The Implementation of the Wiki as a learning tool:

There are
many well supported examples and suggestions of how the wiki can be used as a
beneficial educational tool.  However,
there are also a number of issues that have to be addressed or at least
considered when implementing wikis as an educational tool on a classroom level.

At a very
basic level, the collaboration element that the wiki
offers has been shown to be highly advantageous in nature due to the work of
Lev Vygotsky and the Constructivist educational paradigm.  It exemplifies “Writing to learn” in a highly
relatable medium.  To reach this
potential it requires a commitment of time and effort on the part of both the
teacher and the students as all parties must possess the basic technical skills
required to successfully use the wiki and also the energy that must be expended
to update it for the students, and the requirement to check on the progress of
the students and provide any necessary assistance.  Time is also required to gain experience in a
new medium as students gain mastery and move from producing wiki entries that are
superficial and shallow to those that are in depth in the same way that they
develop their essay writing or report writing skills.

To this
end, a successful implementation of a wiki in the classroom needs to start
slowly and ideally will combine multiple disciplines and strands.  It is necessary to teach students the basic
mechanical skills of adding pages, modifying entries and linking pages.  Teaching these mechanical skills would need
to be tied into the ICT curriculum due to the time sink that would take away time
from dicipline specific content.  Once
the basic mechanical skills are in place, it would be necessary to ensure that
students were in the right mind frame.
They need to be open to the idea of group work, collaboration and the
higher order thinking skills that are required to produce entries of the
desired depth.  The teacher can assist
this growth by comparing conventional assessments to the required abilities in
the wiki creation. Finally, time is important.
The whole educational community, teacher and students alike need to have
time to adjust to this new type of education and slowly realize the potential.  A small start, sufficient guidance and a
measure of patience are all required in the execution of the wiki as an
educational classroom tool.

1. ↑ Gillen, J. (2012).
Versions of Vygotsky. *British Journal of Educational Studies*, 48(2),
183-198.
2. ↑ Darling-Hammond, L.
(2006). CONSTRUCTING 21st-CENTURY TEACHER EDUCATION. *Journal of Teacher*
Education,*, 57(3), 300-314.*
3. ↑ Sandars, J., &
Schroter, S. (2007). Web 2.0 technologies for undergraduate and postgraduate
medical education: an online survey. *Postgraduate Medical Journal* ,
83:759–762.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Alexander, B. (2006). Web 2.0 A New Wave of Inovation
for Teachign and Learning? *EDUCAUSE Review*, 33-44.
5. ↑ Duffy, P., & Bruns, A. (2006). The Use of Blogs,
Wikis and RSS in Education: A Conversation of Possibilities. *Proceedings*
Online Learning and Teaching Conference *, (pp. 31-38). Brisbane.*
6. ↑ Jaksch, B., Kepp, J. S., & Womser-Hacker, C. (2008).
Integration of a Wiki for Collaborative Knowledge Development in an E-Learning
Context for University Teaching . *USAB*, 77–96.
7. ↑ Notari, M. (2006). How to Use a Wiki in Education:
‘Wiki based Effective Constructive Learning’ . *WikiSym’06* (pp. 131-132).
Odense, Denmark: ACM.
8. ↑ Parker, K. R., & Chao, J. T. (2007). Wiki as a
Teaching Tool. *Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects*,
3: 57-73.
9. ↑ Redecker, C.,
Ala-Mutka, K., Bacigalupo, M., Ferrari, A., & Punie, Y. (2009). *Learning*
2.0: The Impact of Web 2.0 Innovations on Education and Training in Europe.
Seville (Spain): European Comission Joint Research Centre Institute for
Prospective Technological Studies.