Wikis in Plain English (from Common Craft)

"A Wiki can be thought of as a combination of a Web site and a Word document. At its simplest, it can be read just like any other web site, with no access privileges necessary, but its real power lies in the fact that groups can collaboratively work on the content of the site using nothing but a standard web browser. Beyond this ease of editing, the second powerful element of a wiki is its ability to keep track of the history of a document as it is revised. Since users come to one place to edit, the need to keep track of Word files and compile edits is eliminated. Each time a person makes changes to a wiki page, that revision of the content becomes the current version, and an older version is stored. Versions of the document can be compared side-by-side, and edits can be rolled back if necessary." -- Science of Spectroscopy

History

Began as community space for software developers to share code. Adopted for other uses including the most famous of all wikis, Wikipedia.

Types of wiki uses

• Personal: Used by individual asportfolio, web site, electronic organizer, etc. It can be shared publicly Example: Elise Springer(uses TiddlyWiki)
• Knowledge Base: Used to collect and organize information. Participants may work individually or in teams to collect information on a particular topic or topics and create a resource for all to view. Examples: This site, wikipedia, ODCE Conference
• Community/Workgroup Support: Used by a group, to share information, record activities, plan, develop documents,organize project work, post timelines, assign tasks, and facilitate communication. Example: CSCC Shared Governance HCD committee, Teachers Lesson Plan Wiki
• Collaborative writing: Used for a group written and edited report, study guide, book, or any lengthy writing project. Examples: Wikibooks

Types of wiki platforms

• Hosted service: Third party wiki hosting service. Many host for free with Google ads. You can pay to upgrade to remove ads and and add some features.
• Installed on your server: Software is installed on a server you own or rent space on. The wiki software must be compaatible with the type of database used on the server. This options gives you the most power and control but requires more technical set-up and administration.
• Course Management Wikis: Course management systems are beginning to provide wikis or make them available through additional purchased services or through third party vendors. These are tightly integrated with the course but are also locked into course firewalls and windows, limiting their long-term value.

Affordances for Education

Part of Web 2.0 collection of tools and ideas about organizing work and knowledge.

Some educators use the term "Learning 2.0" to describe the affordances of these tools. They advoacte ashift to pedagogy that embraces active and collective aquisition and sharing of knowledge instead the traditional transmission of knowledge from teacher/institution to the student.

Social Constructivism and newer learning theories such as Connectivism provide the theoretical underpinning of Learning 2.0

Learner benefits

• develop skills in negotiating, building consensus
• learn respect for others ideas
• develop critical writing, editing and revising skills
• engage in active learning
• synthesize ideas, construct knowledge
• develop organizational skills
• participate in a democratic process

(More on wiki pedagogy)

Assessing student use of wikis

Review the changes history of a page
Significant Contribtion

• New Content
• Evaluated by rubric

Constructive Modification

• "A "Constructive Modification" must be an edit of someone else's work. In order to make a 'Constructive Modification' that moves the project forward in a constructive way they have to scan through much of their classmates work. Think about it critically. Assess it for accuracy, clarity and presentation; and then decide what they will do to modify it so that it is better than it was before. The actual content generated this way may be small, in comparison to a "Significant Contribution," but it requires deep metacognition and critical analysis -- an awful lot of thinking and (hopefully) an awful lot of learning. " Darren Kuropatwa, Department Head of Mathematics at Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute

• Evaluated by rubric

Peer Review
Self Assessment

Best practices in using Wikis

Establish Expectations, Rules and Etiquette

Be bold. Take a leap. Begin. Edit, edit, edit.

• "Wikis, on the other hand, are fundamentally collaborative. Rather than producing a series of 100 comments, a wiki will have a series of 100 edits that improves the content. This is something appreciated by Wikipedians, but others don't see this difference. There really is a secret sauce to Wikipedia ... It's not about the technology - we could almost do this on bits of paper. The secret sauce is the community that's bound together by shared values and practices." Andy Carver's Waste of Bandwidth

Write with neutral Point of View (for knowledge bases)
Welcome debate -- ths is a learning opportunity
Quarantine Debate -- use the discussion area or Thread Mode (see below)
Community breaks 90:10:1 rule (Describes the phenomenon that in online discussion 90% lurk, 10% partcipate somewhat, and 1% carry the load) Anecdotal observation of use among established communities is that participation rates are higher.

Guiding Group Processes

Assign and rotate roles
Stress Cooperation/Collaboration Skills as a course outcome/professional skill
Neutral Point of View
Don't delete. Incorporate.

Common Group Dynamics

(from Wikipatterns.com)

Magnet:

• "The magnet pattern involves having some content exclusively on the wiki to draw users to it.

Scaffold

• "The Scaffold pattern involves giving people a place to start by "framing" the content that should eventually go on a page. People often respond better to a page with a template than one that's completely empty."

ThreadMode

• ThreadMode allows for free-form discussion of a subject between interested parties, often before a consensus may have been reached. By removing any requirement for consensus, strict factuality or neutrality, ThreadMode allows for the sharing of different points of view before any consensus has been reached."

WikiGnome

• A WikiGnome is a person who performs small edits on a wiki to continually improve its overall quality . (A WikiGnome is also often known as a WikiGardener) WikiGnomes are important to the success of a wiki because their edits increase the value of everyone else's content, such as: * Cosmetic editing to keep the wiki from being overrun with "weeds" (typos, misspellings, poorly structured sentences and paragraphs) * Add or fix links to make sure relevant content is navigable within the wiki * Improve the flow and clarity of content improve the readability of the page * Setting an example for other users of how and when to use the wiki.

Maintainer

• A maintainer is a person assigned or self-assigned to a page, space or section of a wiki who accountably takes responsibility for the quality of some of the content. The role may include that of a:
• secretary, collecting information from comments and meetings into the wiki
• refactorer, collapsing redundancy and inserting organization into a wiki
• solicitor, encouraging input from community members
• architect, categorizing pages, creating 'project' and 'overview' pages, assigning meanings to labels

Champion

• A passionate, enthusiastic champion is essential to the success of wiki because s/he will be able to generate interest, give the appropriate amount of training for each person at the right time, monitor growth of the tool and fix problems that could derail adoption.

Examples for wiki class:
1000 names
CSCC on Wikipedia

Example assignments using wikis

• Example of wiki assignment to write a study guide
• Holocaust Wiki Project--(decision tree simulation)
• 2007 Flat Classroom Project
• Art Appreciation Course Web Site --California State University Long Beach
• A Collaboration of Sites and Sounds: Using Wikis to Catalog Protest Songs

This article includes detailed instructional plans and assessment strategies for an assignment on protest songs and civil rights. It includes links to the wiki rubric, group participation and self-assessment tools

• Precalculus
  
• Examples of Educational Wikis in Wikispaces