Discussion thread: Thoughts about wikis

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38th Online Workshop (May 26, to June 8, 2010)

Basic Wiki Skills and Collaborative Learning

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Discussion Thread: Thoughts about wikis

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• Do you have any concerns about the quality of educational resources developed using an open authoring approach? If so, what are your concerns? If not, how does an open authoring approach contribute to high quality learning materials?

• In your opinion, should course development for education use closed or open authoring approaches? Give reasons for your view?

• What mechanisms can be adopted to assure quality of educational content developed in Wiki environments?

I am not concerned at all about the quality of educational resources using an open authoring approasch.  I truly believe two heads are better than one.  Together, we can bounce ideas off one another to create the best quality learning materials. 

With open authoring approaches to course development, there is always ongoing revision.  Many times as I teach a course, I add content along the way.  Allowing many users to add to that content brings different views and approachges of which I may not have thought previously.--Crdavis71 14:13, 21 May 2010 (UTC

I am confident that the quality of educational resources would be maintained while using an open authoring source like a wiki, because most often the contributions are made by experienced educators. Wiki creates a platform to share classroom activities and helps to understand different learning environments. Teachers and students get exposed to varied cultures through activities. Revathi

In my classroom (and my studies) I do use Wiki almost daily for information so Wiki for me has become one of the most used resources. My lessons are still in a closed environment of LMS (Moodle). I am looking forward to start opening up and put my class material on Wiki. --Hakon 08:43, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

I don't have much concern about open authoring. I believe that we can comment,develop and add and that would lead us to a higher, not the highest yet, quality courses and teaching approaches. Course development should use both as it gives more rooms to creativity and adaption to the changes. The last question, I think i can answer it when i go deeper in the Wiki environments. --SoaadHamed 20:20, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

Abdulmalik Ofemile

I believe that open and collaborative authoring has a lot of good for educators because, the cross fertilization of ideas will make tools more versatile in application. I also think that the method to be adopted in authoring depends on the context and the purpose of the course. Content development for courses should be restricted to subject experts i.e closed but, tool design maybe kept open since this may involve several people at the same time.I also believe that evaluation procedures should to a large extent be closed for reliability and currency. On the issue of quality assurance, I am of the opinion that screening, editing and assessment of materials should be done at several levels (in the manner of academic journals. This will ensure quality of materials, check plagiarism, build useful knowledge and make the repository a trusted source of information.