ETEC 510- Wiki Project: Learning Management Systems
Learning about Wikipedia from various assigned readings in the course while simultaneously contributing to an ETEC 510 wiki page, was an incredible learning experience. Going into this portion of the course, I knew very little about Wikipedia other than its prevalence on Google searches and the caution that should be taken when using the information on Wikipedia as ‘fact.’ I found the assigned readings very interesting and eye opening. The hands on wiki experience though was truly knowledge building! I had no idea at the onset of this task just how much I would learn from this experience. This was one of the most transformative projects in my MET journey.
After careful consideration of my wiki assignment options, I selected to do a significant solo revision on an already existing wiki page. I selected a page for which I saw a great deal of potential for additional information to be contributed to, and I chose a topic that was an area of interest for me as well. Being very new to the wiki platform, I felt more at ease doing a revision than starting a brand new page from scratch. I also preferred to work alone on this particular task. The topic that I selected was Reading Management Programs. I have included a post that I made during this module below:
While I was carrying out my revision for the wiki project, I learned a great deal about the topic that I was writing about, but I learned just as much (possibly even more) about what it takes to create a strong wiki entry. Having never actively written for a wiki of any sort, I also had to learn how to ‘code’ things behind the scenes in order to do things like line the graphics up to where I wanted them to be, have certain pieces of text bolded or presented in bulleted format etc. I learned a great deal by trial and error, and also by conducting internet searches to answer my questions. There was no shortage of information available on the topics of my inquiries and I was soon trying out the various ‘self help’ tips that were easily and quickly available on the net. I also learned a great deal by going into the edit pages for other wiki entries that had features similar to what I was trying to include in my own. I was able to examine how the authors achieved their desired results and then return to my own entry to try it out. I did this countless times and felt such a great amount of satisfaction when I got the result that I was looking for. I was most definitely constructing my own knowledge as to how to actually create the wiki page.
I also learned a great deal about the depth of research required to create a wiki page that I was satisfied with. While conducting my research of the topic that I selected (which was Reading Management Programs), I came across a wide variety of information, but some of the details about the topic varied from site to site or source to source. I very quickly realized that I would need to use multiple sources and then cross reference or triangulate the information in order to be able to confidently include ‘facts’ in my wiki writing. I would only record a piece of information as ‘fact’ once I had confirmed its accuracy from a variety of reliable sources. Because my topic entailed educational products for sale by companies interested in making money, much of the information on the company websites was self-promoting. For this reason, I had to be careful with the tone of the information that I was including in my entry. I did not want it to end up sounding like a commercial for a product. I wanted to be sure that I presented the companies’ claims, as well as the pros and cons shared about the programs from real users or from scholarly research that was conducted to determine the impact of such programs in educational settings. I wanted to shape the entry so that it would be of value to educators who were possibly considering investing time and money into adopting a reading management program in their own school.
From my own experience in creating the wiki page, the research that I had to conduct before I felt confident in the information that I was including on my page, was much richer and deeper than I initially expected it to be. This type of assignment would be a great one to teach students about the importance of using reliable sources and to also provide them with the means of learning in a very hands on fashion, how to evaluate the validity of the sources that they are using. This type of situated learning with a very real life purpose would be much more meaningful than an educator simply teaching the students lecture style or including a page of notes in the assignment criteria about how to determine what a good source is. If the project was done in true wiki style and other students or ‘experts’ were invited to join the discourse and further critique the wiki information, the learning in my own opinion, could surpass the learning that would take place from a traditional research project. Although we may not feel comfortable using Wikipedia as a source of reliable information, we should certainly feel comfortable using it as a learning tool with our students.
After careful consideration of my wiki assignment options, I selected to do a significant solo revision on an already existing wiki page. I selected a page for which I saw a great deal of potential for additional information to be contributed to, and I chose a topic that was an area of interest for me as well. Being very new to the wiki platform, I felt more at ease doing a revision than starting a brand new page from scratch. I also preferred to work alone on this particular task. The topic that I selected was Reading Management Programs. I have included a post that I made during this module below:
While I was carrying out my revision for the wiki project, I learned a great deal about the topic that I was writing about, but I learned just as much (possibly even more) about what it takes to create a strong wiki entry. Having never actively written for a wiki of any sort, I also had to learn how to ‘code’ things behind the scenes in order to do things like line the graphics up to where I wanted them to be, have certain pieces of text bolded or presented in bulleted format etc. I learned a great deal by trial and error, and also by conducting internet searches to answer my questions. There was no shortage of information available on the topics of my inquiries and I was soon trying out the various ‘self help’ tips that were easily and quickly available on the net. I also learned a great deal by going into the edit pages for other wiki entries that had features similar to what I was trying to include in my own. I was able to examine how the authors achieved their desired results and then return to my own entry to try it out. I did this countless times and felt such a great amount of satisfaction when I got the result that I was looking for. I was most definitely constructing my own knowledge as to how to actually create the wiki page.
I also learned a great deal about the depth of research required to create a wiki page that I was satisfied with. While conducting my research of the topic that I selected (which was Reading Management Programs), I came across a wide variety of information, but some of the details about the topic varied from site to site or source to source. I very quickly realized that I would need to use multiple sources and then cross reference or triangulate the information in order to be able to confidently include ‘facts’ in my wiki writing. I would only record a piece of information as ‘fact’ once I had confirmed its accuracy from a variety of reliable sources. Because my topic entailed educational products for sale by companies interested in making money, much of the information on the company websites was self-promoting. For this reason, I had to be careful with the tone of the information that I was including in my entry. I did not want it to end up sounding like a commercial for a product. I wanted to be sure that I presented the companies’ claims, as well as the pros and cons shared about the programs from real users or from scholarly research that was conducted to determine the impact of such programs in educational settings. I wanted to shape the entry so that it would be of value to educators who were possibly considering investing time and money into adopting a reading management program in their own school.
From my own experience in creating the wiki page, the research that I had to conduct before I felt confident in the information that I was including on my page, was much richer and deeper than I initially expected it to be. This type of assignment would be a great one to teach students about the importance of using reliable sources and to also provide them with the means of learning in a very hands on fashion, how to evaluate the validity of the sources that they are using. This type of situated learning with a very real life purpose would be much more meaningful than an educator simply teaching the students lecture style or including a page of notes in the assignment criteria about how to determine what a good source is. If the project was done in true wiki style and other students or ‘experts’ were invited to join the discourse and further critique the wiki information, the learning in my own opinion, could surpass the learning that would take place from a traditional research project. Although we may not feel comfortable using Wikipedia as a source of reliable information, we should certainly feel comfortable using it as a learning tool with our students.
Click here to visit my Wiki site.