Using Wikis in an LMS such as Moodle can be a useful teaching tool and can support a student-centered learning experience. Maybe the two most important factors to consider when implementing a Wiki are how to integrate the Wiki project and how to assess student learning and participation in the Wiki project. Students are quick to realize when a project is an add-on requirement and perceive this as extra busy work. The teacher must provide a clear assessment procedure that will be as objective as possible. For this purpose student self-assessments can be used and this procedure could also include more specific requirements concerning the number and length of each post, or could include a note grade instead of pass-fail based on content and form.
By carefully designing the implementation, integration, and evaluation of a Wiki, a new, enjoyable collaborative space can be created which allows for much more efficient, asynchronous, and evaluated interaction between groups of students and teachers. Also, the flexibility of this medium allows for extremely varied adaptations in an extraordinarily large range of educational contexts.
Some educational uses of wikis can be outlined:
- Students use a wiki to develop documentation of their work.
- Students add summaries of their thoughts from the prescribed readings, building a collaborative annotated bibliography on a wiki. Wiki is used for publishing course resources like syllabi and handouts, and students comment on these directly for all to see.
- Teachers use wikis as a knowledge base, enabling them to share reflections and thoughts regarding teaching practices, and allowing for versioning and documentation.
- Wikis map concepts. They are useful for brainstorming, and editing a given wiki topic can produce a linked network of resources.
- Wiki is used as a presentation tool in place of conventional software, and students are able to directly comment on and revise the presentation content.
- Wikis are tools for group authoring. Often group members collaborate on a document by emailing to each member of the group a file that each person edits on their computer, and some attempt is then made to coordinate the edits so that everyone's work is equally represented in a single, central wiki page.
Wikis usage in an e-Leaning system can be a powerful teaching tool that enhances and increases collaboration outside of class.
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