During week 8 of ADED 1P32, we got the opportunity to
explore wikis. The word “wiki” is
derived from the Hawaiian term for “quick” (Teachers First, 2013). Wikis can range in size from being a single
website based on one topic to a huge online encyclopedia (K12Learning,
2013). It is essentially a website that
can be edited by anyone and therefore is continuously revised and updated by
many online users (K12Learning, 2013). It
literally allows the website visitor to become an active participant and editor
of the information on the website. One
of the greatest features of wikis includes the ability to view the history of
the editing that takes place.
Although the original creation of a wiki was an online space
called WikiWikiWeb, the most popular example of a wiki in this generation is
definitely Wikipedia (Teachers First, 2013).
Wikipedia is the most common wiki out there in the World Wide Web
however, most academia institutions do not allow students to cite Wikipedia because
of its “editable” and therefore not creditable information.
Wikis supports social constructivist learning as it is a
knowledge building competency (Teachers First, 2013). This is unlike blogs that are used in a “Post,
Comment, Comment, Comment, Comment style”. Blogs tend to get messy and unorganized as
comments can go on for what feels like for ever. Without the use of comments, online users
have the ability to maintain a much neater online space for information via
wikis. Although wikis may be very
different than blogs, they are more similar to digital tools such as Google
Docs and Evernote because it allows others to edit and revise the content. Alike Google Docs and Evernote, wiki’s most
powerful buttons are the “edit” and “save”.
I strongly believe that wikis can be used as a very
effective learning tool for digital citizens.
The ability to revise online content and edit other people’s work lets wikis
offer online users a service that can promote shared knowledge construction and
growth (Teachers First, 2013). They have
the ability to help teach and co-ordinate with others more efficiently
(Lefever, 2005). They also inevitably encourage
good writing and editorial skills for students and these are seen as essential
skills to be a successful communicator and editor (Clark, 2012). Wikis can be used to develop websites (in the
easiest way), create student research projects, and act as brainstorming pages
(Teachers First, 2013). On a more
personal level, the best way to utilize wikis for my own learning is to
critically evaluate online information sources (K12Learning, 2013). With all the information that is accessible out
there in the online world, it is hard to depict what is accurate and credible
information. I have trusted sources such
as wikis when they were invalid and untrue information, therefore learning to
critically evaluate online information sources is the best practice for me while
browsing wikis.
After completing the weekly activities and exploring Digital
Rights and Responsibilities in thorough detail, I now understand why this
element is so crucial to being a successful digital citizen. Although there may be countless rights and
responsibilities while participating in the online world, all of these
guidelines should be adhered to in order to maintain a safe and ethical cyber
world. Here is my mind map of the most important
digital rights and responsibilities that are seen in today’s Digital Age.
Worboys, J. (2013). Digital Rights Concept Map Image.
As our topic for this week’s learning regarded wikis, I
found an article from TechCrunch via my Feedly.
This article illustrates how there is massive amounts of money being
poured into wiki spaces. The rise of
wikis is growing but why is Google not in the fight for some of its space?
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