Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
New York Times feature story discussing how I use wikis in the SMU classroom.
Citation preview
Home World U.S. N.Y. / Region Business Technology Science Health Sports Opinion Arts Style Travel Jobs Real Estate Autos Site Map
© 2011 The New York Times Company Privacy Your Ad Choices Terms of Service Terms of Sale Corrections RSS Help Contact Us Work for Us Advertise
Search All NYTimes.com
Advertise on NYTimes.com
EDUCATION
For More Students, Working on Wikis Is Part of Making the GradeBy SONIA KOLESNIKOVJESSOP Published: May 1, 2011
SINGAPORE — As a university student, Avnish Desai was advised by
his professors to never rely on Wikipedia content alone for his
research. “In fact some discourage us from even using the Web site
as a source of basic research,” he said.
Now, as a fourthyear student in
finance and corporate
communications at the Singapore
Management University, Mr. Desai,
24, has been asked as part of a class assignment to help
create his own wiki page on digital media in India.
Although wikis, with their collaborative approach and vast
reach online, have been around for at least 15 years, their use as a general teaching tool in
higher education is still relatively recent. But an increasing number of universities are now
adopting them as a teaching tool.
As part of that trend, a handful of Singapore universities are using the wiki platform as a
way to engage students.
Michael Netzley, assistant professor of corporate communication in the business school at
the Singapore Management University, said students’ learning improved when they
embarked on wiki projects.
“Rather than trying to read a textbook and regurgitate it for an exam, in order to write
coherent segments, you have to actually intellectually understand it and be able to craft
your own words, and that is a higher level of learning challenge,” he said. “All the research
on learning theory suggests this is in fact a better way to learn.”
Mr. Netzley, whose students include Mr. Desai, started using wikis as a teaching tool in
2007. This semester, he asked the students in his Digital Media in Asia class to document
the digital communication landscape of a given country, build a wiki page, and then
conduct a oneweek public relations campaign to promote it.
“I am trying to simulate exactly what would happen if a P.R. agency takes on a new client
in a new market and must start from scratch,” he said.
Working collaboratively, editing each other’s work publicly and getting feedback,
sometimes from outside the classroom, can make many students uncomfortable at first .
“It’s not something that we’re used to,” said Stuart Lee, an undergraduate who took Mr.
Netzley’s class and helped create a wiki page on digital media in Japan. “We usually see
the professor as the gatekeeper of information.”
Mr. Netzley acknowledged that during the past three years he had had to change the way
he taught with wikis to accommodate his students’ concerns about sharing their
incomplete work with others.
“The notion of saving face really complicates the learning process,” he said, “because how
do you learn if you’re not able to make mistakes and get feedback?”
To deal with that reluctance, he has let students keep their work on their own computers
until they are confident in its quality and ready to publish it online.
“When I started with this project, I did it from the point of view that the world is our
stage,” Mr. Netzley said. “Students were publishing their wiki on the Web and immediately
getting feedback. But it really didn’t work. The students’ feedback was quite clear; my
teaching evaluation went down!”
Mr. Netzley’s new approach, where the wikis are published for the marketing campaign
only after being completed, seems to have pleased the students.
Mr. Lee said: “The open wiki can be scary because you face the opportunity to be criticized
by a lot more people. But it’s also exhilarating. In this culture of instant gratification, it’s
amazing to be able to receive feedback on the spot by experts in the field.”
Misha Petrovic, an assistant professor of sociology at the National University of Singapore
who has been using wiki tools for five semesters, said he believed that using the wiki
format made the learning experience more dynamic. The approach encourages peerto
peer learning, rather than passive waiting for the instructor’s feedback, he said.
Mr. Petrovic, who has also taught in the United States and Europe, notes that in the
context of Asian culture, wikis can help students who tend to be less outspoken.
“Many here are often uncomfortable speaking in front of the class,”’ he said, “so dividing
them into wiki teams and allowing them to contribute from home and at their own pace
works great.”
