The following blog contains comments on two articles concerning for EDTEC 467 Week 7: A systemic and theoretical view of knowledge building using Wikis (Cress & Kimmerle, 2008) and The power of wikis (Schweder & Wissick, 2009)
What is a wiki? The power of wikis article describes the wiki as “ a collaborative web sit whose content can be edited by anyone who has access to it. It can be public or private. Educational wikis can be used for collaboration, sharing, organzing, and instruction purposes. ” (Schweder and Wissick, 2009)
What is your sense of how knowledge building could occur in wikis?The common theme between the two articles in my mind concerning knowledge building with wikis occurs through individual learning and collaboration. Piaget’s model of equilibration explains that new knowledge is developed through a balance of dealing with new information from the environment and prior knowledge. Cognitive conflicts between the two can lead to new knowledge. Wikis collaboration between people gives the opportunity for people to assimilate and accommodate new information internally and externally (Cress and Kimmerle, 2008).
How does learning occur in a wiki? The article A systemic and theoretical view of knowledge building using Wikis uses Luhmann’s systems theory principle to describe learning knowledge through a wiki. Systemic systems are defined as operations that produces elements with the help of the elements of the same system. Systemic operations are self-developing, autopoietic, self-referential, dynamic, and develop over time. The two systemic systems involved with wiki’s include social and cognitive systems. Both of these systems include assimilation, accommodation, externalization, and internalization which involves individual learning through collaboration within a systemic view (Cress & Kimmerle, 2008)
Are wikis the environment that affects the growth of a systemic system? Cognitive systems operate via processes of consciousness, whereas social systems operate by means of communications (as a product of social systems in this case). Systems exist in environments that are more complex than the system itself. Sometimes the environment stimulates system growth through the introduction of new information. Social systems and cognitive systems are connected in this environment and rely on each other(Cress & Kimmerle, 2008). In my opinion this makes the wiki the environment that “irritates” people that leads to learning. Do you think wiki is the environment or do you think the environment is outside of the wiki?
What is the process of learning? The process of learning happens though internalization and externalization on a social and individual level. For example, before posting something on the wiki, a person must process and clarify the information internally, increasing individual knowledge. Externalization involves people placing their individual knowledge (cognitive system) on the wiki (social system). Internalization also occurs when a person processes and integrates wiki information to develop their own knowledge. One can learn new knowledge by internalizing new information. Also, this new information can interact with prior knowledge to create new knowledge. This emergent knowledge would not exist without the collaborative work involved with the wiki (Cress & Kimmerle, 2008).
Assimilation versus acommodation, which one do you think leads to cognitive or social change? Assimilation occurs when new information is added quantitatively and accommodation occurs when new information changes prior information qualitatively. “Cognitive and social systems develop mutually; co-evolution of systems constitutes the foundation of collaborative knowledge building” (Cress & Kimmerle, 2008) .I consider that accomodation is the process that creates change in cognitive and social systems. Do you think adding information can also create changes in these systems?
This table shows how I categorized these systems and processes together. Wiki “adder”, an author adds content to existing pages or adds new pages. Wiki “synthesizers” in which authors integrates, reorganizes pages, or rewrites complete paragraphs. Do you agree with or disagree with this table? Would you add or change anything to this table?
Internal(cognitive system) | External(social system) | |
Assimilation | Individual adds to personal knowledge | Social network adds to wiki knowledge |
Accommodation | Individual synthesizes personal knowledge | Social network synthesizes wiki knowledge |
What do you perceive as the validity of the knowledge and the knowledge building processes on wikis? I perceive the validity of knowledge and knowledge building processes on wikis are determined by the community in which the wiki is based on. If this community is knowledgeable then this will create a wiki with more valid information. I think wikis should include references to experts who study within that field of knowledge. However, I think the authors themselves do not have to be an expert in the field. They can aggregate or collect information on a web site, just like the Princeton student’s Siberia project Myths and Memories of Siberia. However, when adding “new information” that has not been proven could be misleading and misinform people if that information is not correct. So caution would be expected in using information within a wiki without checking the references first. Do you agree or disagree?
