Wikiresources/why this tool?

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[edit] Introduction

The main objective of this page is to provide an in depth discussion of our group decission of using a wiki as a resource for our project. Consequently we try to discuss the advantages and disvantages of the wiki. Where we are adding and highligthing the major opportunities of this tool as a longlife learning resource that can be use to add and update new information. Initially, we think that as the wiki is an interactive tool, it provides great opportunities to innovate and change the content as time passes, and therefore, knowledge keep growing, changing and improving. Therefore it would be a tool that will remains alive, as it can be adjusted by ourselves and more importantly it could be use for future elearning students.
Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given
free access to the sum of all human knowledge.
That's what we are doing.
(Jimmy Wales, 2004; Wikipedia Founder)
Firstly, we start our discussion introducing the ADDIE Model, [[1]][[2]]as this will be an important tool for our project structure. As the initial steps evolve under the idea of Analysis, Design and Development, where we are attempting the major steps that allow us to identify the tools that will support our project. Afterwards, it is very important to implement our decisions and generate an evaluation that indicates if our project will be able to achieve our initial objective, of being a valuable resource for future students. Once the ADDIE model is introduced, we proceed with the Wiki Resource analysis, where two different models will be applied with the aim of clarifying our tool choice. Thus our first step is to present the PMI Analysis [[3]]to continue with the SWOT[[4]] discussion. These two models will help us to justify our decision of using a wiki as our main tool.

[edit] The ADDIE Model

The ADDIE model is a systematic instructional design model consisting of five phases: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. Consequently, we decided start our project following the ADDIE Model five phases to help us organize ideas and the structure. Each step has an outcome that feeds into the next step in the sequence. As instructional designers we must follow this five phases to construct an ideal learning object. The five phases of ADDIE are as follows:

Analysis
During analysis, the designer identifies the learning problem, the goals and objectives, the audience’s needs, existing knowledge, and any other relevant characteristics. Analysis also considers the learning environment, any constraints, the delivery options, and the timeline for the project.
Design
A systematic process of specifying learning objectives. Detailed storyboards and prototypes are often made, and the look and feel, graphic design, user-interface and content is determined here.
Development
The actual creation (production) of the content and learning materials based on the Design phase.
Implementation
During implementation, the plan is put into action and a procedure for training the learner and teacher is developed. Materials are delivered or distributed to the student group. After delivery, the effectiveness of the training materials is evaluated.
Evaluation
This phase consists of formative and summative evaluation. Formative evaluation is present in each stage of the ADDIE process. Summative evaluation consists of tests designed for criterion-related referenced items and providing opportunities for feedback from the users. Revisions are made as necessary.

Rapid prototyping (continual feedback) has sometimes been cited as as a way to improve the generic ADDIE model.

(Strickland, 2007).

[edit] Wiki Analysis

The main objective of this section is to discuss the wiki tool starting with the PMI, and following with the SWOT model.

[edit] PMI Analysis

We consider that a PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting) analysis is the first step in our project. An initial PMI analysis will provide us valuable information regarding Wikis as a tool in our group elearning experience. We want to offer a clear view of our tool selection where, we will discuss the pros and cons of the wiki, and why should be used as an elearning resource.


Table 1: PMI ANALYSIS
Plus Minus Interesting
  1. Anyone can edit, and edition is instantaneous,easy to use and learn and people located all over the world can edit.
  2. Possible to revert back to a previous version and access to web publishing to non-technical people.
  3. Can be used for a wide range of applications.
  4. No licensing cost to installing an institutional wiki.
  5. Very versatile tool, that can be adjusted and accommodated to any kind of teaching and learning.
  6. Many possibilities to include designs, images, videos, etc.
  7. Allows for HTML language what provides huge possibilities

