Wiki Workshop

1. Charles Olbert Web Manager UNC Center for European Studies charles@charlesolbert.com Wiki Workshop Web 2.0 in Education

2. GOALS: • Understand wikis conceptually • Consider educational applications • Obtain experience using and implementing wikis • Gain some fluency in thinking about issues specific to education and pedagogy • Bottom Line: Know whether wikis are right for you

3. PROBLEMS: How do you use the internet in an engaging, interesting, genuinely interactive way? How can you use the “non-locality” of the internet to your advantage to work collaboratively?

4. Section 1 Wiki Workshop Web 1.0: Internet as Restaurant

5. What is it like to use the internet? • What was it like in the mid/late 1990s? • Static webpages • Look, but don’t touch Web 1.0: Internet as Restauruant

6. RESTAURANT • Static list of menu options • Menu determined by the chef • Food cooked behind closed doors • Power relations pre-determined (critics, managers, owners) • One-to-Many • development Web 1.0: Internet as Restauruant

7. WEB 1.0 • Static list of site contents • Content determined by the webpage author(s) • Site content developed independently from site users • Power relations pre-determined • (feedback forms, owners, authors) • One-to-Many development • Interactivity limited to clicks, email, search • METAPHORS • Museum • Magazine • Lecture Class Web 1.0: Internet as Restauruant

8. INTERNET AS LEARNING TOOL • Museum metaphor (to some extent) • Note taking from authoritative source • Passive intake • Why prefer over “hard copy” resources? • Barriers to entry for student use (hosting, code knowledge, access) Web 1.0: Internet as Restauruant

9. INTERNET AS COLLABORATIVE TOOL How is it any different from printing a file and handing it to a colleague? Why prefer electrons over hard copies? Lack of genuine interactivity Web 1.0: Internet as Restauruant

10. Section 2 Wiki Workshop Web 2.0: Internet as Kitchen

11. KITCHEN • No list of pre-determined options • Recipes developed by individuals • Developed with others in kitchen • Power relations up for grabs • Many-to-Many development • METAPHORS • Playground • Lego sets • Improv Theatre Web 2.0: Internet as Kitchen

12. “Web 2.0 is a term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of static websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users.” -- Tim O’Reilly (widely credited with coining the term “web 2.0”) Web 2.0: Internet as Kitchen

13. WEB 1.0 WEB 2.0 Reading Writing Companies/Individuals Communities Home pages Blogs Ownership Sharing Lectures Conversations Encyclopedias Wikipedia Static Dynamic Internet as Product Internet as Process Web 2.0: Internet as Kitchen

14. GOAL: To create genuinely interactive, interesting applications on the internet. PROBLEM: How do you do it? Web 2.0: Internet as Kitchen

15. BARRIERS TO ENTRY: Dynamic? Collaborative? Process-Oriented? AND with minimal resources? *** Problem Areas CODE KNOWLEDGE PLATFORM INDEPENDENCE HOSTING Web 2.0: Internet as Kitchen

16. CLAIM: Wikis are one pretty good, pretty accessible resource for achieving some of these goals with minimal investment. Web 2.0: Internet as Kitchen

17. Section 3 Wiki Workshop Where Wikis Fit In

18. “A wiki is a website where every page can be edited in a web browser, by whomever happens to be reading it.” – Tom Stafford, Matt Webb “A wiki allows a group of people to enter and communally edit bits of text. These bits of text can be viewed and edited by anyone who visits the wiki.” – Marshall Brain “A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language” – Wikipedia Where Wikis Fit In

19. A wiki is, essentially, just a collaborative, fully editable website. Components: Collaboration: “anyone” can add, edit, link, even delete Simplicity: light, easy to use “markup language” (no need to know html/php/etc.) Soft Security: automatic backups, revision histories Where Wikis Fit In

20. Where Wikis Fit In • Same elements of normal webpage: links, text, images – Same versatility as a normal webpage • BUT: • links to editor • links to revision history

21. Wikis make it easy to correct mistakes rather than difficult to make them. Hand authority over to a group culture: bottom-up “soft” security rather than top-down “hard” security. Good for developing content, less good for developing style (writing or visual). Where Wikis Fit In

22. Wikis versus blogs versus “home pages”: Homepages – pre-defined content, no system for indicating change. Implied single author (one who knows html or a designer). Blogs – additive content in one dimension (time). Implied singular author. Wikis– undefined structure (until users impose it on their own terms). No pre-defined implied author. Where Wikis Fit In

23. BIG DEAL? Anyone can edit – is that revolutionary? YES! Moves from model of authority to model of trust and community. Achieves shift in technology through shift in philosophy. Where Wikis Fit In

24. BIG DEAL? Anyone can edit – is that revolutionary? YES! Demonstrates that learning need not be based on receiving “word from on high” or by a solitary individual reading a book. Learning can happen in a community, collaboratively. Where Wikis Fit In

