Lessons learned in “wiki (mis)use” for education

From The Journal of Interactive Technology & Pedagogy, authored by Jennifer Marlow.

“Wiki Wars: Conversation, Negotiation and Collaboration in Online Spaces”

Abstract

This article is a teaching “failure narrative” that describes a first foray into wiki (mis)use in a topics-based writing class. This pedagogical story is informed by theories of collaborative writing developed within the field of composition paired with concepts of “collective intelligence” and “knowledge communities” used by new media scholars. Ultimately, the article questions the idea of consensus as a necessary ingredient in a successful writing collaboration, asserting instead that the struggles over composing within a wiki space are actually assets to the practices of teaching and writing and have the potential to inform our collective thinking about intellectual property.