New Information:
Should wikis only be used in higher learning? Confusion has been linked to higher learning. However, this confusion can lead to frustration in students if they do not have the skills to assimilate or accommodate information. A way to overcome this would be to establish scaffolding to help individuals through this process. Wikis in my opinion do not have scaffolding mechanisms built in them and seem to be more appropriate for higher learning activities. Below is an excerpt from “Confusion can be beneficial to learning” that deep learning occurs in challenging environments. I consider wikis to be a challenging environment to learn in.
“Learners complacently experience a state of low arousal when they are in comfortable learning environments involving passive reading and accumulating shallow facts without challenges. However, these comfortable learning environments rarely lead to deep learning. In contrast, deep learning is expected to be higher in environments that present challenges to inspire deep inquiry, provided that the learners attend to impasses and the resultant confusion. Learners also need to have the requisite knowledge and skills to resolve the confusion or alternatively the learning environment needs to provide appropriate scaffolds to help with the confusion resolution process”(D’Mello, Lehman, Pekrun, and Graesser, 2012)
What are possible wiki scaffolding mechanisms? I think scaffolding could be built into future wiki technology. Some examples could be “chat boxes” or “discussion forums” that could let authors or participants to communicate with each other in order to overcome confusion. For example blogs shows what a person thinks, whereas a wiki is a product of collaboration. I think it would be beneficial to include discussion areas in wikis to guide learners in their thinking.
References:
Cress, U. & Kimmerle, J. (2008). A systemic and cognitive view on collaborative knowledge building with wikis. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 3, 105-122. doi: 10.1007/s11412-007-9035-z
D’Mello, Lehman, Pekrun, and Graesser, (2012).Confusion can be beneficial for learning. (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2014, from http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/science/article/pii/S0959475212000357 ISSN 0959-4752, 02/2014, Volume 29, p. 153
Schweder, W., & Wissick, C. A. (2009). The power of wikis. Journal of Special Education Technology, 24(1), 57-60. Retrieved from: https://cms.psu.edu/WorldCampus/201314SP/201314SPWD___REDTEC467_001/ReadingMaterials/SchwederWissick2009.pdf
Priya Sharma says
Nice table! I like the way you’ve integrated the group and the individual processes on both levels of accommodation and assimilation. The question of the wiki being the environment vs. the environment outside was interesting – I like Torrie’s characterization of the wiki acting as a boundary and I would agree that in a sense, the wiki and the environment outside are both relevant because each contributes specific aspects to the learning process: i.e, learners come in with knowledge from the “big” environment and then they test/play with specific aspects of their knowledge in the “small” or wiki environment, but one necessarily must work with the other.
jpm414 says
What do you perceive as the validity of the knowledge and the knowledge building processes on wikis?
I believe wikis can be a great tool in education at various levels of study. Wikis can be simplified for even younger learners. At the elementary level it would be beneficial for the instructor to teach how to use a wiki, set specific guidelines, and show examples. The instructor would also need to closely monitor the contributions for the validity of the content. I feel the creator of the wiki can play an important role in maintaining an accurate document by monitoring all additions and revisions. I also would agree that the knowledge of the group plays a key role in the success of the wiki. The more background and interest they have in the topic, typically the more prepared they are to contribute. By adding proven research and citing the authors the validity will certainly increase. This is a great point and shows the individual’s comments have some merit. With any information on the internet it is important to always check multiple sources for validation of the content. We all have trusted sites that we visit daily, but often we need to continue developing this personal database of sites as we delve into new topics. As we continue to use the internet, we continue to get better at the task of finding reputable information.
vrc112 says
I think that wiki’s are a part of the environment that leads to irritation for the learner but certainly not the whole environment. The people who contribute to the wiki, the software that supports the wiki, the ads on the side of the wiki page are all part of the environment. I think the wiki may be more of a boundary object in the system that helps maintain a common means of communication and learning between people who may come from different backgrounds and perspectives.
Perhaps this is incorrect thinking on my part but I always thought someone who primarily assimilated was not metacognitive or self-regulated enough to know where new knowledge fit into their existing structure and thought consciously about accommodating this new information. I think it is different in a wiki because the wiki cannot be metacognitive and so the word has a different connotation.
Are discussion areas in wikis necessary or could the discussion be through a different software? Perhaps that is not a feature that should be brought into wiki’s and people can communicate about the wiki through other software applications.