Bill MacKenty

What I like about wiki’s (and wikipedia)

I’ve written about wiki’s before, but a recent conversation with my supervisor has spurned additional thought.

1. I hate wiki’s inside of learning management systems (like moodle or blackboard).  I think the value of wiki’s is from their long-term collaborative use - so why erase it every term? I also like sharing information with folks outside an organization.

2. I love wiki’s when they are used for creation of a student textbook. Students write articles as graded assignments. Soon the class has created a full textbook!

3. Wiki’s are great for clubs and extra-curricular activities - easy to update by large groups of people.

4. I find students are excellent sysops. 

5. Wiki’s are built from the ground up for multi user editing - recent changes, user groups, categories, etc…

6. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I like the way wiki’s force users to evaluate the information they are seeing. Very important.