While the Internet has made its way into almost every classroom at Boston College, professor Jerry Kane has decided to take this movement a step further by pioneering the use of wikis in the classroom as a primary learning source in his Computer Information Systems class.
Wikis, such as the well-known Wikipedia, are collaborative Web sites where a group of people can compile vast amounts of relevant information together on any number of subjects. When asked about his motivation for taking this step, Kane said.
"I was looking for a way to integrate technology in the classroom. We started with Facebook, but quickly outgrew its capabilities and had to move to wiki."
The course's wiki site is mostly a student effort, with everyone in the class working together to add and fine-tune information on the site, which is centered around the class.
"I create different forms which students can use to interact with the site. They're able to post papers and have peers edit and modify them before they finally need to be submitted for a grade," Kane said.
He added that students have been more than eager to take advantage of this service, and overall paper grades turn out higher if they've been posted and critiqued.
Another main purpose of the site is to list potential questions for the final exam.
"I actually open-source the final exam. Students post their questions and edit each others,'" Kane said, "People ask how the exam can be hard, but students can actually come up with some really tough questions." He added that to make sure it is not too easy, he only chooses a small percentage of proposed questions to be included on the final, "I don't have any obligation to use their questions, but they get extra credit if I do."
A common concern among those who hear of the idea of teaching a class entirely through wiki is the potential for vandalism of the site, but Kane insists that all of the students have been respectful to the combined learning effort that is their site. "Part of what I'm trying to teach them is how to be an effective user of wikis, and as they use the site they find that working in the best interest of the everyone is in their best interest as well."
Kane points out that while the technology is easy for him to pioneer in his class, it is also applicable in many situations. "It's all about the philosophy of the wisdom of the crowd," Kane said, and he believes that many diverse areas of study could benefit from further collaborative efforts.
As much as he has accomplished, Kane would like to move his class even further toward a fully involved online community. "We are tying to jump into the whole Web 2.0 experience," Kane said, referencing such 21st century applications as YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace. "We incorporate RSS feeds to bring in news from sites such as The New York Times, and I also keep a blog that students are able to comment and debate on," Kane said. "There are new utilities that go above and beyond WebCT and really bring in and cultivate student participation." The quarter-long class that Kane teaches is in its fourth iteration, and continues to change, while incorporating the latest Web 2.0 technologies available. "We have no textbook for this class, but learning from each other has proven to be an enriching experience on so many levels," Kane said.
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