Lit Review #2- Wiki Books

For my second lit review I read an article entitled A Technological Reinvention of the Textbook: A Wikibooks Project by four authors named Patrick M. O’Shea, James C. Onderdonk, Douglas Allen and Dwight W. Allen. In this article they explored the concept of replacing traditional paper text books with interactive on-line wiki books. They posed the following hypothesis, “Textbooks as educational tools are outdated and in need of reconceptualization.” This hypothesis derived from the premise that the needs and capacity of learners in the information age have been transformed. Through historical research that these authors conducted they discussed a report that the U.S. department of Labor put out in 1991 which outlined a list of skills that citizens must process to be successful and productive members of the work force and of society. The list of skills included, “thinking creatively, making decisions, solving problems, seeing things in the mind’s eye, knowing how to learn, and reason… individual responsibility, self-esteem, sociability, self management and integrity.” It was then noted that forming a basis for these skills in our students will help prepare them to be life-long learners. In order to test their hypothesis the researchers implemented a new technique in a college classroom at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Instead of giving the students a text book to learn from, the students had to create a wiki text book pertaining to the content they learned in the class. These researches follow the philosophy of Constructionism which means they believe in, “learning-by-making,” which, “focuses on the learning that occurs when students are actively involved with constructing an object, either physical or virtual.” Through the project the researchers found that the students who made the wiki books used it more often than traditional textbooks and they felt more involved and connected to the material. Some of the advantages of the wiki approach that the researchers mentioned include the fact that the students have a truly hands-on learning experience that they are at the center of. It also requires the students to find, think, analyze and create.

The concept of wiki books is something new to me; however I found this research article very interesting to read. It really made me think about my role as the teacher in the classroom and what I want that role to encompass. Education is changing drastically and if I want to help my students develop those life skills noted by the U.S. department of labor then I have to give my students rich learning opportunities that enable them to think creatively and collaboratively, problem solve, analyze and create. For these skills to be developed I have to find a way to walk the line of being a strong model and leader but also be a facilitator for the students to guide in their own learning and creating. In the article it also said, “in the modern, information-rich world it becomes less important for students to know, memorize or recall information and more important for them to find, sort, analyze, share, discuss, critique, and create information.” Well these wiki books allow for this. The students must use all of these skills to create their books. This process requires direct application of their learning in an interactive and creative way.

This article made me think a lot not just about wiki books but about how learners and learning is changing and transforming rapidly. Students’ minds need to be challenged to think for themselves and not just regurgitate facts that have been lectured to them. If more educators would take the risk of trying something new and innovative with their students like these researchers did then we may come across from fantastic teaching practices.


Click the following link to view the article
http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ918902.pdf