The Use of Wikis

After last week’s lesson, I have realized that the wiki software could have the potential to support knowledge-building networks, and to be a useful tool in the shared repertoire of communities of practice engaged in collaborative learning. This can be seen in
existing wikis such as Wikipedia where a clear ‘etiquette’ or repertoire of practices has arisen and the wiki has become a functioning tool for a community, with members able to contribute to the knowledge of others.

Perhaps introducing students to an existing wiki as new members could enable them to learn from the practices of an existing community to appreciate the affordances of the wiki as a tool for collaborative practice in written content as well as in the negotiation of technical and design aspects. Equally, studying a wiki as a model of practice may also have opened up more options to these students. The teacher may also be able to play a role by modelling a collaborative process through participating in the students’ wikis as an equal, although more experienced, group member.

Wikis can be used as a tool for creating knowledge collaboratively. In the case study report “Using Wikis in Schools” by Lyndsay Grant, she discovered that there are areas such as the negotiation of online and offline space, performance and negotiation of identity in social software communities, development of multiliteracies and engagement in multimodal design that can be further developed. Wikis offers huge potential to learning both inside and outside the classroom. This kind of social software has the potential to support and structure communities where individuals come together to share, learn, create and collaborate with each other. The diversity of communities that can be formed through wikis and other forms of social software can be a source of creativity and inventiveness. Recognising contributors as individuals with unique experience and as members of a group allows for a personalised learning experience while also experiencing learning as part of a community through collaborating with others in shared activities. I will be very interested in using Wikis when I return to the classrooms in Singapore.