Wikis for educational purposes

I 've just finished exploring different Wiki tools and I now feel much more familiar with the concept of these communication tools and the ways they can be used for different purposes.

I can see their educational and other academic potential as their main purpose is to encourage the exchange of views and collaboration in writing and learning.

They can be used for assigning group projects to students or for encouraging the exchange of views and peer-assessment in individual assignments. They can also be used to facilitate discussion outside the classroom or as a space for posting student evaluations, suggestions and comments.

Wikis can also be used by researchers and academics for collaborative writing, group papers and general networking.

While Wikipedia is quite complicated and not so user-friendly, other Wiki tools such as Writeboard and BluWiki can be much easier to use and they can be used by people with different levels of familiarity with on-line communication. This makes them perfect for educational use as students with little familiarity would not feel left out and would still be encouraged to contribute.

My first experience of creating a Wiki

I used Writeboard to create my own Wiki, a process which I found very very easy. Again I am wondering whether other tools can be as straightforward as Writeboard but hopefully I will find out soon as I am also going to use BluWiki as part of this course. Writeboard was very simple, very straightforward and the instructions were very easy to follow.

I have just started going through the section of the course that's looking at Wikis as an on-line communication tool. I chose that because I wanted to learn more about something I was very little familiar with. The section on creating online quizzes and other kinds of assessment also attracted me and it is something I would like to find more about.

I have to say that I was extremely impressed with the way Wikis work and their potential for creating virtual collaborative environments. I had no idea Wikipedia works like that and I felt the first part of the tutorial on Wikis was very imformative. I also have to say though that my trust on Wikipedia as an encyclopaedian resource dropped dramatically.... Reliability is obviously a very important issue with this kind of on-line tools!

However I believe that Wikis can be used for educational purposes very creatively and can stimulate student motivation through the creation of an on-line virtual community. They can encourage a different kind of communication which although asynchronous can still be more inclusive than for example Pebble Pad or the use of blogs.

However they can be difficult to follow especially in the case of big Wikis such as Wikipedia where the participant needs to follow very specific rules. I have to say I was extremely confused with how Wikipedia works. Of course it all depends on the style and purpose of the Wiki as the Wiki we engaged with as part of this course was very easy to follow.

My first blog

This is my first blog but at the same time it is the last diary I start in the UK since I am going back home to Greece at the end of this month. It may even serve as my 'letting off steam' tool as I go through different kinds of emotions as a result of this big change.

As for the process of creating it I found it very easy but I am wondering how easy it would be using different tools. I still havent quite understood its purpose though: if people can interact as part of the daily activities and discussion boards what's the use of a blog like this for an on-line course? I havent yet read other participants' blogs so maybe that could give me a clue.

Christina