Wikis seem to be very useful in the right context. It appears that they allow the exchange of information between people which can be edited and contributed to freely by users. This is different to a blog, a tool which is operated by and contributed to by one user. It appears that Wikis can be useful within an educational context such as Korea Internation School (view 21st Century Learningvideo) where the students construct their own textbooks.This brings me to the validity of Wikis in an educational context like a classroom. With anyone being able to contribute to them, it appears that these sites could lack in credibility and also become subject to innappropriate comments and untrue remarks. Being an uncensored digital tool, I have the opinion that Wikis could be beneficial though under close supervision.
Strengths and opportunities of a Wiki:
- Fosters collaborative learning
- Easy to construct
- Engages students in Higher Order Thinking if constructed efficiently
- Allows learning anywhere, at any time
- Can be used for inquiry based learning and problem solving
Weaknesses and threats of a Wiki:
- A public webpage that anyone can view (unless access is only given to certain people)
- Unless carefully constructed, there is virtually no pedagogy involved
Click here to view my Wiki.