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01/31/2006 Archived Entry: "Wiki"

Wiki
I can't speak for the students in the first year writing course I'm teaching, but I'm really loving working with the Wiki. Besides Mediawiki's fine aesthetic appeal (I just don't like the way PBWiki looks or the way other "flavors" look like the ones assembled in my del.icio.us), I'm grooving on the open-ness, the interlinking starting to form, the rising mix of personal and contextual, the watching of writing happen.
That last point comes with the "recent changes" feature which shows who's done what for the day and how many times. While this could be used to "monitor" or to explore some kind of Janet Emig approach to understanding writing process, I'm more interested in how writing is taking place among different kinds of writers engaging with the material in different ways. The cognitive has no appeal to me since I don’t want to replicate any kind of process for positivist purposes. I’m just interested, as in a rhetorical ecologies kind of way.
In the wiki, some folks are paying attention to others' work, some are moving out of simple linear approaches, some are. . . well, it's really way too early to assess. But, at the least, I feel more involved with what is happening. That gives me a better understanding of the work going on, and hopefully it is giving the students better understandings as well, and further opportunities to do more than they might otherwise.

More as I think about this throughout the semester.

Posted by joanna @ 02/03/2006 06:50 AM EST

Hi Daniel
All good questions.
We do use email for discussion (to generate a different kind of interaction than a wiki might)

Each student also keeps a weblog where specific assignments are done in order to get us thinking about the work we are doing.

And then there's the wiki where other kinds of assignments are done in and out of class to get us thinking more about our work.

Each kind of technology produces a different kind of writing/interaction.

It's early still. And these are the first students here using the wiki. So we have to allow ourselves room for mistakes, glitches, etc. So far, I find this the most engaging class here at WSU yet. I am hoping, of course, that they, too, find it engaging. That's the most important part, and maybe it's too early to tell.

Posted by jeff @ 02/02/2006 10:08 AM EST

The course and the wiki action is fantastic. Building the whole semester around music seems brave to me, a great approach. How are you finding the wiki for, dare I say it, class management and logistics? Do you supplement with e-mails for communication, etc or just catch up in class. The "class site" looks nothing like what one would find typically, so I'm curious how it is playing out.

Posted by Daniel Anderson @ 02/02/2006 09:35 AM EST

I can't speak for their constituents, but Congressional staffers really love working with the Wikipedia.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5182883

Wikipedia Bans Access from Capitol Hill Computers

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which allows users to edit entries on a wide range of subjects, has banned Capitol Hill computers from the editing process. The reason? Hill staffers tend to write glowing entries about their bosses. Alex Chadwick talks with Andrea Seabrook about some of the worst offenders, and just how far-ranging the problem is getting.

Posted by Wiki Uber Alles @ 02/01/2006 01:11 PM EST

My class starts Wiki stuff tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it.

Posted by cbd @ 02/01/2006 11:23 AM EST

Absolutely.

Posted by Jeff @ 02/01/2006 09:39 AM EST

I'm eager to hear more. Is it OK to create a login and poke around?

Posted by Daniel Anderson @ 02/01/2006 08:22 AM EST