by Andrea Turner

Created on: June 06, 2008

Wikis are a basic webpage that allows for public editing of material. They can be private or public open to a select group of people or to anyone at all. They allow for people to view and alter content on a webpage. Wikis have been around since the mid-1990's, but have grown greatly in use, and are now making an appearance in the college setting where they prove to be very beneficial.

In the college setting specifically, wikis have helped to pave the way for an easier means of collaboration between students. Thus, the way in which students collaborate has greatly changed. It wasn't too long ago, that the internet wasn't even an option. Then, research was made easier through the web, but still not everyone had e-mail. The next stage was e-mailing assignments back and forth to collaborate and add in information with the goal of producing one product. Now today, we have the use of wikis, which allow for the placement of information in a place that anyone (or anyone in the group) can access and edit. Benefits of this are that you are working from one document instead of multiple-copies in inboxes which all get edited and sent back only to then take-on the project of merging them into cohesiveness.

The simplicity and ease of use have helped to make wikis a widely used tool. Access to the internet is all that is needed to participate. Once the web address is accessed, clicking on the editing button makes the page modifiable. After saving the changes, the document re-uploads for everyone else to see.

While the benefits are quite obvious, the opportunity for misuse also arises with wikis, as with all forms of technology. The need for close monitoring exists, due to the free nature of open editing. Language and the verification of factual information are two issues that people need to be aware of, and also the issue of being bias, as more and more editing by multiple people can increase or strengthen one viewpoint.

Instructors have also found uses with wikis to elicit feedback from students or community members, editing works of writing, and much more.

College collaboration is looking different today, and with the help of wikis it has become easier for students to work collectively to create one piece of work that the whole group can be satisfied with. With close monitoring, wikis are a valuable tool that can enhance student learning in and out of the classroom setting.

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