Wild and Worried about WIKIS
This image was retrieved from: http://informationarchitects.jp/webtrends2007/
I came across an article entitled WILD ABOUT WIKIS by David Jakes and in this article Jakes explores the social software of wikis. Jakes states that ‘wikis enable anyone and everyone to create content online using easily understandable tools’. Jakes also states that the most famous wiki is wikipedia.
Jakes answers a number of questions about wikis, these being:
1. How do wikis work?
2. What are the educational benefits of wikis?
3. Are they free?
4. What wiki tools are available?
5. How much support is reuired to maintain a wiki?
6. What are potential concerns about using wikis?
For someone like myself who has no real experience with using and even making wikis, this article is quite interesting and informative as it outlines the various issues for and against their use. As this article leans more towards their use in the Primary Classroom, Jakes has mentioned quite a few “facts” that should be noted. One being that wikis provide students with the opportunity for “colaborative construction”, however he also mentions that teachers should pay careful attention in group work to ensure that the whole group is contributing and not just one. A positive to the use of wikis would be their forums. Students can raise issues and talk with students outside of their school (and even their Country) discussing and researching various topics.
