Jul 23 2009
Wiki or blog or both?
In this week’s workshop I learned about Wikis. I had created one a while back but never used it. I have been a fan of blogs and wasn’t really all that clear on how to use a Wiki or why I would use one. I still have some questions and concerns that perhaps you can help me with.
I found that Wikis were really simple to use. We all created accounts with Wikispaces. It is very easy to get an account. Be sure that you specify that you are using it for Educational Use in order to get all the features that you can for free. In the workshop I learned all sorts of little tricks on how to import files and how to create more Wikis. You get a fair bit of space to upload files and pictures. I was really happy to see that my little trick for including Flickr pictures on my pages works with Wikis too (see the screencast on how to do this by clicking here). It is easy to embed video and calendars and to manage the pages and contributors on a Wiki. The idea of collaboration on the Wiki appeals to me but being the control freak that I am, I have some concerns about using a Wiki with my students.
One of the things I really like about my blog is that I approve all the posts and comments that appear on it. Anytime anyone writes anything, their comments or posts wait until I see them and approve them before they appear on the blog for the rest of the world. If I understand it correctly I would not have that ability on a Wiki. I can decide who has permission to change the Wiki or to join in the discussion but once someone writes something it is out there. I understand that I can subscribe to my Wiki so that it alerts me to any changes that I have been made, but I worry that is a little after the fact.
The other concern that I have is that if a contributor writes something inappropriate I can correct it but the changes will always be visible in the history unless I remake the page. I can see how some enterprising students would get a kick out of writing something cheeky, saving it, even by accident or on a dare and then changing it so that their writing appears to be proper on the main page but their naughty exploits are still visible in the history for all to see. I don’t know if I want to be policing this. Sometimes students write things with the best intentions but don’t realize that a turn of phrase or use of words can be read the wrong way. Sometimes students share user ids and passwords with their most trustworthy and bestest friends only to have that trust betrayed and used against them. Having an opportunity for a second look before things go on air has been beneficial to both me and my students on the blog.
This year, I want to get my students collaborating on writing both in my class and with Nathan’s class. I am interested in how you might be using a Wiki with your class. At the moment I am leaning toward using Google Docs for the collaborative work and sticking with the blog for discussion and sharing. Any thoughts??
