Reflection on Wiki

Participating in the wiki activity was not as daunting as I thought it would be. (Which reminds me I still have to sort my wiki page out..) Having been rather tied down last week, I plunged into the activity in week 3 instead, and it was a bit of a blessing in disguise as there were already a lot of discussions and thoughts penned down on the wiki page. It gave me the opportunity to read my peers' ideas and thoughts through, and then adding on to the discussion.  

Having a forum allows us to engage in discussion virtually, which blurs the physical boundaries of distance.  It is a great example of ICTs for Learning Design.  The wiki is reflective of the learning theories of constructivism and connectivism, as well as cognitivism and behaviorism, in the following order of relevance   

Social Constructivism

Social constructivism is the case where learners construct their own reality based on their own experiences.  Vygotsky tells us that the role teachers and society plays on students developement is a large one, and that learning precedes development.  That is the basis of the social development theory, and social constructivsim is founded on social interactions in the learning community.  All of us students, were able to interact and learn from each other in the wiki exercise.  

Connectivism

Connectivism is the learning theory for the digital age of computers and the internet.  Knowledge becomes endless with the amount of research one can do on Google.  It is more important to identify how and where to find this knowledge - I had to Google "mobile phones in education" to get research information for the WHITE part of de Bono's thinking hats.  It is the creation of a learning network to be able to navigate and solve problems for the future.  Connectivism is about the networked student, creating ones own personal learning network.  The wiki forum connected us students in the ICTs for learning design class, helped with sharing of opinions and finding expert opinions.  

Cognitivism

The thinking routine, de Bono's six thinking hats, is an example of congitivism.  It is where by learning is a part of mental processing.  Thinking tools like de Bono's six thinking hats, reflexs externally what goes on in the brain.  

Behavorism

Learning how to use the wiki as part of the course, is an example of behaviorism   It is where rote learning takes place, and where by learning is characterized by observable change in behaviour.  Using a wiki, with enough practice, will soon become a routine skill. Practice will enable one to be confident with the new forms of technology that we are constantly introduced to as learning is a response to conditioning.  ICTs involve practice, positive reinforcement and reshaping what we have previously learnt.  

In conclusion, the activity presented all four types of learning theories and it covers many areas of learning and teaching.  I find a wiki easy to use now, and it is easy to consolidate more ideas from more participants, as compared to a blog, where you would have to find the links to visit the different sites.  Of course, a blog is more visually appealing, (which also depends on the creator of the site) and the wiki seemed to have a rather messy layout, although easy to navigate.  It was a good learning experience, and I managed to gather everyone's thoughts on mobile phones in education very easily and quickly.  It definitely is a good learning tool.