Is Wikipedia the Future of Education?

Ever visited Wikipedia? According to the Pew Research Center, over fifty percent of adult Americans reading this have. Wikipedia is the most widely known example of "the Wiki." Today's blog entry will discuss: what wikis are, how wikis can be used in 21st century learning environments, potential considerations when making a wiki and where you can go to create your own.

Wiki 101:

The term wiki comes from the Hawai'ian language, where 'wiki wiki' means fast. This will make perfect sense once you see a wiki space in action. Pages use a stripped down version of HTML that require little to no background in coding to operate. This has led to the complaint that wikis are ugly but functionality is the preferred goal.

Wikis look like a basic webpage, with a few minor differences. Wikis will typically have navigation on the left of the page that links the wiki page to the rest of the site. Wikis are arranged by themes or topics with individual pages being devoted to a single topic. Next, you'll notice tabs across the top of the wiki pages. Tabs may vary but usually include a tab for discussion of the viewed page, a view source tab which allows the user to view/edit the page and a revision tab that will show a record of the changes of this particular page.

In the case of Wikipedia, the left navigation connects you to the larger Wikipedia community, allows for change of language, allows for quick viewing of current events and allows you to browse the contents much like someone would a book. Wikipedia pages also feature several of the tabs mentioned above. The first being "article" which switches the user back to viewing the main topic page. "Talk" is next and this page is for discussion or planning of that pages content. This can even include whether the page deserves to be a part of Wikipedia. Finally, there's the "read," "view source," and "view history" tabs. View source of course allowing the user to edit.

Unlike web pages, ownership of a wiki is another matter entirely. Wikis are designed to be a collaborative document, therefore users can edit your wiki space which is the point of the wiki. The idea is that multiple users come together to create and share information to produce a document. Goals of wikis might be to just create a space where users can brainstorm, or as in the case of Wikipedia to create the world's most detailed encyclopedia. As previously mentioned, most wikis track changes, but no single person can claim ownership of the document.

Wiki use in the classroom:

Can the wiki revolutionize classroom learning? I believe the wiki can be a beneficial tool in classrooms, but it will require challenging traditional methods of teaching and grading. Due to the nature of the wiki, teachers will want to embrace group work and constructivist methods of teaching. Students will need to be allowed to drive instruction instead of a teacher-centric model.

A few of the ways wikis can be used are:

• group project spaces where students can collaborate on ideas, gather resources, and create documents.
• creating a class record of learning.writing practice, such as journals.
• creating a classroom FAQ.
• student created knowledge base with citations, like Wikipedia but on a smaller scale.

One of the things I would like to try is having students develop a geography wiki for our social studies classes. This would be a year long project and it would be flexible enough that students could expand it to suit their own individual research ideas.

I envision starting the students off with a page detailing the seven continents, then as we cover various regions they would build and expand upon the wiki, adding information on countries, culture and places. The result would be a product the students would be able to look back at the end of the year on with pride, since they would see the results of their year in social studies due to the written record they had created. The biggest obstacle I see is how to divide labor to ensure all students are working and engaged. Other hurdles of course are access to technology.

Implications for 21st Century learning:

Wiki creation requires students to possess such a wide spectrum of 21st century skills, that wikis might be the single greatest tool for accomplishing all 21st century learning goals. Studnets would gain core subject knowledge through research then demonstrate it with the content of their wikis. As students gain proficiency in using wikis, the four Cs would become second nature as they communicate their findings, make presentation choices, create engaging articles, and collaborate in groups unlike ever before. Other wiki side effects would include the gaining of information, media and technology skills in a hands on setting through conducting research and building the wiki. Meanwhile, all of this work would translate into life and career skills that would serve as a great foundation for any number of professional jobs.