This activity falls straight in the middle of my tutor group having to prepare fro a group work activity next month, they are in the process of setting rules for group work which will involve the production of a Wiki.
”…plainly put, a wiki is a website where anyone can edit anything anytime they want” (Richardson, W. 2009)
What is interesting when you consider the rules the groups have set is the way they all seem to focus on social rules. The main focus of the discussion was on:-
How often members were expected to log into the system
How decisions were to be made
What would happen in the event of problems
There was very little discussion about how to use or behave with respect to the wiki itself. Was this because certain things were taken for granted or were they overlooking this aspect of the activity. As a group they will compile a number of pages together; there are issues that need to be considered.
The creation of the wiki will unfold as they progress as a group, they need to trust each other that the contents added will be original or referenced properly and there will need to be acceptance and value put on each others contributions.
The task of the wiki will need to be made clear and the individual tasks set to the group members will need to be clear, possibly stated at the top of each page.
Is it acceptable to keep correcting the language, is it not best to get the ideas on the wiki before the polishing commences.
It is important that the combined efforts of the group are acknowledged and the responsibility for the production is shared. If this is to be made available to a wider audience then there will need to be willingness to share a collaborative effort and trust each others opinions and values.
It suddenly becomes more complex and similar to any other social event, there are differing characters and a wide variation on opinions some how all the differences have to be moulded together to agreement in the form of a webpage open for all to see; interesting lets hope its not a controversial subject or it will never reach an end.
No doubt there will also be the same social satisfaction when the event is completed and a feeling of mutual pride at its completion and the overall experience in the same way as a combined team drive towards a common goal, ready to move on to the next event. This will only be possible if all members have made a contribution otherwise there will be a number of negative issues to address. Why has one person not contributed as much or met his targets being a common problem. However if the measures are in place to reward the efforts and encourage the less active then the next task may well be improved upon.
Not too dissimilar to a normal team it’s just an online event. The rewards are obvious though,
‘wikis can extend their reach far beyond departmental or organizational limits, expressing the interests of virtually any community’ (Lamb, B.2004).
The enrichment brought to the event then can be quite diverse and opinions very varied a small price to pay for this is the need to adapt the social skills accordingly, taking into account different cultures, feelings, opinions and needs of our wider audience in order to be rewarded with a much wider perspective and valued contribution to the ever increasing electronic media available on the web.
References
Richardson, W. (2009) Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms Corwin Press
Lamb, B. (2004) 'Wide open space: wikis, ready or not', Educause Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October), pp. 36-48. Available from:
http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0452.asp (accessed 07April 2010).
