Wiki

Overview
A wiki is a learning space where many people can contribute to an idea or ideas, with its open structure many people can change the information, multiple pages can be used and linked, similar to a blog you can add outside links, files, images, and you can also create tables.

"A wiki has a far more open structure (than a blog) and allows others to change what one person has written. This openness may trump individual opinion with group consensus." (TeachersFirst, 2010)

Strength

Great collaboration tool where many people can add there information to make a greater document. WikiBooks are where students or people contribute to create an encyclopedia of sorts on topics relevant to the classroom and are a great tool as explained by Burrell (2007). It is available with any internet connection, so students can create at home and at school, if they create a wikibook they can "leave their textbooks at school" (Burrell, 2007).

Weakness

Because anyone can access it care needs to be taken that people do not ruin other peoples work (by changing the permissions you can ensure that only specific people can view and alter the wiki). Care needs to be taken to ensure referencing to ensure it does not contravene copyright laws.

Opportunity
The use of Wiki for a teaching tool is huge, a WikiBook would be great to use, not only can it be used for assessment (student showing their knowledge and understanding of a topic) but also as a resource that they can keep referring back to. Anytime you have a collaborative writing or research task they can complete some or all of it on Wiki.

Threat
Can only really be used with collaborative work due to the nature of wikis that anyone can change the information.

Compatibility to learning style
Great for a variety of learning styles, it can be adapted to suit most students.

What learning theory it is most used for (links to this blog site)
Wikis can be used for Social Constructivism, searching and viewing wikis can be a form of Connectivism.

Meaning to me
I will definitely be using the WikiBook idea in the future and can see other ways of using this great tool. It gives students a different way of looking at collaborating and using the internet. The following is a link to my wiki http://accountingxxhs2010.wikispaces.com/.

Burell, C. (Producer). (2007, 17 November 2010) 21st Century Learning. Video File retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmkqcp11pHM

TeachersFirst. (2010). TeachersFirst: Wiki Walk-Through; Wiki vs blog? Retrieved 14 November, 2010, from http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/