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Teaching & Learning Technology
Collaborate!
6/1/2007
Site administrator Jeremy Smith says that as of April 15, the site contained 787 substantial articles and 2,390 uploaded files. What makes these files unique is that while they can be created only by members of the Case Western community, they are viewable by everyone in the world. The whole idea of wikis is to encourage collaborative editing of files, Smith says, but he admits that Case Wiki still has a long way to go; although the site has 600 registered users, Smith says only 13 percent of them account for 65 percent of the changes.
He writes in a recent blog post: "I think those numbers are still soft, because many of those persons play inside of 'walled gardens.' That is, they spend a lot of time editing their own pages (just a lot of times)." He uses the phrase "self-correcting" to describe the process of collaborative editing, and adds, "There isn't a lot of cross-pollination going on." At least, not yet.
Cross-pollination is, however, alive and well inside a new wiki at The University of Kansas. There, Nils Gore, a professor of architecture, has turned to the technology to coordinate a joint project with architecture students at Tulane University (LA), to help rebuild a New Orleans community center ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. The effort revolves around a new tool from wiki software provider PBwiki. The community center, located in the city's Seventh Ward, is known simply as The Porch.
Technically, the project is called Rebuilding the Seventh. Through it, students use the wiki as a passwordprotected place to share and edit documents. If someone in New Orleans needs an image, for instance, students in Kansas upload it to the wiki, where students from Tulane can view or edit it. And when Gore gets new students, he has them search the web for contextual background material to add to the site. In one year, users have added nearly 1,000 documents to the site overall. Gore says it continues to grow.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of this particular KU wiki is cost. Some schools might pay thousands of dollars a month for a content management system to enhance collaboration. Gore, however, parts with just $5 per month (even though it's from his own pocket). He's quick to note that basic PBwiki service is free, and that the Rebuilding the Seventh project is charged only because it requires five gigabytes of storage capacity.
"It's cheap, it's easy, and it works," boasts Gore. "When you're looking for a tool to enhance collaboration, what more could you possibly want?"
Welcoming Collaboration with 'Open' Arms
As Gore can attest, wikis are a relatively inexpensive way to facilitate collaboration among students and other users. Another fairly affordable approach involves open source, a programming language that is, in many ways, collaborative itself. Currently, in the higher ed arena, the most well-known open source effort is Sakai , which provides a set of collaboration tools including e-mail archives, chat room, and message center. These core tools can be augmented with others designed specifically for teaching applications.
Recommended Reading
- Get Users on Board
- Greening IT
- It's a Zinch
- Meeting up Virtually
- Online Tutorials to the Rescue
Now's the time to use online tutorials to streamline professional development and help desk management.
- Retention Rx
