Kawai. Steps to Digital Contexts : week 8 Wikis & Concept

Times and technologies have changed the way we learn and also changed the tools we use for learning. “A wiki is a strongly collaborative medium that forces people to be collaborative” (Lefever, 2005). After learning and using wiki in week 8, I have to agree with the above statement.

Wiki is a free digital tool and an editable web site for users to develop and share topics with other viewers that interested them. To master Wiki, all you need is some good ideas and basic computer skills.

By following the weekly session guide in this week, I visited http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/2011/05/10/free-tools-23-wikispaces/ and learned how to operate Wiki. I signed up an account and started to develop my own page via Wikispaces.

www.wikispaces.com is one of the first wiki services that educators embraced. There are thousands of Wikispaces that we can find on the internet such as http://digicitizenship.wikispaces.com/ and http://aded1p32.wikispaces.com/1-HOME-Rights+%26+Responsibilities+Scenario. These wikis site are all to reflect wikis creator’s hard work.

Same as the other digital tools that I explored in this course, I think Wiki is also a well-developed, effective and user friendly tool, it is very similar to the word-processing programs that I usually use on my devices, after you finished writing and saved your work, the page is automatically posted online. In addition, the account creator has control on who to invite to the page and allow other users to view and edit the content anytime as long as the wiki password is shared.

Consider building my own learning or learning together with my colleagues, I think Wiki is a wonderful source for individual and professional growth.

To start a group project or open a classroom blog for example, a group of people will be able to access and edit content to the same wiki page, as a result, ongoing communication and collaborative learning is engaged. It is different from writing a personal blog, because everyone who has the rights to contribute to the same wiki content will also has to be responsible for the entire page, all members are learning and reflecting to each other and that will make Wikispaces become a great learning platform.

When I was enjoying the freedom to creating my wiki page, I noticed it is all about participating, communicating and giving out ideas through the internet. However, in the digital world, everything happens in front of a vast and often anonymous audience, I never know how other treats or feels about my work. As Clark (2012) mentioned in his article, “the impact of Wikipedia on learning is incalculable. Too often attention is drawn to the idea that it creates a ‘cut and paste’ culture of plagiarism”. On the other hand, I don’t have full control of what would happen on the internet doesn’t mean I can get away with unethical or unacceptable behavior.

Right and wrong extend to our online life. Impart the value of becoming a good digital citizen is essential as technology can be misused but it also has the potential for being a powerful tool when handled responsibly.