Not So Sure About Wikis

I found it particularly interesting creating a Wiki this week. I began to conflicted almost immediately. I was writing about an aspect of my work with the Yavapai-Apache Nation. First conflict? Did I really want everyone to be reading it? Community members, ILI (the competition), others I had worked with over time. While this is a thing I am passionate about, did I want to put my passion out there for the world to comment on.
Then, when I got to the history portion, it made more sense for me. My information was thin in areas. In others, it might be good for others to flesh it out. I could add informative content as time went on. In the sites I liked to, were great resources. Oops, I forgot to add the link to “digital storytelling in education”.
I found the film in the assignment section really interesting. It described how the instructor used wikis as a class notes resource. Students could add content from the F2F lectures and everyone had access to the same information. For a more academic course than what I teach, this would b a powerful way to use wikis. The idea of collaborative writing may help to inspire the act of learning… at last among students.
I can see a wiki used more for my Photoshop course, and perhaps I should have begun there. In it could be descriptions of how to do something, FAQs regarding the course and the software (hmm, that just gave me an idea). The best part might be students sharing ideas with each other. In several years of Photoshop, I posted a “game” on the discussion board, where students added content to an image over time, telling a story with it. Perhaps the wiki would be a better place for the game. I think I will do it. I think that learning should be “social” as described by Siemons and Tittenberger. If students can interact and share, they will learn faster. After all, we (instructors) all know that when you teach a thing, that is when you really learn it. It is clear that the need for social contact is important for online course, and any of these tools may contribute to those forms of collaboration. On the other hand, the web itself, online learning, and the inordinate amount of material that exists online has a terrible price in time, for everyone.
No conclusions… and not a very academic discussion.