I’ve been evangelizing Wikis in hands-on workshops, conferences and presentations for the past few years. But, I just read a great article that puts the use of Wikis in learning into perspective.
Click here to read the full article.
Of course everyone evangelizing Web 2.0 (and E-Learning 2.0) tools routinely points to the success of Wikipedia and how hundreds of thousands of content contributors have created millions of articles. This article provides a great historical perspective about how the precursor company (that eventually became Wikipedia) was only capable of generating 12 articles in the first year of inception in the year 2000. And, more importantly what it took to get Wikipedia off the ground.
Spoiler alert (stop reading now, if you don’t want to know the ending) In a nutshell, the article concludes that it isn’t Wiki technology that lead to the success; rather it was the concept of creating a “free internet encyclopedia.”
So, how about that; we can make the same statement about Web 2.0 tools that instructional purists have been saying for years, namely, that it is the design or the creative process….not the technology that makes a learning program successful.
This article is a must read for anyone considering the use of Wiki for learning purposes. Enjoy.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
My mantra for years has been, “It’s about design, not software”. In my experience, a good strategy for encouraging use of Web 2.0 (and the coming Web 3.0) technologies for learning purposes is to help training practitioners understand a given technology at its root. That is, a blog, for instance, is not only a vehicle(as is commonly misunderstood) for first-person journaling, but a nearly idiot-proof, intutitive Web page tool. These technnologies, externally hosted, additionally can free many of those currently being held hostage by their own IT departments.
Blogs and wikis and such make excellent free sites for supplementing traditional instruction, providing opportunities for learner interaction and collaboration, and even for hosting entire courses. Check out the “23 Things” course at http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/ to see what a blog can do.