'Wiki Wiki' - Very Fast

The next challenge facing me in my e-learning journey goes by a very strange name- the Wiki. I was interested in how it came by its title and found that it is an Hawaiian word that means 'very fast', and indeed, when it comes to collaborating it doesn't get much faster.

A wiki is a type of website that allows both the original author and visitors to add, remove, edit and change the content. This can be controlled through registration or you can open it completely to the public to do as it will. Wikipedia is probably the best known example of a wiki.

Wikis offer real educational value as they encourage group social interaction and collaboration. Users can contribute from anywhere which means students can add to a wiki from their own homes and multiple users can be creating and adding at the same time. Students are involved in the transformation of ideas when “…learning is participative, proactive, collaborative and involves the construction of personal meanings rather than simply involving the teacher transmitting information” (Brady, 2006, p.14). Many students enjoy being involved in the construction of their knowledge and find that they learn more effectively that way. "Students can use wikis to create a set of documents that reflect the shared knowledge of the learning group. Wikis can also be used to facilitate the dissemination of information, to enable the exchange of ideas and to facilitate group interaction" (Augar, Raitman & Zhou, 2004).

Using Kearsley and Shneiderman (1998) engagement theory, students cold easily work collaboratively on a wiki to investigate and gather information on a problem based task. For example a good authentic question might be "How can we solve the schools litter issues" during a recycling unit. They would collaborate and design a wiki that would incorporate their learning ad discoveries that could be shared with the P&C committee for consideration as a real possible solution for the school. Create, relate and donate- using a medium that engages the students instead of enraging them!

I believe, as teachers, we must embrace wiki's as a collaborative group tool. A wiki is not set up so that you can keep track of who wrote what. Instead it is a growing organism and doesn't lend itself to individual marking, unless, as in our class, you ask students to individually create the wiki and assess that. Once the wiki is unleashed onto the web it does not retain its original form and that is part of its beauty and its promise in my mind.

Creating a wiki is extremely simple now with a variety of templates to suit any needs being supplied for free. I wanted to start a wiki, on something that was really close to my heart, in an environment that would allow like minded individuals to contribute. There I hope we will collaborate and turn what is currently one person's views (mine) into a community project that creates its own momentum and might actually create inroads and change to our current teaching practices. Here is my open invitation to you all to visit and contribute to my new wiki.

http://indigenousassessment.wetpaint.com/

Edited to update: There has been lots of work done on the wiki and I had my first contribution today which was very exciting (Thankyou Makiko)

What it is about:- Our Government's mantra for education ‘that no student be left behind’ surely must encompass our Indigenous students, yet, reflection on national benchmarks results of Programs for International Student Assessment (PISA) shows that Australia is under-performing in terms of equity, and data shows that our Indigenous students are scoring badly in comparison to our Non-Indigenous students (Lokan, Ford & Greenwood, 1997).There is very little in-depth research into the problems that our Indigenous student’s face in regards to assessment.

Augar, N., Raitman, R. & Zhou, W. (2004). Teaching and learning online with wikis: Beyond the comfort zone. Proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference. Retrieved 26 November, 2009.
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/augar.html

Brady, L. (2006). Collaborative Learning in Action. Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Education Australia.

Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A Framework for Technology-based Teaching and Learning. Retrieved December 5, 2009 from http://home.sprynet.com~gkearsley/engage.htm

Lokan, J., Ford, P. & Greenwookd, L. (1997) Maths and science on learning: Australian middle primary students' perform in the third international maths and science study. Melbourne, Australia: Australian council for educational research.