Qu-wiki!

What I am finding fascinating is the etymology of all of these Web 2.0 technologies:

• aggregators - to herd (Latin)
  
• avatars - a manifestation or embodiment
  
• mahara - to think, thinking, thought (Te Reo Māori)
  

and now Wiki - a Hawaiian word for quick! (Cunningham (1994), as cited by Augar, Raitman and Zhou, 2004)

It was in my first year of study that I encountered "wiki" - our group assignment for Futures was to create a wiki. Since then, I have only used "Wiki-" in some of its other embodiments - 'pedia, 'tionary.

In reading blogs of my other e-learners, I know that they have used wikis as a means to contribute to group assignments and organise tasks - that certainly puts paid to the tyranny of distance and the time factor that can sometimes impede a group assignment.

I can see that wiki is indeed a collaborative tool, and can be used for students in the classroom to work on small group, or whole class projects. It can be used for time-poor LMs and students when planning for assignments or units. My struggle now is how to use wikis in an early childhood classroom. I did find a wiki with student-created examples. The underlying principles for using wikis in the classroom as stated on the home page is another example of Engagement Theory in action - relate, create and donate.

I can see that Wikis can be used as a tool for collaborative learning across different KLA's - maths, science, literacy. In particular I like the following examples of a collaborative literacy experience:
Terry the Tennis Ball
Adventure in the Trench

But wikis are not just confined to your classroom - there are examples of wikis connecting students globally in working on collaborative projects. One example is all about Monsters.

Wiki collaboration is also about creating communities of practice and social-constructivism. I am even experiencing my own Zone of Proximal Development. I am trying things that seem to be outside my realm - through online and personal conversations with peers and more experienced adults, I am learning and achieving things that I did not think possible.

I have created my own wiki which I will keep up to date with links, tips, ideas for early childhood LMs. It is only in its infancy, but hopefully it will grow.


References:
Augar, N., Raitman, R. & Zhou, W. (2004). Teaching and learning online with wikis. In R. Atkinson, C. McBeath, D. Jonas-Dwyer & R. Phillips (Eds), Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference (pp. 95-104). Perth, 5-8 December. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/augar.html

Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999) Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Downloaded 5 July 2009 from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm