Wikis in Adult Learning
“We shall never know how many adults desire intelligence regarding
themselves and the world in which they live until education once more escapes
the patterns of conformity.” (Lindeman,
1961, p. 18) Wikis give adult education the ability to create learning communities
to share information and experiences. Information is gathered, organized, and
created into educational projects. The control of the Wiki can be shared by the
administrator to those who are trusted to improve the format of content. Wikis give
individuals of common interest the ability to work together to create a form of data continually building and changing. “The
powerful function of wiki collaboration is history aspect. Teachers can track
the progress of the project and determine the contribution of each participant through
history-version list.” (Zhou & Gong, 2008, p. 2) Theoretical
foundations are widely used and supported in wiki projects in adult education such
as constructivism for critical thinking, social experiences, multiple perspectives,
and encouraging ownership. (Hazari,
North, & Moreland, 2009)
“Each adult educator has to define for himself the community he
intends to serve and then undertake to assess its educational needs.” (Knowles, 1974, p. 106) The assigning
of wikis by adult educators comes with its challenges of forming groups,
grading content, and need of the students. The ability to monitor or evaluate
the motivation of your group members the instructor must have an evaluation of
peers in mind. As an instructor of a wiki assignment, you must be familiar with the
function of wikis and have an established rubric.
Wikis are widely becoming used among education leaders, business schools,
and higher education studies. The way in education is being approached in the Web
2.0 I believe we will see more and benefit significantly from wikis.
References
Hazari, S., North, A., &
Moreland, D. (2009). Investigating
the pedagogical value of Wiki technology. Journal
of information systems education, 20(2), 187-198.
Knowles, M. S. (1974). The modern practice of adult education
andragogy versus pedagogy. New York, NY: Association Press.
Lindeman, E. C. (1961). The meaning of adult education . Norman,
OK : Oklahoma Research Center for Continuing Professional and Higher Education.
Zhou, Y., & Gong, C.
(2008). Eduwiki: an effective teachers’ knowledge management platform [4th International Conference on Wireless
Communications ]. Networking and Mobile
Computing , 1-4.
Hi LaDonna,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I agree that a history of activity can help instructors determine who is putting in the most time, but I think there could be an issue if the team is using another platform as a "drafting space" or if the one person who is more technologically advanced offered to put it all together on the page. In those circumstances, a team survey would probably help ensure students are earning the credit they deserve for the project.
I like your comment about the need to have an established rubric. This will allow students to be creative while still knowing what is expected on their wiki page. Without a rubric, we would see a lot of inconsistency across groups and pages.
- Anaka
I like your connections to Lindeman's and Knowles's work. The quote of Lindeman's about "escap[ing] the patterns of conformity" is a good reminder to be open to new techniques, ideas, and technologies in order to reach more learners. Knowles further reminded us of the importance of using technology *for* the specific learners, rather than using technology for technology's sake.
ReplyDeleteLaDonna,
ReplyDeleteI loved your Lindeman quote. In music education, educators are having some tough discussions right now about whether our traditional music education paradigm is relevant to students today (it isn't) and how we adapt and move forward. I have found a lot of parallels between those conversations and the conversations we have been having about using technology.
It feels, in some ways, that the integration of technology into our teaching systems (at any age level) is going to eventually require some very fundamental changes to the way we teach. Cox and King (2011) discussed how teachers often teach the way they were taught and how that won't work any more. "'The way we were taught' is an irrelevant cultural artifact for [our students]. We need to connect our content and delivery to be successful in their world instead" (Cox & King, 2011). It's so hard to make such a fundamental shift in institutional thinking like education. To take something that worked for so long, like textbooks, pen/pencil activities, and writing papers (or, in the case of music education, like concert bands and madrigal choirs), and say "OK, we're going to start moving away from that, and try wikis, blogs, and podcasts (or rock bands and pop music choirs) instead" is, well, terrifying! I think one thing that educators have to keep in mind is that there are challenges with the "old ways" of doing things as well. We, as an institution, have gotten used to them and have toolboxes of ideas about how to adapt. But the main challenge of the "old ways" is that the world has changed and, outside of education, the "old ways" are now mostly irrelevant. We have to adapt in order to better serve our students. And, even though it's terrifying, we will overcome new challenges and being to develop new toolboxes and everything will be better.
Cox, T., & King, K. (2011). Using Digital Media in Higher Education. In K. King, & T. Cox (Eds.), The Professor’s Guide to Taming Technology (pp. 15-30). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Ladonna,
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a great post and underscores how the ease and compatability of wikis can make for a great collaborative learning experience in the 21st century. I feel as more and more education goes online, we will continue to see the role of wikis increase as a medium for shared experiences and learning in higher education. I agree that the challenges of grading the content can be a hinderance with group work, but overall, it is a very useful tool.