Sally+Meyer

I viewed this experience through two different lenses: that of a student pursuing a doctorate and that of an educator. Throughout my Wiki adventure, I was amazed at the plethora of information available on the Internet. I had not used the Internet to explore a topic in its entirety before, so this was an eye-opening journey. It was hard to know when to stop. Luckily the assignment had a due date which limited my inquiries, because, even though I worked about 40 hours on this assignment, I feel like there is much more information to gather and absorb. It was also a challenge to decide what was important and what was not. The wealth of material available made this particularly disconcerting. I liken it to becoming an expert on my dissertation topic. How will I know when I have exhausted all the resources that are available? How will I know that I didn't miss something.? How will I know what is important and what is not? I will be in the same situation as I was for this assignment--reading, digesting, and synthesizing new information. This assignment was valuable because, while it seemed overwhelming at times, it gave me a better idea of how difficult writing my dissertation will be. As a doctoral student, the experience also helped me recognize the need to accelerate the pace at which I am moving to formulate my research question and begin the literature review. And, it reminded me of the critical need to document every resource as I am working, because it can be so time consuming to retrace steps.

As an educator, I have a different perspective on this process. When the Wiki was completed, I shared it with my colleagues for two reasons. First, I wanted their input about the ease of its use and the content. They were very kind and helpful with their comments. Second, I work in a school that is comfortable with technology, and its use is prevalent. I was hoping it would open a discussion about the possible use of Wikis in our school. Several teachers asked me if I would use it in my classroom. I told them I wasn't sure, because I hadn't reached a definitive conclusion, but their questions did make me think. I recognize that technology is a medium of communication that permeates the lives of the children I teach. They have no qualms about using computer-based technology as a reference, communication, and presentation tool. My concern is that Wikis make it so easy to link websites and cut and paste material, that there is a natural desire to increase the quantity of information presented, without taking the time to increase the quality of the content by ensuring that the pages being linked are truly relevant. A Wiki could represent a compilation of all materials found through a Google search, many of which have limited value or are inaccurate. It would be like going to the library, pulling every book that could possibly relate to a given topic, dropping them on the table and, without opening a single one, saying, "Here's my research!" As we prepared our Wiki, we made a conscious decision to summarize information and include only relevant links. Does a K-12 student have the ability needed to recognize relevancy? Children today skim from page to page; they rarely digest or reflect on what they have read unless specifically directed to do so. If they only skim before preparing a Wiki, other than technological skills, what will children be learning? Using the Wiki medium, a creative page can be developed with many seemingly related links. Will teachers have the time to check each and every one to determine whether each is valuable and relevant? If not, will we be perpetuating the idea that if something is pretty on the outside, what is inside is unimportant? It will take a highly skilled curriculum leader to find a way to resolve concerns about content while utilizing this exciting technological resource.

I enjoyed working with my teammates, Marla and Sonya. We had friendly debates about what to include and what to omit, and we enjoyed sharing unusual facts and information about the time period covered in our Wiki. We all have a similar work ethic and focus on quality, but we brought different skills and knowledge to the process. Still, I felt driven to go beyond my own efforts by those of others. I pass along thanks to Kelly, who was especially helpful with the technology aspect of the project. As a result of her efforts, most of our time was spent on research and creating the Wiki. When I began the project, I was feeling trepidation, but I am proud of what we produced, and I feel confident that I could do this again.