Wikispaces (set up a free account)
JotSpot (recently acquired by Google)
PBwiki
Russian MediaWiki educational project with more than 3,000 participants
Collaboratively Written Business Book
Mediawiki extensions
Quizzes create online quizzes in wiki pages
Tasks allows the creation of tasks which facilitates
cooperation b/w users
Cite enables use of the tag ref and references (automatic
management of references)
Biblio direct access to Pubmed
Google search allows adding Google search box to any page
Calendar a centralized user-modified calendar
Math markup Enables mathMl type markup on pages
Wiki Mind Maps Allows you to visually display relationships between wiki pages
Html page to mediawiki converter Converts html coded pages to mediawiki marked up pages
Nice category listing
New pages Shows the newest created pages (like recent changes but it filters out
edits, etc)
PDF Export Exports page minus menu and navigational buttons etc to a pdf
Simple tables Allows creation of tables using simple syntax. Many users found the default syntax for creating tables messy and difficult to maintain
Skins Chnage the look of mediawiki.
Wiki evolution
Maybe, the wide open ability to collaborative write should have limits . . .
Citizendium "The Citizendium (sit-ih-ZEN-dee-um), a "citizens' compendium of everything," is an experimental new wiki project. The project, started by a co-founder of Wikipedia, aims to improve on that model by adding "gentle expert oversight" and requiring contributors to use their real names."
The Encyclopedia of Life "Comprehensive, collaborative, ever-growing, and personalized, the Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about life on Earth accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. Our goal is to create a constantly evolving encyclopedia that lives on the Internet, with contributions from scientists and amateurs alike. To transform the science of biology, and inspire a new generation of scientists, by aggregating all known data about every living species. And ultimately, to increase our collective understanding of life on Earth, and safeguard the richest possible spectrum of biodiversity."
Google recently announced Knol - articles and resources written by experts.
Additional reading:
Planning and sustaining wiki projects
When Wikis Won’t Work: 10 Questions to Ask Before Full Adoption
Nuts and Bolts #1 - Wikis in the Classroom
Leigh Blackall talks about the Otago Polytechnic wiki project.
Tips On Developing A Wiki Community
Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, ready or not
Wikis Collaboration across the Curriculum
U Manitoba Wiki projects
UM Engineering students designing a pico-satellite
Fundamental Symmetries in Atoms and Ions
Knowing Knowledge Wiki Book published in wiki format to allow for reader comments.
OCCBook Online Connectivism Conference Book
Public Health
Computer Science 1st year textbook written by 3rd year students
Educational_psychology Educational Psychology textbook to be written by class
Epidemiology CancerCare Manitoba
Organic Chemistry course
Health equity
Religious Studies learning object
Wikis Used in Courses
- The University of Minnesota has a centrally supported wiki service for students, staff and faculty. Here's the list of current wikis on their system (many are password protected).
- Writing Practice is a blended learning course (online and face-to-face sessions) that is using Wikieducator to help improve the writing of EFL students at Ort Gutman High School in Israel. The course is being documented as an action research project.
Links
Using Wikipedia to Reenvision the Term Paper
Knowledge Creation: Using Wikis for Group Collaboration
A site that lets you compare the features of any two types of wiki software
