Wikis+in+Learning

@http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811025316 What is a wiki? [1] According to Delaware IT UserServices, 2008, common uses are. [2]
 * 1) Wikis are community-based tools that support and encourage collaboration (see Barton 2004).
 * 2) Wikis have a simplified format language that is simpler than HTML
 * 3) Wikis focus on content rather than appearance (see Turnbull, 2004).
 * 4) Wikis provide version follow-up, even the smallest changes on each page of a wiki is available to everybody. All users can review the past on a page at any time.
 * 5) Wikis are fast and efficient (see Shirky, 2003). No security procedures or user-process acceptance are required.
 * 1) Brainstorming: When a certain project or creation process is started, the participants can be invited to add articles or opinions.
 * 2) Group Projects: Wiki is a special group project and can serve as a special intranet. Thus, all participants communicate, share resources, and write reports or books.
 * 3) Meeting Support: Agendas for special meetings are added on wikis and the participants can be invited to the meetings.
 * 4) Making Lists: It is the best way for organizing the content in reaching the terms at any special area.
 * 5) Collecting Links: It enables all users to upload files, to make comments, etc.
 * 6) Writing Web Contents: It is a perfect tool in defining wiki main ideas and clearly expressing the content while writing a collective letter, position, statement and any legal subjects.
 * 7) Creating Group Portfolios: Any organization can use a wiki in order to be able to load the history and past projects of the organization. Such portfolio is a strong tool of marketing.

According to Wang and Turner (2004) and Elrufaie and Turner (2005) there can be problems with Wikis:
 * 1) All content is modifiable by all users. Solution: The instructor/administrator can to restrict modifiability of pages.
 * 2) All content is open to everybody.
 * 3) Simultaneous edits are allowed, but not successful. When simultaneous writings are being performed on a page, wikis are locked.
 * 4) Wikis can be evolved without end. An instructor may want to end the evaluation when the class ends; many wikis do not allow this.



Collaborative learning: wikis provide information exchange and interaction opportunity that support and encourage collaborative learning. In collaborative learning "students study by helping the learning of each other in small groups in order to achieve a collective goal" [3]. Collaborative learning is intended "to maximize the learning of the students and keeps the learner active during the process of learning because everybody must work together for the success of a group" [4]. Collaborative learning groups encourage advanced thinking and information exchange. This engenders an "environment of learning together rather than competing with each other." [5]

Wikis are tools that support interaction and encourage learners to participate, to think and to construct information together. [6]

Some uses of Wikis [7] :
 * 1) Students can use a wiki to develop research projects, with the wiki acting as ongoing documentation of their work.
 * 2) Wikis can be used for students to add summaries of their thoughts from the prescribed readings, building a collaborative annotated bibliography.
 * 3) In distance learning environments, the tutor can publish course resources like syllabus and handouts, and students can edit and comment on these directly.
 * 4) Wikis can be used as a knowledge base for teachers, enabling them to share reflections and thoughts regarding teaching practices and allowing for versioning and documentation.
 * 5) Wikis can be used to map concepts: they are useful for brainstorming, and authoring a wiki on a given topic produces a linked network of resources.
 * 6) Wikis can be used as an editable presentation tools. Wikis allow comments and changes regarding the content of presentations.
 * 7) Wikis are tools for group authoring: often groups collaborate on a document by sending it on to each member of the group in turn, emailing a file that each person edits on their computer.

Tonkin (2005) pointed out 4 different forms about educational Wikis [8] :
 * 1) Single-user wikis enable the individual collection and editing of ideas on the web.
 * 2) Lab book wikis assist students in adding online notes and seeing the changes made by their friends.
 * 3) Collaborative writing wikis can be used for collective writing by a team.
 * 4) Knowledge-base wikis can be used for the group to form an information pool.

Delaware IT - User Services (2008). Wikis in Higher Education, Obtained online from @http://udel.edu/~mathieu/wiki on 15.02.2009. Lamb, B. (2004), Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not. Educause Review, 39 (5). @http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html on 25 December 2008.
 * Foord, D. (2007). The Stolen Principle Tick List, A6 Training and Consultancy. Obtained online from **
 * @http://www.a6training.co.uk/resources_Social_Software.php on 25.02.2009. **
 * Tonkin, E. (2005). Making the case for a wiki. Ariadne, Issue 42, January. Obtained online from @http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/tonkin on09.02.2009. **

Back to Wiki Bibliography

[1] these notes from Sahin Gokcearslan and Seher Ozcan / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 28 (2011) 481 – 485 [2] these notes from Sahin Gokcearslan and Seher Ozcan / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 28 (2011) 481 – 485 [3] Sahin Gokcearslan and Seher Ozcan / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 28 (2011) 481 – 485 citing (Johnson & Johnson, 2006; Jenkins, Antil, Wayne, & Vadasy, 2003) [4] Sahin Gokcearslan and Seher Ozcan / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 28 (2011) 481 – 485 citing (Carlan, Rubin, & Morgan, 2005) [5] Sahin Gokcearslan and Seher Ozcan / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 28 (2011) 481 – 485 citing (Carlan, Rubin, & Morgan, 2005) [6] these notes from Sahin Gokcearslan and Seher Ozcan / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 28 (2011) 481 – 485 [7] these notes from Sahin Gokcearslan and Seher Ozcan / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 28 (2011) 481 – 485 [8] these notes from Sahin Gokcearslan and Seher Ozcan / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 28 (2011) 481 – 485