Number 7: Wiki you Wiki me

My experience  in Group Wikis
While participating in the group wiki activities there were several components to the experience that I really enjoyed.  I liked be able to work collaboratively and share ideas whilst sitting in the comfort of my home.  There is a freedom of expression involved in collaborating in this way. The scaffolded use of De bono's hats is an excellent way to see how and why individuals view and construct meaning on a topic. In particular I found using Debonos' hats allowed me to consider the use of mobile phones from such a variety of opinions.  It was of interest to me to read everyone's points of view.  It also meant that there was no opposition. The words on the page were already static, so there was a real sense of being able to say your piece and speak your mind without fear of retribution. This is an excellent tool to encourage higher order thinking.  It also allows for critical evaluation of your own and others ideas without the conflict that might sometimes be involved in group activities.

Learning theories in these activity designs
The use of wikis to demonstrate thinking hats is a constructivist approach.  It works within the terms that we as individuals create our own meaning from our already developed understanding of how the the world  works. You can see clearly from the ideas and thought presented in our group wikis that many of these opinions are already held by individuals.  If they were to learn about mobile phones in the classroom tomorrow they would be building on many of the ideas they already know.  According to Jonassen (1991)

" Learners construct their own reality or at least interpret it based upon their perceptions of experiences, so an individual's knowledge is a function of one's prior experiences, mental structures, and beliefs that are used to interpret objects and events."

This statement is a direct reflection of the wiki group activity.  Each of us had an interpretation, belief and mental structure with which we set about answering the question. As a scaffolding technique De Bono's  hats allows for the diversity of these perceptions and sets up a platform from which a teacher can develop shared group knowledge or understandings. Or at the very least get a real sense of the ways in which individuals see their world and why.


The Value of Scaffolding to support higher order thinking
As the constructivist approach suggests, modelling is an important process of higher order thinking. Using techniques such as the thinking hats models to learners the process that they need to consider and generate.  It allows them as learners and individuals the opportunity to think beyond what they know and move into the zone of proximinal development by being able to reflect on what others know (Vygotsky 1978 as cited in Culatta 2012).


Building a wiki space from the inside out

Wiki spaces can give teachers and students the opportunity to work from a web resource where both can engage actively as contributor and editor (University of Leeds, 2006). By using the PMI model it soons become clear that wikis have a space in helping students to learn, but that space is a limited one and it is not suitable in all learning contexts.(http://www.sddu.leeds.ac.uk/online_resources/wikis/index.php)

The positive aspects of using a wiki as a learning tool are best seen in a group context.

Its design allows flexibility in collaboration with others. Everyone can contribute their ideas and opinions which in turns bring forward freedom of expression from the learner and others (University of Leeds, 2006). The drawbacks of a wiki include its lack of structure and that is a very text -based medium.

When setting up my wiki space, I found it difficult to decide what information I should place in it.  As a  I prefer to be given a structured set of criteria to follow so that I can stick to task.  Otherwise what happens is a lot of delete, delete, delete as I go around and round in circles. Follow the link to my wiki space and you will see http://cruisingthelearningspace.wikispaces.com/

The wikis we used for group collaboration on the CQU website were well designed.  The use of debonos thinking hats, made it easy to consider the question at hand and then answer in a way that appealed.