Wikis

Owned by Gina Persichini
Last updated: Jul 08, 2024
4 min read

This article explores the use of Wikis in online learning.

Table of Contents

Exploring Wikis

What Are Wikis?

One of the supporting tools for group projects is a wiki, named after the Hawaiian word for “quick.” A wiki is a website that allows users to add, modify, or delete its content via a web browser. If you choose to include group projects in your activities plan, you may want to incorporate the use of a wiki so that students can build a document or presentation together.

Why Use Wikis?

Wikis help make the writing or compilation of a group deliverable possible, especially for the online environment where none of the group members may live within 500 miles of each other! Use of a wiki keeps its contributors from cluttering each other’s email inbox, as each member can work on revising a single document. Wikis are useful for helping students develop cognitive skills at every level of Bloom’s taxonomy--remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create--as well as to build social skills. The end result of using a wiki can often be a deeper sense of community among team members due to their level of interaction together while working on the project.

Best Way To Use Wikis?

Wikis can be a fantastic tool for a variety of group projects, large and small. The most comprehensive collaborative project can come together in a wiki. Students can create a glossary or group study guide for an exam. The possibilities are pretty wide open.

Planning for Wikis

As with all learning activities, your choice to use a wiki depends on the learning objective and whether building a wiki will help students best meet the intended outcome. Explore the resources for group projects for additional planning suggestions.

Designing for Wikis

Rick Reo (n.d.) wrote that he prepared a wiki project that included some “scaffolding” to help students prepare for success:

  1. Students first created a practice wiki, in which they were required to make new entries and to revise each other’s work.

  2. Reo then asked students to write out their plans for project management together in the wiki.

  3. And lastly, he provided examples of what he was expecting.

OPTIONAL: Read either of the following if you wish to learn more (and keep in mind that the resources for group projects will have good ideas, too):

Note: Due to Boise State’s use of Google applications, instructors and students have access to use Google Documents as a wiki tool. If you wish to learn more, visit this resource prepared by the Common Craft Show:

Google Docs in Plain English


Resources

Examples of Wikis

Example 1

Wiki Assignment for HLTHST 300 Pathophysiology Course at Boise State University

Directions for Using the Group Wiki to Post Your Study Guide Answers

A study guide has been prepared for each lesson in this course. The purpose of this Group Wiki is to serve as a common area where members of your group can post answers to their assigned questions. Each study guide contains approximately 25 questions, and each group has about 7 or 8 members. This means that each member of your group will be assigned to write detailed answers to 3 or 4 questions in each study guide. The questions you are assigned to complete will depend upon the alphabetical order of your last names.

Note that your group membership may change at any time in the course. If that occurs, simply determine your new order within the group and identify the questions you will be assigned to answer in each chapter. If your group ever has fewer than 7 members, the first person listed in the group should make the question assignments and send them to the other members of the group via email.

After you have read each chapter, you should formulate answers to your assigned questions. You should then post your answers in this Group Wiki. This will allow all the members of the group to share the work involved in writing answers to the study guide questions. Once all the questions have been posted for a particular lesson, the group may wish to take time to review those answers and refine them in preparation for upcoming major exams.

The teaching assistants and instructors will monitor the completion of the study guide questions for each lesson. You will receive a grade for your participation in this Group Wiki, so it is important that you post your answers in a timely manner. If you would like to discuss your answers with a teaching assistant or an instructor, you are encouraged to attend one or more of the Lesson Reviews or Office Hours offered in each lesson.

Examples and How to Use Wikis on Various Websites


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