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I liked the fact that you could see all contributions in one
screen. even though scrolling is required, it is so much more effective in
capturing the collective output from a class than the discussion board which is
hard to rack once it exceeds 30 or so entries
[ ARG] Yes, I agree that this is one of the unique advantages of using Wikis as another tool for group discussions when compared to using threaded discussion boards for the same type of activity. In a Wiki, it is easier to scan the ideas presented before and after each posting. [-BUT] The disadvantage of using Wikis is that (as mentioned later) it is difficult to find and read all the new entries posted to the Wiki. [ BUT] However, one can use the NotifyMe/RSS feed function to receive emails that highlight what changes have been made to the Wiki each time someone clicks the Save button.
Another advantage is that at the end of the week, we all have one final product that we can print out - a product that reflects or captures all of the work we achieved during the week.
I think some of us were confused about how our contributions would be credited
Yes, I like to hear some suggestions on how to track student participation. Blackboard provides a simple tool to track number of weekly postings. But Wikis don't provide this sort of function (at least not that I am aware of). There was one suggestion, below, that I simply ask students to type in their names in bold font directly into the Wiki. However, handcounting the names could be quite tedious and perhaps is prone to human error. Again, I'd love to hear some creative ideas and solutions to this problem. :-)
Yes, I agree that it does have its quirks. Someone suggested that we try another wiki or try using google docs instead. See google/labs/docsAndSpreadsheets.
The responses below clearly show that most of us did not feel comfortable editing the work of other students in class. This would suggest that we are using Wikis merely as another tool for hosting group discussions, and not using it to collaboratively write, edit, and produce a high quality final product. However, one of the students noted that he/she would be comfortable making edits on other students' work if he/she could present his/her justifications and reasons for doing so. Perhaps more edits would be make to produce a higher quality end product is I simply asked or required each student to explain his/her actions within the "Notes about this edit..." textfield located at the bottom of each wiki page during page edits. What do you think?