Create the wiki

EA3
Well I have succeeded! I too have made a Wiki (took a while) but I got there in the end and I am proud of my achievements. I can see that the benefits of working in a wiki would outweigh the drawbacks. Whilst I am not particularly IT savvy I am enjoying the challenges that this course is presenting. I believe this is because of the hands-on approach. I can not only put what I am learning into a form of practice, but my peers can share my interpretation and I can see theirs. I think that not only is this type of learning connected, it is constructive. Each week I am building on where I have been before, constantly pulling apart in my head the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to this type of learning for our children.
Strenghts - A wiki is a fantastic opportunity for each student to voice their opinions, they can back this up with evidence and support from their research, by adding links to the source. The research alone opens up the world, as there is just no limit to the amount of information we have access in today's classrooms. Children can grow and discover, things that I have never thought possible. They become more connected to each other and learn more about one another. I can liken this to an exercise I participated in when in high school. Everyone had to write down on a piece of paper what they knew about someone else in the class, they were then selected at random and read aloud the class. A wiki which would not generally be used for this purpose can have similar outcome - by reading the responses of peers you can better understand their complexities and interests.
Weaknesses - Safety could be a concern. The wiki needs to be set up in the correct manner and within the QLD Government curriculum guidelines. It would perhaps have to be time limited. I know how much time I have spent mucking around with this trying to get the right look, trying to ensure I was embedding correctly. It can be awfully time consuming. Take my experience last week, where I discovered the hard way that you can only have one person edit the wiki at any one time (thanks Scott for your comments on my last week blog - it is all a part of our learning)! MMM not such a great learning tool after all. Perhaps one way to avoid this would be to have students work in groups in class to edit at certain times thoughout the lesson. No not really a very good solution.
Opportunities - The opportunities for learning outcomes are engaging with others, working as a collaborative group, and this is not limited to the confines of the classroom walls. Students are engaging their high order thinking, especially if they were responding to a scenario where they are utilising a structure such as de Bono's six thinking hats. I believe this form of collaboration does lend itself to constructivism, because your learning is draws on ideas from your own personal experience and the ideas and interactions of experts. It makes the students think.
Threats - There are many issues here, as there are still may issues in the playground! Cyber bullying could be a threat. Clearly the legal, safe and ethical work practices must be adhered to. We must ensure that our children are safe from harm, and are not exposed or exploited. Here are some links that can help.
http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/pid/944
http://education.qld.gov.au/web/schools/riskman.html
Wiki's are a great idea if you can get co-ordinated. They really do provide a quick link to be able to contribute collaboratively with each other.

Here is the link to my creation.
http://natelearnwiki.wikispaces.com