Using WIKIs in Education

Daniel Nations (About.com Web Trends) points out that what makes a WIKI tick is collaboration. It pools together the knowledge of a group of people to create the best possible resource. In other words, a WIKI is a medium in which networks and partnerships can be established and learned from. Along with many other things, with Wikidot (Wikidot in Education) a WIKI may be used to create and edit pages with others, and start common-created projects and collaboration. You can upload files, images, and documents, and organise the site with categories, lists, and menus. The underlying theory applicable here is Engagement Theory. My class would use the WIKI technology to Relate (the learning would occur in a collaborative group context), Create (the learning would be project-based), and to Donate (the learning would have an outside, authentic focus). I envisage my class running a newspaper on a WIKI using all these attributes and components. Importantly, the authenticity of the learning is intended to contribute to deep learning in and better understanding of all elements, that is, of journalism and the ICT used.

Taking on roles such as editor and reporter, my learners would collaborate with outside-of-the-classroom experts. Here, I am thinking about editors of newspapers like The Morning Bulletin to collaborate with the learners as 'guest editor' and mentor. Learners may invite real reporters to 'guest report' and mentor, also. learner reporters would post their stories to the WIKI pages, adding images etc to support the stories. Links would be established also to support stories. The learner editor would design the categories, lists, and menus.

I can envisage this being done with journalism learners of high school age, particularly. Along with learning skills before beginning a university journalism program, they can begin establishing important networks and partnerships with those already in the field earlier than they otherwise would have, that is, before university.



Aldred, S. (2007). Why should schools develop networks? Posted December 6, 2007, in Gladstone industry-school partnerships. Retrieved July 24, 2009, from
http://gladstoneschoolpartnerships.blogspot.com/

Kearsley, G., & Schneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning [Electronic Version]. Retrieved July 18, 2009, from
http://home.sprynet.com/%7Egkearsley/engage.htm

Nations, D. (n.d.). What is a wiki?. In About.com web trends. Retrieved August 5, 2009, from
http://webtrends.about.com/od/wiki/a/what_is_a_wiki.htm

Nations, D. (n.d.). Wikis in a nutshell. In About.com web trends. Retrieved August 5, 2009, from
http://webtrends.about.com/od/wiki/p/wiki_nutshell.htm

Nations, D. (n.d.). A wiki is collaborative. In About.com web trends. Retrieved August 5, 2009, from
http://webtrends.about.com/od/wiki/a/what_is_a_wiki_2htm

Wikidot in education. Retrieved August 5, 2009, from
http://www.wikidot.com/learnmore:education