I had been shown how to set up a wiki in the early stage of university life but that was it. The saying use it or lose it probably is exactly what this saying was created for, since I more or less had to start from scratch and this is why I chose to undertake a bit of a refresher course for myself.
The characterisation of this wiki, the ‘six thinking hats’ wiki I think catered for the visual learners as well as the kinaesthetic learners. The use of actually seeing the hats coloured was visually appealing as well as creating interest. It was a little like the engaging phase of a task. One of the other characteristics that I think about when I reflect back to this wiki is the way that it was neatly set out with easy to read headings. This eliminated the need for confusion and did not allow for the questioning of what was meant to be done. It clearly demonstrated what was to thought about, where these thoughts were to go and allowed for other peoples thoughts to be read and pondered over and then added to.
Through the characteristics of this forum/wiki, I feel the learning theory of constructivism was evident. Both cognitive constructivism and social constructivism. The knowledge that I have gained was gradually scaffolded by reading, interpreting and understanding other peoples points of views and ideas. This type of discussion forum allowed for ideas etc to be gradually added to without the need to sit alongside people and gather in the information. It was also useful for me as I find that sometimes an idea comes to you and you can make a note to yourself and add this information later. You can even use your mobile phone to email your thoughts back to yourself or to add them to the wiki right then and there if you have the time!
Also evident was the theory of connectivism. This theory proposed by Siemens (2005). has been acknowledged as learning with computers and the internet by networking. Siemens also observed that being connected enabled us to learn more. What is interesting to observe here is his analogy that learning this way is like a pipeline, it not only what is in the pipe line that you can learn instead it is the pipeline and the connects that are important.
The use of this type of wiki could contribute by allowing and encouraging your students to think in different ways and it is also a way to sequentially organise and share their thinking in ways that can be utilised. Frangenheim ( 2007) suggests this type of learning strategies could also be completed by working individually, in pairs or in a Round Robin or even by dividing the room into six stations and asking students to consider a problem in terms of the colour hat designated to them. Like anything there issues and drawbacks and these include the consideration that needs to be given to other learners feelings regarding their thoughts and ideas. Feedback and comments on others ideas should never be cruel and needs to be thought about before being delivered. This is all helps to build on the theory of social constructivism, where Vygotsky (1962) outlines that interacting socially has a large influence on learning.
Frangenheim, E. (2007). Reflections on classroom thinking strategies (9th ed.). Loganholme, QLD: Australia.
Siemens, G. (2005). Elearningspace everthing elearning.Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Vygotsky, L.S. (1962). Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
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