Revenge of the Wiki?

There was a time when I had essentially sworn never to do another wiki. My first experience with making a wiki was kind of awful. Crowded together in class as we were, it was virtually impossible to meaningfully juggle edits from different people. Unlike the simple, useful Google Doc, it was incredibly frustrating to do even the simplest task.

Naturally, this is when I signed up for an optional course dealing with the Internet. And of course, a wiki would be a mandatory part of the course.

Naturally.

What was a surprise this time was that the wiki was actually manageable. Since it was foisted upon us during an asynchronous class period, there was not the same pressure of having multiple people working together. Freed from that headache, I had only to contend with the actual wiki interface itself in order to create a page.

It's not bad, actually. I still think it could be more user friendly than it is, but it's certainly something that would be manageable for a lot of our older students and is certainly within the realm of potential for we teacher candidates. Provided that one does not have everyone trying to edit the same page all at once, it turns out that wikis aren't that hard. And indeed, one even gets a glimpse of their potential value.

I could see myself creating a wiki in a classroom context. Imagine a one-stop compendium of information, sources and solutions for my middle/high-school students. Assignments could become wiki articles. Eventually, a valuable resource is being created, not just for the students themselves but future generations of student and possibly students from other schools. It is sometimes difficult to find quality sources of research information for students on the Internet.

Why not create one instead?

My second go at wikis has been a lot more valuable than the first one. Instead of something I kind of despise, it's something I can genuinely see the merit of in the classroom.

Well played, Mike. Well played ...