BWP: Chapter 4

While discussing wikis in one of my other education classes, I was lost as to why a wiki would be beneficial in the education process; why not just have all students keep blogs? I really liked that they put pictures of examples of wikis because it allowed me to understand that a wiki is very similar to our D2L set up. The only difference prior to reading Chapter 4 I saw between a wiki and a blog was that a blog generally only had one author while a wiki was a collaboration of everyone who wanted to participate. This made me remember being in high school and teachers telling us to not use Wikipedia because anybody can add, change or erase whatever they want to and that it's not a very reliable place to look for information. BWP taught me that Wikipedia is actually a good site to use when looking for information and that the actions of those trying to "vandalize" the site are normally corrected within a few hours. Using wikis within an educational setting allows students to actively participate in their education instead of the teacher being the dictator. Students being able to edit content as well as see how whatever they add might be edited gives a real hands on approach in the ways of constructive criticism. By reviewing such editing with your students, it might further enable them to understand why what they had written was incorrect. This has the possibility of leaving a lasting impression on the students of certain critiques they've been giving as opposed to the teacher just correcting a worksheet. Wikis have the capability to truly get the entire class involved in the learning.

I think I would probably try to implement a wiki within my classroom. I know they had talked about an easier "beginner" version, so perhaps something like that. And while many of my teachers tried to deter me and my peers from using Wikipedia as a reliable source, I plan to encourage my students to use it. This might sound like a stretch, but being an editor as one is when using a wiki, is very centralized (to me at least) around English and reading. If teachers were to use wikis not only in English, but in all other subjects, we'd be teaching our students to think more critically. One of the greatest things about using a wiki is that it gives you the opportunity to connect with people all around the world. What better way to instill tolerance and understanding in today's youth by learning about different cultures from the youth of those cultures?!