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My post this week began with my initial perspective on Wikis. I have grown up not trusting Wiki and have always thought that random people had the ability to change the post to whatever they would like. The readings definitely changed by thinking, and I learned the value that WIki has. I found it impressive that so many contributors are volunteers and enjoy sharing information for the greater good. I also found that I contradicted myself in some sense, because although I never use Wikipedia, I would use WikiKnow. I made a lot of connections with a Wiki and a Google Classroom. In both networks, the community has to work together in order to produce a final task or project.

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The act of contributing to the wiki is externalizing knowledge while reading the wiki and the contributions of the wiki is internalizing knowledge.  This makes perfect sense and I think is applicable in many areas of life, not limited to wiki’s.

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Last week, Ravan began discussing her initial perspective on Wikis, which was that Wiki's are not good! Ravan discussed the difference between externalizing and internalizing information within a Wiki. That is crucial when it comes to participating in a Wiki because it's necessary to externalize your knowledge for the success of everyone in your group. Ravan also found some practical uses for Wikis that could potentially be used with her staff in the future. Lastly, Ravan listened to the NPR podcast this week and was shocked that a primary source is not recognized in Wikipedia. Her background as a History Major made her question validity of the contributors to a Wiki.

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"In my personal field of art, there could be a sharing of ideas about the intent of an artist, either famous or up and coming. Students could discuss their own feelings and thoughts about what an artist is trying to accomplish and the quality of their work on a wiki."

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As an art teacher, Jamie reflected on ways that Wiki's can help her students gain success in the art field.   She discusses the importance of the role of validity, and how every active member must take part in ensuring the validity of a Wiki. Our Slack conversations surrounding this topic compared this to the workings of a GoogleDoc, where individuals have access to contribute to a project or task. Jamie also discussed how Wikis can help students gain confidence in their work. For example, a student that is shy may be hesitant to participate in the classroom, but may show their personality through their participation in a Wiki. 

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As an art teacher, Jamie reflected on ways that Wiki's can help her students gain success in the art field.   She discusses the importance of the role of validity, and how every active member must take part in ensuring the validity of a Wiki. Our Slack conversations surrounding this topic compared this to the workings of a GoogleDoc, where individuals have access to contribute to a project or task. Jamie also discussed how Wikis can help students gain confidence in their work. For example, a student that is shy may be hesitant to participate in the classroom, but may show their personality through their participation in a Wiki. 

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"Imagine, not trusting a whole network of ideas and collaborations because it doesn’t come in a newspaper or textbook? It is easy to imagine because of the negatives and lows we have seen the internet or digital media display. But we can’t let our fear of the bad outweigh the benefits of the good. Regardless of the old adage, one rotten apple should not spoil the bunch. Wikis are not perfect of course, and  things may be included that are not factual relevant, or contain bias/prejudice. With their community of volunteers and a system of checks and balances the hope is those things would be caught, corrected, or removed by someone else participating in the wiki building process quickly."

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In our blog last week, Michael discussed the various ways that Wiki's can be incorporated into the classroom. This can be through books clubs, project based learning tasks, curriculum planning, and word walls. Another excellent point that was mentioned by Michael focused on how this Wiki's must be built. The community must come and work together in order to achieve their goals.

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As a group, it seems that at one point in our lives we all viewed Wikis as an unreliable source. The articles introduced last week helped us to recognize that WIki's have many beneficial attributes to them and they can be considered trustworthy.