Thing #15 Wikis

I've heard of Wikipedia before and used it more times than I can count, like most everyone else in the world with a computer and access to the internet, but never Wikis. I had no idea anyone could create their own Wiki about whatever they want and then others could add and edit information.  The example in the Wikis in Plain English Video was a great one because I agree that so much gets lost in translation when emailing back and forth.  I've had projects in high school go horribly wrong because a group member thought they were supposed to do one thing when in reality they were supposed to do something else. For example in a Spanish class we decided to make and bring in chicken quesadillas as part of our project and didn't have plates but double the amount of soda because of miscommunication.  I believe a Wiki page could have prevented this from happening.

Wikis remind of a google doc that you can share with others and they in turn can add and edit information.  With that being said I still prefer google docs to Wikis because there are more controls available in terms of the editing freedom you allow. For example as an instructor I may want to share docs with my class but not give them the freedom to edit anything and everything about it. In google docs you have the option to only have students view the documents or specify who can edit it. In high school I actually had a teacher who forbid us from using Wikipedia because he did not feel comfortable with us citing information from a cite that ANYONE could edit.  Allowing too much editing freedom can definitely ruin the credibility of the information you get from it.

For the apsu 23 things sandbox wiki I decided to create my own page entitled "my favorite image creations from the 23 things"  Before I could do this however, I had to set up an account which was as simple as typing in my email and clicking on the link I received in my email to verify it.  I could see myself creating a  wiki for students whenever I assign group projects to help minimize the miscommunication I spoke about earlier.