Week 5 - Wiki's in Education

My objectives this week was two-fold—find an article on wikis in education and find additional resources to help me design a rock solid performance-based activity.  As it usually happens with me, I stumbled in the wrong direction with my on-line search.   I found what I thought was an article on how to ensure authentic work performance when using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom.  Rather than continue my search for a blog precisely suited to my assignment, I found myself committed to reading what I thought might solve my two-fold quest for answers.

 The “blog” talked about some of the possible loopholes in e-learning.  I was particularly interested in what was said about student plagiarism and cheating.  Upon reader further, I was convinced the author would provide a sure-fire method to organizing multiple collaborative work projects like wikis and blogs.  However, it turns out that I had not found a magic formula for ensuring authenticity in work performance; nor had I found a way to measure and assess creativity. 

What was not apparent to my semi-trained eye was that this article was “pushing” a commercial product, or better yet a service (http://www.gyrus.com).  You see, when I followed the link embedded in the article it led me to the company’s website, I perused through their menus of information hoping to find a rock-solid management approach for my PBL.  Unfortunately, I found no readily available solutions.  In fact, following the link from the article to the company website was akin to reading off the menu at a fancy restaurant where everything is in another language and prices are definitely not listed. 

The point is my desperation to find an article on wikis led to a revelation about the underlying design of a PBL assignment.  Wikis are an amazing collaborative tool.  No question about it!  However, if I am to employ the use of web tools, I must ensure that the design of the program has certain features and objectives embedded in its design.  Students must come away from their projects with an understanding of the value of meaningful collaboration; but more importantly, I must ensure students are engaged enough to view the PBL as fun and challenging work.   The risks of  dishonesty, boredom or even the impression that on-line learning is an express train to an easy “A” are all but removed if the PBL is well designed and managed.