HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=N52OICWYNWS
Wikis@Macquarie
Learning and Teaching Centre

HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=N52OICWYNWS
Wikis@Macquarie
Learning and Teaching Centre

Why are we supporting
and using Wikis@MQ.
Take advantage of ‘the human network’
One common, evaluated platform and process
Development of 21st Century digital literacies
Quality Assurance and support at enterprise level
Social Media is important to learning & teaching

Why support them
Ensure Read/Write technology is persistent and
available to all staff at the enterprise level
Allows greater ‘just in time’ development
Inter-operability between processes and platforms
Responding to our staff being increasingly
involved in collaborative projects, often over
distance - using ‘secret’ solutions

The role of Wikis@MQ
As way to make communicate easier between
staff working on group negotiated projects
To develop Professional Learning Communities
(PLC) within the University and beyond
To get mass-consensus viewpoints and a timeline
of conversation and discussion.
Use of a highly adaptive, easily adopted toolset
using existing skills.

Consensus, not encyclopedia.
We have diverse stakeholders and priorities.
Allows asynchronous collection of views and
opinions - expected and unexpected.
Knowledge is socially constructed
Not all information is ‘terminated’ – much of
today’s important information is time and date
relative and must reflect evolving policy, trends,
technologies and priorities

Community needs
Must have a common interest or problem to solve
Must have people willing to participate
Must have a way to communicate
The easier it is to communicate, the greater the
participation is between people.

Wiki characteristics
Pages viewable though an internet browser
A way of discussing those pages to review and
propose later improvements
Simple toolset: create, edit and save information
All pages have a history and can be rolled back or
editions compared
Hyper-dynamic – and use links to connect ideas

Consequences happen
Allowing people to share and communicate openly
and online comes with its pros and cons
Leaders/managers need to be prepared.
It can allow new ideas and lead to innovation
It will surface diverse views, dissent &
challenges also, challenge people in power.
Many organisations struggle with the latter and
have decided to overtly 'suppress' and/or
'manage' these diverse views, have failed to
implement Web2.0 initiatives well.

Here comes everyone!
Opens up Engagement
communications
Dialogue
promotes new
ways of working: Clarification
New ideas / input Deeper understanding
Praise / Support New learning
Innovation Multiple perspectives

New challenges
Open and transparent communication culture
means being prepared for new challenges
Some of the key words to describe those
challenges include:
• Diversity • Challenge • Dissent • Sub-groups •
Surprise • Uncertainty • Emergence • Unable to
plan too much• Less control

Usual Push Backs
Some members of staff are not willing to share
their views publicly
Some will never have published anything to public
or space, let alone participate in social media
Most people have used the internet ‘passively’ to
get information and uncomfortable creating it
Change to culture; often manifests as though
claims of not being able to ‘use’ the toolset –
provide support and training opportunities

Wikinomics
“Build consensus – If only a few people are on‐
board with the idea, it won’t work. But consensus
doesn’t mean taking something from everyone
and sticking it onto the original idea until what
you have is the worst of committee­based
decisions. It means listening for the truths in what
other people are telling you and being willing to
make substantive change when it makes sense.”
CHRIS LEHMANN, SCIENCE ACADEMY, PHIL.

Why a Policy Wiki
Asynchronous discussion
Mass distribution of information
Ability to ‘watch’ limited discussions
Compare & Discuss changes to ideas/info
Be notified by email
Create and publish information directly
Policy is evolving, not static
Implementation & Training is available now