DOING IS LEARNING

Doing Is Learning – The Fine Art of Online Wiki Collaboration

“Unlike blogs, Wikis are thought to be more permanent and serious than blogs and may serve as repositories of knowledge.” Beldarrain, 2006

Online learning is becoming the norm for Library and Information programs not the exception. Online learning is a good precursor to online information. Speaking for myself, as one who aspires to enter into the professional realm of Librarianship I can see a trend for scholars’ skill sets to include a variety of utilizing new emerging online technologies, including Wikis.

Group Charlie, as I suspect most of the groups, got a taste of online group collaboration, which if I may say, can be a bit bittersweet. Working on any group project provides ample opportunity for challenges; however, I would have to rate effective and reciprocal communication as the most important factor.  Beyond the learning curve skills of finding one’s way around a new technology, which should not be underestimated; in this case learning how to create a Wiki, online collaboration is no easy feat. Group collaboration takes some getting used to. Getting the ball going can be a bit tricky and having someone volunteer to take the lead is best done in the spirit of humility. Decisions need to be made regarding what persons will do what work on the Wiki. 

A Wiki is a collection of Web pages that are linked to each other and reflect the collaborative works of many. Wiki pages allow for embedded Internet links. Wikis are great vehicles or holding tanks for posting information and often have links available for additional resources.  A bit of caution should be heeded as one can click themselves into an oblivion trail of links and end up on a wild goose chase. What I will call information overload.

Wiki Spaces on the Internet offers a good free resource for one to learn about and create Wikis.  I liked the fact that two members are allowed to be on the wiki at the same time and add content, or make edits. The speed at which posts or edits are made on wikis is very fast; there is no time delay for posts or content to appear online, that is a nice feature. 

All members in Group Charlie had access to edits and creating new pages.  However, as the organizer and creator of Group Charlie, it took me a close to a week from its inception to realize that it is helpful if all members have the same authority of use on the Wiki and not just the creator. This is simply a matter of providing the creator’s user name and password to other group members. Collaboration takes each person’s best strengths and adds them to the final product, brilliant idea! Each of our members pooled their strengths to enhance its impact.  Thanks Group Charlie!
 http://groupcharlie.wikispaces.com/

References:

Beldarrain, Yoany. (Aug.2006) Distance Education, V.27 N2, p.139-153 (EJ740275)

Database: ERIC