The article I read this week is very interesting because it merges many topics that I have interest in. The article talks about the use of distant learning to support global interaction among nations to exchange knowledge. The specific academic program is a collaborative educational endeavor that was sponsored by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and provided by the International Education Consultancy office in the University of the Arts in London. This article describes the manifestation of elements of Global Education utilizing distant learning tools to disseminate knowledge materials to the world.
Wikis are nicely defined as “web sites that allow users not only to have access to its content but also to change the content online”. The nice feature about wikis is that they are easy to use and do not require computer knowledge of html language to write into the web. This new medium allows people to actively interact and exchange knowledge and share reflections on learning. Wikis have developed as a formidable collaborative tool that supports “constructive” learning and enhances group learning by its support for community learning rather than individual learning.
The article outlines the use of Wiki technology in academic partnership. It provides a good description of the research on the use of Wiki in supporting collaborative distant learning projects to “promote development of textile industry” in various countries such as Syria, Bangladesh and Turkey.
The research “tries to investigate whether the use of these collaborative technologies can further contribute to the knowledge transfer between such academic partnerships”.
“Mass Collaboration” is described as “a collaboration model based on collective actions that occur when large numbers of contributors work independently but collaboratively in a single project (Tapscott & Williams, 2006).”
The article reinforces a fact: that as ICT continues to develop and improve new models of collaborations in educations become possible. Mass collaboration represents such new development that has allowed active participation with many others who share similar interest, skills and knowledge. Better communication technologies have allowed new models of collaboration that supports creativity, innovation and knowledge sharing. This active participation results in content creation that is the result of acts of individuals who have shared understandings.
My personal experience with the use of Wiki has not been smooth. I took the initiative and utilized the Wiki as a collaborative effort to share our collective work in interacting to generate a group term paper assignment. Unfortunately, I had observed that individuals were reluctant to use this new tool that I thought was useful and simple to use. The group preferred to use the tools they were familiar with such as email, text messages and phone. The article had expressed some instances where users in developing countries did not use the wiki until they received a detailed guidance on its uses.
Hanan
Source:
Kok, A. (2009). Use of the Wiki technology in academic partnerships. International Journal of Instructional Technology & Distant Learning, 6(11),idl 1550-6908, Retrieved from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Nov_09/article04.htm
a good and enjoyable piece here, Hanan. I’ve just read an article on the launching of a wiki-based enterprise process and knowledge-sharing system in a large company (among other aspects of enterprise knowledge work) which noted exactly the same reluctance initially as you mention here among your peers. The author’s solution in the article I read was to set simple, clear tasks for everyone at the beginning, and to allow them to discover the value of the technology as they continues to work together. Alas, though, with only the semester (or just part of a semester) as a time-frame, it’s very hard to give people the time to learn gradually and organically. I wonder though whehter, in your case, it might work to have a fairly substantial face-to-face session where everyone worked to share material via the blog, but with the support of other user/collaborators right in the same space, prior to trying to use a wiki as a means of distance collaboration. So many people fear looking silly or inefficient in front of friends and colleagues that they prefer to depend on what they know. That creating of an initial safe space for exploration takes time, and flexibility.