(Hart, 2006)
  1. Being an open resource does not assurance the quality of content, therefore entries are not necessarily reliable.
  2. Spontaneous thoughts, content have to be filtered to avoid prohibited material.
  3. Anonymous entries, very difficult to verify the source (more issues with quality)
  4. Collaborative /Cooperative Paradigm as the resource is strongly based on high levels of coordination – free rider problem-.[[5]]
  5. Technology issues, requires to be comfortable with computers.
  6. Organization, updating, compiling, etc. A lot of work needs to be done.
  7. Challenges regarding structure, contents, ideas, etc. and how they should be included in the wiki.
  8. Wikis do not show as easily when information was documented or in what order.Woolf, 2006).
  1. Resource with great potential to be used in elearning
  2. Great flexibility and adaptability
  3. Minimum requirements, everyone can learn how to use it very quickly
  4. Great tool to facilitate: Creativity, Devolopment of New Ideas, Collaboration
  5. Controls can be implemented to prevent vandalism
  6. Content remains alive: as techology improves, knowledge changes, new techniques appear, etc. it is possible to update the resource accordingly.
  7. Imagination is the limit.
  8. Ideal resource to use to connect with groups based in different countries, different cultures, etc.

[edit] SWOT Analysis

After the PMI analysis is done, it is very important to condense all the information into a SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), thus we are able to connect all the valuable information that help us to decide if the wiki is the optimal resource for our project.

Table 2: SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
  1. Openness and accessibility.
  2. Facilate to work with others
  3. Creates knowledge and communities
  4. Usability.
  5. Anonymity of authorship.
  6. Public ownership.
  7. Cloning acceptable.
  8. It is a free tool.
  9. Organized by the context, by links and,

sometimes, in chronological order.

 Opportunities
  1. Motivate Collaboration
  2. Versatile Tool
  3. Longlife Learning
  4. Growing and flexible resource
  5. Comprehensive
  6. Share knowledge, resources, experiences.
  7. Everyone is smarter than anyone alone
  8. Encorage learning and critical thinking
  9. Large audience
  10. Virtual Community
Weaknesses
  1. Difficulties to trust content
  2. Used to repeat work
  3. Content is constantly changing
  4. Not professionally edited
  5. Need close control to prevent vandalism
 Threats
  1. Users can erase content
  2. Vandalism
  3. Copyright, intellectual property issues
  4. Taken as the only source of information
  5. Content can be spammed
  6. Constraints to the tool
  7. Openness (no login required)


movie logo
Wiki's Strengths As part of an interview by Portland State University students, Ward Cunningham answers the question:
"What strengths does wiki have as a mechanism for enterprise collaboration?"


[edit] Conclusions

The evaluation of pros and cons of our resource have been done (see table 1 for the PMI and table 2 for the SWOT analysis). We have discussed and analysed many options, and finally after looking at all possible tools (i.e. blogs, websites, PPT, ePortfolio, etc), our group think that the most suitable tool for our project is the Wiki. At this point we would like to bring back into scene our original question:

Why do we use a wiki as an elearning tool?

In answering this question, our major concern have been how could we help and facilitate future students learning, as we think that our main goal is to pass learning and elearning experiences to those students. Therefore, if our project final objective is to act as a legacy, we also want to add an important distiction to our project: Our tool needs to keep growing and developing, so knwoledge can be expanded and transmitted. For this reason, we think that the best way to keep this instrument alive, is to allow other people to interact and contribute to it. Throught the PMI and SWOT analysis we have been able to identify the positives and negatives aspects of the wiki. However, we think that most of the negative aspects can be controlled, or even used as a source to improve the wiki. Thus, as a group has arrived to a consensual agreement where we identify the wiki as the best tool to act as the portal, or initial door to open discussion and generate knowledge to support the improvement of the MSc in eLearning.

[edit] References

  1. Clark, D. R. (2009). "Instructional System Design", from http://www.nwlink.com/~Donclark/hrd/sat.html.
  2. Hart, O. (2006). "Wikis in Higher Education: Pros, Cons, and How-Tos", from http://aitl.uc.edu/decemberinstitute/documents/wikis.pdf.
  3. Initiative, E. L. (2005). "7 Things you should know about... Wikis", from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7004.pdf.
  4. Phillip, M. (2002). "Pros and Cons of Using a Wiki", from http://ssad.bowdoin.edu:8668/space/Pros+and+Cons+of+Using+a+Wiki.
  5. Richarson, W., (2006). "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Transforming Teaching,Corwin Press. A SAGE Publications Company.
  6. Strickland, A. W. (2007). "ADDIE" Idaho State University College of Education, from http://ed.isu.edu/addie/.
  7. Woolf, B. (2006). "Wiki vs.Blog" IBM development works, from http://www-03.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/woolf/Wiki+vs.+Blog.
  8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_rider_problem
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