25. BIG DEAL? Anyone can edit – is that revolutionary? YES! Challenges students to think hard about issues of knowledge creation, community, and compromise. Who owns wiki content? How do you negotiate changes? How do you identify non-neutral points of view? Where Wikis Fit In

26. BIG DEAL? Anyone can edit – is that revolutionary? "...The biggest thing about these self-publishing tools is that they’re self-publishing... You don’t need to be a geek to be able to publish to the ‘net anymore - and this stuff has the potential to “fix” the web, which was supposed to be a dynamic network of linked content published by individuals, but got co-opted into a variation of the TV broadcast model, with users sitting in front of glowing screens receiving the content that The Man wants to feed them. Instead, we can effectively publish our own content, with whatever authority we can muster." -- D'Arcy Norman Where Wikis Fit In

27. WEB 1.0 PagesWiki Pages Authority Community Opacity Transparency High Barrier to Entry Low Barrier to Entry Ownership Contribution Where Wikis Fit In

28. Wikismaximize interplay. Wikis are democratic Wikis work in real time. Wiki technology is text-based Wikis permit public document construction (distributed authorship) Wikiscomplicate the evaluation of writing Wikis promote negotiation Wikis permit collaborative document editing, or open editing. Wikis make feedback intensely public and potentially durable. Wikis work on volunteer collaboration.. Where Wikis Fit In From dossiers practiquesby Renée Fountain

29. Section 4 Wiki Workshop Hands On Wiki Development

30. http://wiki.charlesolbert.com/ First: Create an account (link is at upper right) Then you should see something like this: Hands on Wiki Development

31. http://wiki.charlesolbert.com/ Second: pick a page to edit The editor looks like this: Hands on Wiki Development Mouse-over the buttons for a brief description of what they do. Then play around and create/edit!

32. http://wiki.charlesolbert.com/ Third: take a look at the revision history Hands on Wiki Development

33. Creating a wiki using a third-party application http://sites.google.com/ Type your email address in the box and click on “Get Started” button Hands on Wiki Development

34. http://sites.google.com/ Once you fill in the form, you will be sent an email for verification. Hands on Wiki Development

35. http://sites.google.com/ Next: sign in. Then: find ‘sites’ link at right and click through Hands on Wiki Development

36. http://sites.google.com/ Site Name Categories Description Access Rules Display properties Hands on Wiki Development

37. http://sites.google.com/ Creating and editing pages is straightforward. Google Sites’ editor is a little more familiar than MediaWiki’s. Hands on Wiki Development

38. http://sites.google.com/ Access controls seem reasonable in terms of functionality. Administrators and parents can be invited as viewers. Hands on Wiki Development

39. Section 5 Wiki Workshop Applications in Education

40. FOR TEACHERS • Collaborative syllabi • Tracking progress/behavior across classrooms • Meeting planning / agenda creation • Event planning • Collaborating with other/international schools • Develop a database of lesson plans • “Using the wiki has allowed us to share and collaborate on the research that we would have otherwise done individually” Applications in Education

41. FOR STUDENTS • Collaborative projects • “Process-oriented” writing tool (track changes) • Connecting with other schools or students, nationally or internationally • Peer editing / review • Teaching consensus & compromise • Building outlines and reference lists • Annotating longer works/poems/stories • Creating online bibliographies • Adopt a Wikipedia page • Online “study groups” Applications in Education

42. “In all instances, the users decided for themselves how the wiki would fulfill their objectives. Technical support and training was minimal: at most, one hour of instruction was needed, and in most cases, orientation was handled by a single email.” Brian Lamb Applications in Education

43. Section 6 Wiki Workshop Problems and Pitfalls

44. VANDALISM The power to create entails the power to destroy: in other words, “if anybody can edit my text, then anybody can ruin my text.” (Vandalism is most likely to happen on wikis that involve controversial topics) Problems and Pitfalls

45. VANDALISM BUT: You have the power to revert to previous versions in the edit history. You can also track who made what changes. Define vandalism and clearly specify consequences. Accountability is key. Discourage deletion. Encourage “refactoring” Problems and Pitfalls

46. PARTICIPATION • Major factor in success/failure of wikis. • Assessment that supports collaboration: • Assess process AND product • Group marks • Strong individual marks • Peer assessment • Clearly define expectations and have a transparent system for assessment that you discuss up-front (i.e., explain why). Problems and Pitfalls

47. ASSESSMENT ISSUES • Minor edits can have bigger than anticipated effects. • Edits & Improvements vs. content • Rewrites vs. core ideas Problems and Pitfalls

48. Comfort Level • TEACHER COMFORT • Giving up authority • Yet closely monitoring • Ensuring student privacy/safety • Fluency with software • STUDENT COMFORT • Feeling good making contributions • Making edits directly to others’ work/contributions • Fluency with software Problems and Pitfalls

49. Openness, Context The amount of monitoring and moderating required by wikis will depend on the context. Collaborating with other teachers can be more free-wheeling and open than using wikis to monitor process-oriented writing. Problems and Pitfalls

50. Section 7 Wiki Workshop Access, Permission, & Acceptable Use