'Wikid' Wiki's

A Wiki 'is a website that allows multiple users to create, modify and organize web page content in a collaborative manner.' (Governers State University, 2009) I learnt about Wiki's in a course the previous course and until then, I'd never really understood the power and potential that a simple Wiki can achieve.


My newfound knowledge of how clever and convenient Wiki's were fueled even more when I started talking to one of my friends to let them know about how great Wiki's were - little did I know they already knew about Wiki's! So we decided to create one, but not just any kind of Wiki... The great thing was, we thought we'd create a Wiki for a multimedia and design team we are a part of. We thought why not create a Wiki for the whole team to collaborate with each other easily and effectively. Since creating this Wiki, the rest of the team have now come to appreciate the convenience and the simplicity of a Wiki and we are using it frequently. There's no more fear about losing sheets of paper with important information being lost, no more 'jotting down notes' and sending a plethora of follow-up emails - we can now (for instance) type out tasks under a 'Task' page and the team can add their comments or thoughts, and better still delete a 'task' off that list which means everyone will see it.


Collaboration has now been simplified.


The funny thing is, after creating my own Wiki for this assessment piece (seen below) I was so satisfied! I suppose knowing how effective an active Wiki is was really exciting for me, and seeing how other people in my class were easily collaborating and reading their reflections about how much they loved it was really terrific!

















Therefore, now having this knowledge and experience of the effectiveness of a Wiki, I can definitely see the possibilites of implementing this ICT in a classroom setting - in fact, the classroom would be re-defined. Students would be able to collaborate more effectively on a school assignment out of school time and the teacher would be able to give feedback and direction whenever they'd like. Drafts for assignments could be viewed and edited, feedback could be easily provided, links and references could be shared and kept safe and neatly in one place - Wikid!




References: Governers State University 2009, eLearning Glossary, viewed 21 August 2009
http://www.govst.edu/elearning/default.aspx?id=12984