The world of Wikis is absolutely fascinating. I’ve used Wikipedia thousands of times but had never truly considered the work that has gone into creating one of the most visited websites in the world. I’ve never taken the time to scrutinize the contents nor contribute to the project, but the readings this week certainly stimulated me to explore and analyze the depths of Wikipedia and the utility of wikis as collaborative learning tools.
What is a Wiki? What is Wikipedia? And how does it all work?
So, where does the word “wiki” even come from? “Wiki” is the Hawaiian word for “fast.” In today’s technological world, wikis are private or public websites where anyone with authoring rights may participate in collaborating, organizing, and sharing information. Of course the biggest and most famous wiki is Wikipedia which adds more than 20,000 new articles each month according to Pew Research. One of the most amazing things about Wikipedia is that that aside from its founder, Jimmy Wales and a software developer or two, Wikipedia is run almost entirely by volunteer contributors. Wikipedia relies on subject matter experts to share knowledge in creating and editing articles on every subject matter known to man. As a Wikipedia contributor, I can add information, fact check and edit, reorganize, and even translate information from one of 280 languages to another.
What does editing a Wikipedia article actually look like?
I decided to get my hands a little dirty and explore how this works. I had never explored beyond the actual article in Wikipedia but was inspired by the article How to Use Wikipedia as a Teaching Tool to learn more. I used Sutori to create an artifact about my exploration of Wikipedia.
How can Wikis be used in language learning?
Looking beyond the mammoth of Wikipedia, as educators or learners, we can create our Wikis. The creation of a Wiki or collaborative artifact can lead to the following benefits in language learning as identified by Selami Aydin (2014):
- Improved language skills
- Growth in positive perceptions of learning
- Increased motivation
- Deeper processing of course content
- Development of both autonomy and collaborative skills
- Enhanced inquiry learning and critical thinking
In my classroom, we recently started creating a Wiki on Notable African Americans using GoogleSites. I have seen first-hand how motivated my students are in developing this project. The ultimate goal of their research being published, live, on the open internet is an incentive not only for each individual student to work to their fullest but also for them to guide each other through the editing and publishing process. This process of externalizing their knowledge allows for deeper processing and understanding of our topic.
In language learning, we focus on the development of 4 skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. In the creation of a Wiki, all four skills are being developed to differing degrees, however, the skill of emphasis is writing. Parks, Hamers, and Huot-Lemonnier (2003) further define four types of collaboration that occur specifically in collaborative writing as:
- Covert Collaboration: retrieving information from documents or sources. As seen in the research stage of our classroom project.
- Joint Collaboration: equal responsibility between 2 writers. As seen in the writing stage of our classroom project.
- Parallel Collaboration: not equal responsibility in that individual contributions vary. As each set of partners writes about their particular topic tied to an underlying them in our classroom project.
- Incidental Collaboration: spur of the moment request for help from peers related to problem solving on particular issues. As seen in the editing stage of our classroom project.
In our project on Notable African Americans, these four types of collaboration have been apparent in different stages of the project. As it stands, our project is still in process but I look forward to posting a link to our Wiki once it has been published.
In conclusion, the exploration of Wikipedia and the potential for developing Wikis has been and an incredible journey for me as both a learner and an educator. And this is only the surface.
Resources:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/01/14/wikipedia-at-15/
Aydin, Selami. (January 2014). Wikis As A Tool For Collaborative Language Learning: Implications For Literacy, Language Education And Multilingualism.
Losh, Elizabeth (May, 2013). How to Use Wikipedia as a Teaching Tool: Adrianne Wadewitz. The Connected Learning Alliance.
Parks, S., Hamers, D., & Huot-Lemonnier, D. (2003). Crossing boundaries: Multimedia technology and pedagogical innovation in a high school class. Language Learning & Technology