The Wiki World Circle Tour: Part Two: The Bus Breaks Down

Okay, pit stop is over. Everyone get back on the wiki wiki bus!

But as my bus putts around the streets of Wiki World, I wondered : What was not wiki about creating my own wiki?


For starters, I watched the Wiki Plain English video and got duped into believing that this truly was a two -step process: edit, save!

Little did I know they would be Paul Bunyan steps!

After roaming around many sites that promised me the earth, I sheepishly went back to Richardson’s text and read the wiki chapter.

Okay, Wikispace is good enough for me! I signed up for educationalwikis.wikispaces.com

There is a whole luau of wikis you can check out but I didn’t take the time to view more than a couple, opting for those that looked similar to my high school single class single topic situation. But here they are: examples of educational wikis

Now that I have transferred to the educational wiki bus, there is another tour to check out. Here is a page chock full of published and unpublished docs, tutorials, articles, and interviews. Since this site is itself a wiki there is also space for discussions, forums and list. So pretty much one-stop shopping. (Actually this process sound a lot smoother than my ACTUAL process as I began in my usual random-abstract way of goggling, getting distracted in links, re-visiting old bookmarks and gathering around the youtube for quick fixes.)

But if I were you, I would start here

http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers


START A WIKI IN 3O SECONDS!!!! was the promise. You know how all scams appeal to basic human greed, right? Well I am always greedy for time, so I bit.

Setting up an account was fine. The mini tutorials looked easy enough so on I plunged. Just when I started to get cocky and decided to spruce things up.

I nearly had a heart attack when I highlighted something and everything disappeared! I think more tears have been spilt over blank screens than indifferent lovers.

I felt the bus break down!
Thankfully I found “history revert” amidst dire warnings that using this was akin to revising the constitution.

The calendar? Well let’s just say as a hands-on-learner who tries first, then reads, with "Mac-ability" instincts of drag and drop.

Sadly Wikispaces speaks html and now I understand the mocking youtube videos of wetpaint VS wiki! I can see my students being befuddled too!

I also don’t like how you have to leave the website to get to your calendar. Am I doing this wrong? My students will also not like having to go back to a bookmark and get back to the wiki. I used the helps, which have been good, but you cannot leave the instructions open and see your wiki home page at the same time. I am a read, do, read, do, kind of girl. Again, I am “Mac Help” spoiled (they actually give you pictures).

Also, the whole embed html code thing gets me a little crazy. I can’t find many podcasts that show their html or I am just not cool enough to be told the secret handshake! I was also warned in my research not to fill the site with graphics and videos as it slows it all down and you might as well be using a blog. But you know visuals and me. Again, my learning style parallels my students’ learning style. Many Outreach students are reluctant learners, unskilled in the ways of technology. I would hope they would engage in my discussion page, but I would have to lure them that way. They love pictures of their own babies, so maybe there’s a hook.


So when I finally got a home page that didn’t disappear, a calendar that stayed put, and some visuals up, I have to admit I began to see multiple applications. Then, to show off my new learning, I demo'ed to my husband the pitfalls and the coolness of my site. Your kids could do this too I expounded! But even as I timidly began with a single module, I would suggest any newbie start with a single theme or element of a course...say a single theme within Romeo and Juliet, not English Literature in Eng 10-2!

Implications /Applications for My Students

I have demonstrated applications for my students in my actual wiki for OPPT.
So check it!
(Later update check Sept calendar for class timetable)

Given more time/patience and NOT a 28-degree house at 11:00 pm on a Saturday night, I can envision more applications for my girls.

Every month we complete a module on parenting or cooking or day care, as well as work on core subjects. In the wiki version of my program, I would post discussion threads for the month AFTER we have had our workshop and worked on our module for the week first. It is important to provide a context and to clarify terms or concepts and to check for understanding in real time/real person, before I would expect them to contribute to a meaningful discussion. My experience with the girls also tells me that they would use this discussion page very quickly as a sharing/confidante/peer-counselling site. In this regard, I would have to be very careful about permission and control access as topics would get very personal. It would also be imperative to have on-going discussions and demos on the use of wiki, troubleshooting the problems the users encountered.

