Wikis in education

The Teachers' Lounge

The most recent issue of Educause contains a marvellous article on wikis in education.

The most radical aspect of wikis is this: "Content is ego-less, time-less, and never finished." Of course, nothing is ever finished in this world, but books go into print and movies are edited into a final version. Wikis never close.

Wikis work great as shared online sketchpads or as spaces for brainstorming. They are perfect for creating perpetually updated lists or collections of links, and most users can instantly grasp their utility as informal bulletin boards. Because it takes only a couple of seconds to set up a new page, no purpose is too trivial.