Now, to the purpose for this post: a reflection on our class wiki experience. This past week, two of my classmates did a wonderful job of teaching the class about wikis by means of a wikispaces wiki. I had a slight edge going into the week, as I had created a wikispaces wiki for a group project in a prior class. This familiarity certainly helped me to feel more comfortable jumping in and editing content within the pages of the wiki, something that several of my classmates noted being nervous about, but I did find myself struggling with exactly what to write. I didn't want to seem to "take over" the wiki by contributing too much, but I also didn't want to seem absent from the collaboration. In the end, I contributed a few resources and encouraged my classmates to do the same.
Among the pros of the wiki, I love the potential for collaboration. Wikis allow people, however close or far, to put their heads together and create something greater than what each of them could possibly create on their own. They allow for ideas and resources to be shared and updated quickly, and the format is so flexible that it could be customized for many different applications. On the flip side, wikis get under the skin of my inner "neat freak." Wikis, at least in my experience thus far, have the potential to become a bit chaotic. Several people making multiple edits all at the same time makes it difficult to keep track and can lead to an unorganized site. Perhaps outside of the experimental sort of environment, on a more-purpose driven wiki with very clear guidelines for participation, this wouldn't be such a concern. Still, as my only experiences with wikis so far have been in a classroom setting, this is one of the drawbacks I have observed. In regards to potential applications, I can absolutely envision wikis being used for teaching and professional development. I can also imagine some possibilities around sharing tips and resources related to various health issues. I am certainly glad to have had this opportunity to explore wikis a bit more with my classmates, and I am excited to consider how I might use them in the future.
One last note about blogging before I end this post.... I intend to continue this blog throughout my Teaching and Learning at a Distance course and hopefully beyond. I think this could be a great way to keep track of (and share) some of the things that I'm learning. If I'm lucky, perhaps a few classmates will chime in here and there as well and can offer some additional thoughts. To those that do, why not raise some barns here, too?