Last weekend I read the chapter “Wikis: Easy Collaboration for All” (Richardson, 2006). What an incredible technology! I can hardly wait to start using one with a class.
Using a textbook has always bothered me a bit. Textbooks are expensive, cumbersome, and poorly-treated by learners. As a classroom teacher, obtaining enough of them and signing them out to learners at the beginning of the semester, as well as verifying their condition upon return and then signing them back in at the end of the semester, are time-consuming processes. Many learners make it a game to ‘forget’ to bring their textbook to class. Generally, only a portion of the textbook is used. Sometimes, typos are encountered that end up confusing learners. Often, in science textbooks, examples that were once relevant become dated, or information once thought to be accurate is superseded. For all these reasons, I am not a big fan of textbooks.
Richardson has an intriguing answer for this: replace your textbook with a Wiki. What a GREAT idea! When I first started using the internet to support what I did in the classroom, my initial posting was a set of notes I made based on the course textbook. In those notes, I reduced important items to point form, supplied organizers, and provided extra, detailed explanations of concepts with which my learners tended to struggle. This methodology, however, has at least three down sides. First, I did all the work. It took a lot of time to get the notes written, proofread, and posted before we studied the topic in class. Second, I received very little feedback from my learners regarding the notes I'd posted. I’m not sure which of my learners was actually helped, or by how much. Third, I think this did little to enhance learning. Downloading, printing, and (hopefully) reading notes made by someone else doesn't tend to do much to increase one’s understanding and retention of a concept.
Most of the time, experience has shown me that the value here accrues when one makes notes for oneself. Here’s where the Wiki can help. I can split the class up and make learners responsible for creation of one section of the Wiki. They will have to work collaboratively with at least one other classmate to author their entry. This will require them to learn “how to develop and use all sorts of collaborative skills, [negotiate] with others to agree on correctness, meaning, relevance, and more. In essence, students begin to teach each other.” (Richardson, 2006, p. 65). That’s fantastic - real, meaningful learning will occur!
Another tremendous benefit of creating a Wiki to support a course is the ability to tailor the Wiki to both the needs of the course and the needs of the course participants. Relevant content can be added and explained, clearly and concisely. If content authors receive feedback that one section is hard to understand, they can go back and edit the confusing section. Content can be made interesting with the incorporation of relevant and interesting examples, current events, cutting-edge research, and oddball “Did You Know?” items. Detailed examples, accompanied by annotated, step-by-step solutions, can be provided. Summative assessment items can be used to check learner understanding. Explanations can be enhanced through interconnections made with other related topics, or by the addition of enriching content. And, at the end of it all, I foresee learners taking a great deal of pride in the finished product.
An exciting project I intend to try with my senior biology classes is an assignment I have used many times before: create a poster presentation on a disease relating to one of the organ-systems we are studying. Learners generally have little trouble finding facts about the disease, including cause, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. However, posting it to an open Wiki allows them access to resources not normally available in the classroom: people who actually have the disease, as well as their family members. I think it would be amazing for a learner to have their facts verified by someone suffering from the disease, and for either (or both) the person with the disease and members of their family to share their story / stories with members of the class. This would make the coursework come alive for learners, and allow them access to a part of the world normally closed to them. This would be a wonderful opportunity for learning!
However, my enthusiasm for Wikis is tempered by two concerns I have regarding the use of this technology. First, I fear that monitoring the site for vandalism will be an onerous, time-consuming task. And, should vandals strike, I’m worried about how long the malicious content might be visible before it is fixed. My second concern is regarding plagiarism. It is far too easy for students to copy and paste content and pass it off as their own. I’m not sure I’ll have the time available to monitor this adequately. That said, I’m sure others who have preceded me in using Wikis can offer tips and advice regarding how to deal with these concerns. And, by trying it out, I’ll learn first-hand about the pitfalls and advantages!
Reference:
Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
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