Wikis and Blogs

“Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser” (Blankenship, Boyland & Consiglio, 2009). Wiki sites or blogs have completely transformed my learning environment this term. As a flex student, I have had to engage with the University’s LMS which has enabled me to become a little more competent in the realm of e-learning. However, nothing could have prepared me for the world of wikis and blogging! Wikis are not something you can read about and then create. Working with wikis requires the learner to actively engage with the content as you have to (procedurally) learn how to use this tool. This process can prove to be very challenging at times as there is no hardcopy in front of you to guide you through the learning process.

Analysing wikis in accordance with Kearsley & Shneidernman’s Engagement Theory (1999) wikis emphasise a student-centered approach to learning and have the potential to meaningfully engage students. This is evident in the sense that wikis are a technology-based approach to learning, requires collaboration amongst peers and requires students to physically engage with the technology in order to be successful at the task.

Wikis and blogs offer such a large spectrum of learning opportunities to both teachers and students particularly in terms of collaborative learning. I would use wikis with my Year 12 Geography class which would form their summative assessment item for a term. They would do this in the context of Responding to Climate Change where students work in pairs and have to design, develop and engage with their own personal wiki along with their classmates’ wikis which further encourages collaboration. I would firstly show them the wiki technology and conduct several practices which focus on students successfully using and engaging with the tool (scaffold). The task would require them to research an alternative green-energy technology (solar, wind, nuclear) discuss this technology on their wiki; include images, comments from peers and how this technology is going to reduce the impacts of Climate Change.

By using the wiki technology in this context, it conforms to Oliver’s ICT Learning Design Model. This is evident in the sense that the students would be responding to a real-world issue (Climate Change), I have scaffolded their learning of the technology by showing them the tool and allowing them the opportunity to engage with it (Oliver, 1999).

References:
Blankenship, L, Boyland, C & Consiglio, D 2009, Wikis and Blogs, viewed 6 August 2009, http://www.brynmawr.edu/etc/tips/wikisandblogs.shtml.

Kearsley, G & Shneiderman, B 1999, Engagement Theory: A Framework for technology-based teaching and learning, viewed 24 July, 2009, http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm.

Oliver, R 1999, Learning Design: The Learning Design Construct, viewed 9 August 2009, http://www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/project/learn_design.htm.