Profile Wiki Learning Activity

What is a 'wiki'? Well, as suggested in the course guide to Assignment 1, I found a great summary answer by googling 'wiki':
'A wiki is a type of website that allows visitors themselves to easily add, remove and otherwise edit and change some available content, sometimes without the need for registration.
Wikipedia
Ward Cunningham created the first wiki in 1995. The name "Wiki" was inspired by the Hawaiian word wiki or wiki-wiki, which means "quick".
Wikipedia is probably the most well known example of a public wiki. Many wikis are private: existing on intranets or behind firewalls with access restricted to registered users. '
(West Australian Government-Department of Education & Training, 2011)

Although lecturers often warn against using Wikipedia as a reference, citing credibility issues based on the fact the ‘anyone can change or contribute to the information’, it is apt to draw from this definition. By their very nature wikis are shared media and repositories of information, and public wikis potentially have a limitless number of contributors. The restrictions of private wikis limit this factor somewhat, but the intent of sharing is still there amongst the restricted group. But then perhaps, the less people who contribute, the less facts and opinions are distorted? Also, one assumes that credibility exists in the WA-DET as a source of information, which also makes this definition apt for this reflection.

In the short term, ideally, the profile wiki sets the scene for an exchange of ideas within student partnerships to cover the learning theory wiki exercise, a shared learning objective.  The profile wiki is essentially a repository of information (a list of GDLT student profiles enrolled in this course) which ideally enables the formation of study partnerships (a pairing, a group, a small network of learners) which would then go onto to collectively tackle the later related learning theories wiki exercise.

However, in my case, I have experienced many delays in completing this profile wiki task. I completed my profile wiki but have had no luck in finding a partner for the learning theories wiki task. My delays were in part due to my family & I being ill over the past week or so, as well as technical glitches I have been having with my PC and internet connections. I believe I may have ‘missed the boat’ as it appears most people had already partnered up and completed their learning theory wiki task before I have even found a study partner to pair up with for the exercise. Obviously sending out a message/information/invitiation does not guarentee a reply let alone a partnership  (I hope my cohorts all had better luck at pairing up than I did!)  I know many teachers who regularly feel the frustration of their students 'not getting the message', so I guess that adaptation is the answer.

Broadly speaking, partnering up for a purpose (whether over distance or over face to face situations) is not always a straight forward exercise as individual circumstances and even personalities come into play a factor as to whether a partnership is established or not. Sometimes conflicts occur whether a partnership exists or not.  But another problem is that I held a serious fear of the unknown in that despite being familiar with Wikipedia, I really had no idea what a wiki was! But I feel now I need to not just understand the task, but also demonstrate how I do so, and then later move on to the learning theory wiki task. Essentially, in my opinion, the profile wiki demonstrates how such ICTs can assist us in forming learning partnerships and educating networks over significant distances.

In my view, human communication is a social exercise of needs and wants, and the profile wiki establishes who we think we might need/want to link up with to tackle the learning theory wiki task. The entire history of humanity (& communication) is the story of the evolution of shared ideas for shared objectives. From early human’s need to communicate ideas for survival such as hunting and gathering activities and tactics, to modern day exchange of ideas in high academia or even world politics is indicative of how ideas are communal. Otherwise an idea unshared is a mere thought or private musing.  Even though I have not found a wiki partner, my blog postings are still shared reflections and ideas which others can read and comment upon. 

Communication is, by definition a shared process, and it is notworthy that communication, community, communal all have the same linguistic root meaning. Therefore if learning is, in one sense, the acquisition of new information and ideas by students from a teacher (or such), then so too teaching and learning are shared experiences.  In the long term, I can see how wikis, as a communal ICT far beyond this profile task, could very well be used in classroom to engage students in shared learning experiences. But in this first instance, this reflection is teaching me how learning can be enhanced through a previously undiscovered (to myself at least) modern ICT.

Another point reflected from the abovementioned wiki definition (and this profile exercise) comes from the Hawaiian root meaning of ‘wiki’ (‘quick’). This prompted me to think: How often do we experience in life the need to quickly ask another person what they think or for some help or guidance? Often in my experience, and so wiki partnerships/experiences simply set us up for that basic communication. Even in the non-cyberworld, examples real world learning occurs with questions and answers e.g. ‘Mum, what are you doing?’, ‘Dad, can you help me with my homework assignment?’, ‘Good neighbour, may I borrow a cup of castor sugar and have your fruitcake recipe?’ or even most relevantly, ‘Miss/Sir, what does “hypothetical” mean? And did I get my homework right?’ So, a wiki, in my opinion, is simply an ICT refining the ‘Q & A’ of life’s learning.

References:

West Australian Government-Department of Education & Training, 2011, ‘Resourcing the Classroom- Wikis in the Classroom’, date viewed: 7/3/2011, accessed: http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/wikis/