The next step would be to have the girls add resources to the monthly topic to develop an understanding that was both research and experientially based. In this world the editing would be wonderful opportunities for explaining, correcting, and sharing narrative.

It is in this interaction that our little group would grow into a community extending beyond our twice a week session. I could see the girls being on the site whenever and for whatever reasons. They would define themselves in this process and gain support and draw strength from each other. This I believe, would be the legacy of the wiki. Anytime/space access as long as they have Internet access.

Again as I have mentioned in other posts, this is not the case for many students. Many however are able to simply bypass the computer altogether and use their phones.

Since I haven’t actually test driven this wiki, I sought advice from experienced wiki teachers and found that John Richard Swash’s (April, 2009) model seems like a manageable place to start. To introduce his students to wiki, he chose a single topic and had his students post one resource that would add to the topic and one response to someone else’s posting. This seems similar to the approach I would take. These are the problems he encountered, so I am grateful to hear his warnings:

* The school web filter blocked Wikispace, the domain we were using.
* Students were required to create an account, a process that took nearly an entire class period.
* Some students had trouble navigating the wiki.
* Some students were not familiar with the concept of creating a hyperlink or editing a web page.
* Some students had trouble remembering to post their assignment on time because it was a virtual assignment, not a paper assignment.

Several of the problems above can be solved by gradual and continued use of this technology. Once students are familiar with the process, they will feel more comfortable and enjoy the project. Wiki fosters the higher order thinking skills that I am continually trying to build in my students. Wiki assignments must utilize the primary values of the wiki technology (collaboration, and creativity) and have useful applications (Swash, 2009).

So my circle tour of Wiki World is nearly done. The wiki bus has toured me down the avenues of the literature, through the side streets of issues associated with effective use, broke down as I created my own wiki, got fired up again, and finally brought me back to the implications and application for students in my world.

My head is spinning from all the sights I have seen, my bum is sore from sitting so long and the guy sitting next to me needs to take a shower! We’ve all been on this bus too long.

Maybe next time I should not be so cheap and take the posh guided tour!


Finally, I leave the last word to Wiki Man, lest we take all this too seriously. For every time I learn a new tool I am bound to cry, so this is a pre-emptive strike of humour!

I love Wiki Man, but if it wasn't for my Wiki World Circle Tour, I wouldn't have gotten half of his ref's!




References

Hazari, S., North, A., & Moreland, D.. (2009). Investigating Pedagogical Value of Wiki Technology. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2), 187-198. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1755224781).

Jonassen, D.H., Peck, K.L., & Wilson, B.G. (1999). Learning with technology: A constructivist perspective. Columbus, OH: Prentice Hall. Retreived July 26, 2009 from mams.rmit.edu.au/lbl5kt1po45l.doc

Schaffert, S., Gruber, A. & Westenthaler, R. (2006). A semantic wiki for collaborative knowledge formation. In S. Reich, G. Günter, T. Pellegrini, A. & Wahler (Eds.): Semantic Content Engineering, Austria: Trauner Verlag. Retrieved July 24, 2009 from
http://www.salzburgresearch.at/research/gfx/SemWikiForCollKnowForm_20060120.pdf

Schrand, T. (2008). Tapping into active learning and multiple intelligences with interactive multimedia: A low-threshold classroom approach. College Teaching, 56(2), 78-84. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1482647841).

Sim, J. ( n.d.). Online learning community: a student’s perspective. Retrieved July 24, 2009, from
http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:ArvXbgPdz7oJ:mams.rmit.edu.au/lbl5kt1po45l.doc+(Jonassen,+Peck,+%26+Wilson,+1999).&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca