Group+2

= The Standard Objection =

Most people fear that others will tamper with their postings if they utlize a WIKI as a storage for their thoughts. The article encourages people not to get caught up in this fear, but to be proactive in preventing problems such as this: set your WIKI up with password and usage controls. ~Kristi

I feel that many students would take the opportunity to ruin or tamper with other students work....this would make many students reluctant to post. So, the passwords and usage controls are very important for classroom settings.

One problem I have is that it seems easy to just post a bunch of blah-blah nothingness- how do you keep the conversation controlled and organized so that is progresses rather than moving in circles?

Very often, the introduction of new technological platforms and venues brings to light the personal “tastes” and nature of individuals. Wikis seem to offer a very new and exciting “place” for collaboration among individuals. This means that each of us may sometimes have to step out of our “comfort” zone and step into a state of disequilibrium as we learn to work in this new format.~Judy

The idea of WIKI s is appealing and this part addresses the main concerns. If I want to use it for teacher collaboration, I can assure the group we can keep it among ourselves, and we can verify past comments. I think the lack of beauty is fine as it seems that mere text will expedite the generation of comments. Marcia

There is much opposition to the use of a wiki such as allowing other people to modify your ideas and posts. If people feel the information is important and applicable they will be less likely to edit your actual work. Such as the example of wikipedia – if information is inaccurate more people are prone to edit and correct the information.

More from JAP

I need to find out more about Wikis and how to use them! -ARL

The obvious drawback to wikis is the posting of information by people who have ill-informed or incorrect opinions and having a readership who is not informed enough to correct the mistakes. It's also very time-consuming for the wiki to be monitored. - NLB