Wikis in Education

Case Study about the use of Wikis
The above link is an experiment that was performed to see how students use wikis. The results of this experiment taught me that students do grasp the opportunity to publish their own work, but they do not edit material on other pages. I find that interesting since one of the main points of wikis is to have multiple people editing the information on the site. Even though the researcher created a homepage, when the student decided they did not like the homepage, they created a brand new one instead of editing the one which was already made by the researcher. All six students interviewed even agreed that it was better to write their own page rather than edit an already written one.
What's even more interesting is that students actually seemed to collaborate when it came to the design and technical competence of the wiki. It also seems like the students believe that it is the words that get them grades and not the pictures. In the discussion board, there were very few comments about written content, but there were several comments about the visual design.

Strategies for Using Wikis in Education
The above link is very interesting because it gives you five great examples of how to incorporate the use of wikis in the classroom. The first way is for collaborative projects such as a group of students completing a research project focusing on a specific tribe of American Indians. What makes wikis ideal is that because they are online, students can access them outside of school allowing them to work together without actually having to be physically together. The second use for a wiki is to demonstrate a student's knowledge. Basically, it can be used to summarize what they learned in their own words. Wikis are also a good online resource for the classroom since it can meet school district website filtering requirements, and it provides students with acceptable resources for their school work. As used in this class, wikis can be used for a classroom webpage. The use of wiki as the classroom webpage eliminates the needs for maintenance of a separate website and to learn how to use special software. Finally, wiki can be used as a "filling cabinet" in that teachers can store files, images, and videos on the website.

10 Best Practices for using wikis in education
The above link is a great way to tie the two previous links together. The first link tells us about students using wikis, the second describes different ways to incorporate a wiki, and now this link informs how to get students involved in using wikis. It provides ten simple ways to get students to use a wiki. First and foremost, give directions and time for practice. As students get more comfortable with using it, they are more likely to contribute. Students then must abide by the wiki conventions. As with any other new project, the teacher must be patient with the students and a "culture of trust" must be created within the wiki. Meaning that icebreaker activities are a big plus! Again, as with any other assignment, clear and explicit expectations are a must as are unique and meaningful activities. To help with collaboration, a common goal for collaborative activities should be made. As learned from a previous study, collaborating seems to be tough for students so setting a common goal really helps. Finally, as with many other assignments, the instructor must define roles and the activity, remind students of course deadlines, and model examples of collaborative activities.