Using Wikis in Teaching

Wikis• e.g. Wikipedia

• Collaborative web site

• Users can create and edit content pages

Use Wikipedia?• Nature 2005 study found it

comparable to Encyclopedia Brittanica– Disorganized, some information

omitted• Several studies find error

correction within hours– Obscure articles aren’t repaired as

fast• There’s a nice Wikipedia article

summarizing all of this.

Student edited wiki

• Gives students ownership• Creates a student-centered

resource• A skill for future use

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Who uses wikis?• Software documentation –

e.g. Perl, Moodle• Corporate in-house wikis• Research collaborators

Have students edit Wikipedia?

• Hard to grade

• May be removed or corrected very rapidly

• May irritate other users

Dedicated Class Wikis• Most LMS systems have

them – e.g. Moodle• Or you can implement

various freeware wikis . • e.g. Wikispaces• We’ve used ScrewTurn

Wiki • Example in my Genetics

class

Issues• Students don’t do

optional• Grading• Students don’t like to

correct each other

Alternatives• In Moodle – glossary and

database• Blogs • Others?

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What do you want?• Resource for

students or experience for students?

• Growing resource over semesters, or new every semester?

• How open or structured?