ELRC 4507 Blog Post #2: Wikis

 

What is a Wiki?

The reoccurring themes in digital learning and digital transformation is to put the student first and create a student-centered learning environment.  A Wiki is a platform in which anyone can participate as a contributor.  It aligns with ISTE standards for students and encourages an outlet where they can act in digital literacy and collaborate and communicate on a wider scale.  A Wiki is a simple, quick, fast, and easy database that users can access from any location to modify resources or enhance and add to their own list of resources for their learning needs.  A Wiki is a rea-time integrative way to take teaching and learning experiences beyond the traditional classroom environment. 

 

Disadvantages of Wikis

This adaptation of inclusivity and allowing anyone to act as a contributor also takes away a reputable aspect from the information being provided.  This will add a new layer to the student’s assignment of fact checking resources.  It creates a level of self-awareness in students to not only check their peer’s work, but to check their own work and contributions as well.   

Integrating Wikis in the classroom

Educators embrace technology leadership goals by letting students guide their own learning.  So long as educators provide a backbone of the content material and all the tools students need for success, students should be able to navigate the rest of the journey on their own for a more personalized meaningful experience.  Utilizing Wikis in the classroom environment aligns with ISTE Standards for Students.   Wikis give students a voice in what they want out of their learning experience.  It is more impactful for students to learn what they want and take that knowledge beyond the classroom and into the real world. 

Especially working with elementary students, parents and family members what to stay up to date with what their child is learning.  English education is an important skill in foreign countries, and parents also want to be able to understand and learn with their child too.  By using Wikis in my organization, we can let parents be part of the experience too.  The pandemic has put a lot of additional stressors on parents to be digitally proficient.  A Wiki page for parents would be beneficial in this case.  We could create a resources page for using digital learning tools at home and offer what to do to make the experience easier or tips on what to do when you need troubleshooting.  Some examples I really liked and learned about during this module was implementing a collaborative story idea and student editor champion idea.  These would be fun ways to work on English vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure.  On a school wide level, I'm curious to see how it could be implemented as a daily newsletter to parents and family members as well.