19. S-Curve Adoption of the Wiki Maximum innovation 2010 - Wikis are being used in a variety of sectors: business, education. 1999: Sister wiki sites begin to appear - Fox Pro Wiki, Swiki 1995 - WaltCunninham introduces WikiWikiWeb to Portland Pattern Repository.
20. Perceived attributes of the wiki in education: Who are the adopters? Teachers who are new graduates with experience with Wikis. Administrators Technology Specialists (or background) Curriculum Specialists Teachers with less experience with technology More tenured educators Student with minimal computer experience Educators resistant to change Innovators? Early Adopters? Laggards?
A wiki is a collaborative online resource that can be used socially, personally, and organizationally. A wiki functions as a tool for collaboration, networking, knowledge management, and information collection.
Why was the wiki invented? What was gave the lead thinker of this innovation the inspiration to create such a tool?
The first wiki was launched by Ward Cunningham in order to make the exchange of ideas easier between programmers at the Portland Pattern Repository. The wiki software served as a forum where people could share new ideas.
There are potential problems that may be encountered when using wikis. For the novice user, authentication of user input may be an issue when using content found on wikis, in addition to spam. Another problem is the perceived difficulty of navigation of a wiki site. These problems may be circumvented by using other sources to authenticate information in order to discern fact from opinion. Also, using the many security options to increase privacy in communities could potentially deter vandalism of wiki sites. As for the difficulty in navigation, many wikis offer online tutorials to assist new users. The original wiki was design only for the use of PPR computer programmers, so for the average individual, the specialized programming content make the wiki’s content relatively unintelligible to people outside of the programming field. Many of these problems were not foreseen until the development of sister-sites.
Editors, visitors, and readers of the WikiWikiWeb began creating pages that were user-modifiable and created new wiki engines. The versatility of the wiki and their ability to be utilized in multiple applications, and in a variety of content areas, made them popular within the internet community.
In the innovation-decision process, the knowledge stage exposes the existence of an innovation to a social network. The wiki was debuted to a subset of the employees of the Portland Pattern Repository by Walt Cunningham. Its initial audience was geared towards a select few within the organization.
The next stage of the innovation-decision process is the persuasion stage, where there is a creation of a favorable attitude towards the innovation. As reported by Shaw Ryan, there was a show of consensus with PPR programmers.
Many who would be willing to use such technologies may need to see how the application can be used effectively. Many may need brief professional development with how to navigate the technology. Strategies that could be implemented to persuade individuals to use the technology are technology development sessions, assigned mentors, or demonstrations of practical use.
www.Safeinyourspace.org
In conclusion, the main goal of education is to give students the tools that they will need to succeed as a contributing and positive adult into today’s society. The use of wikis is a tool that can assist educators in accomplishing this goal. It can foster a needed sense of community among students, link the teacher as a facilitator of learning rather than the giver of knowledge. Wikis can be an inexpensive and less time consuming way of collaborating with other educators and providing professional developments. Wikis are the new glue that could link all aspects of education together.