Mr. Desai agreed, saying that the decentralization of the work was one of the advantages
of using wikis. Rather than have an entire study group meet up to work on a project, he
said, “all we needed to do was to go on to the wiki and edit the information ourselves.”
Related
Executive M.B.A. Programs Gain Popularity in India (May 2,2011)
Some British Universities May Go Private (May 2, 2011)
A version of this article appeared in print on May 2, 2011, in The International Herald Tribune with the headline: For More Students, Working on Wikis Is Part of Making the Grade.
Get 50% Off The New York Times & Free All Digital Access.
Get Free Email Alerts on These Topics
Education
Computers and the Internet
Wikipedia
ADVERTISEMENTS
Advertise on NYTimes.com
TimesLimited EMail Sign up to receive exclusive products and experiences featuring NYTimes.com's premier advertisers.
Privacy Policy
The Fujifilm X100 is different ALSO IN TECH »
Sony's first tablet The end of Friendster
T MAGAZINE »
Design and Living 2011
OPINION »
OpEd: When Bad Things Happen to DoGoodersOur unseemly delight at the troubles of the seemingly altruistic, explained.
N.Y. / REGION »
Father and Son, Bunking in G Block
MOVIES »
Summer Movies
TRAVEL »
In a Quiet Corner of Italy ... Trieste
OPINION »
OpEd: Unsafe at Any Dose
HOME PAGE TODAY'S PAPER VIDEO MOST POPULAR TIMES TOPICS
Education WORLD U.S. N.Y. / REGION BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SCIENCE HEALTH SPORTS OPINION ARTS STYLE TRAVEL JOBS REAL ESTATE AUTOS
POLITICS EDUCATION BAY AREA CHICAGO TEXAS
SIGN IN TO EMAIL
REPRINTS
SIGN IN TO EMAIL
REPRINTS
INSIDE NYTIMES.COM
Log In Register Now Help Subscribe to The Times
Home World U.S. N.Y. / Region Business Technology Science Health Sports Opinion Arts Style Travel Jobs Real Estate Autos Site Map
© 2011 The New York Times Company Privacy Your Ad Choices Terms of Service Terms of Sale Corrections RSS Help Contact Us Work for Us Advertise
Search All NYTimes.com
Advertise on NYTimes.com
EDUCATION
For More Students, Working on Wikis Is Part of Making the GradeBy SONIA KOLESNIKOVJESSOP Published: May 1, 2011
SINGAPORE — As a university student, Avnish Desai was advised by
his professors to never rely on Wikipedia content alone for his
research. “In fact some discourage us from even using the Web site
as a source of basic research,” he said.
Now, as a fourthyear student in
finance and corporate
communications at the Singapore
Management University, Mr. Desai,
24, has been asked as part of a class assignment to help
create his own wiki page on digital media in India.
Although wikis, with their collaborative approach and vast
reach online, have been around for at least 15 years, their use as a general teaching tool in
higher education is still relatively recent. But an increasing number of universities are now
adopting them as a teaching tool.
As part of that trend, a handful of Singapore universities are using the wiki platform as a
way to engage students.
Michael Netzley, assistant professor of corporate communication in the business school at
the Singapore Management University, said students’ learning improved when they
embarked on wiki projects.
“Rather than trying to read a textbook and regurgitate it for an exam, in order to write
coherent segments, you have to actually intellectually understand it and be able to craft
your own words, and that is a higher level of learning challenge,” he said. “All the research
on learning theory suggests this is in fact a better way to learn.”
Mr. Netzley, whose students include Mr. Desai, started using wikis as a teaching tool in
2007. This semester, he asked the students in his Digital Media in Asia class to document
the digital communication landscape of a given country, build a wiki page, and then
conduct a oneweek public relations campaign to promote it.
“I am trying to simulate exactly what would happen if a P.R. agency takes on a new client
in a new market and must start from scratch,” he said.
Working collaboratively, editing each other’s work publicly and getting feedback,
sometimes from outside the classroom, can make many students uncomfortable at first .
“It’s not something that we’re used to,” said Stuart Lee, an undergraduate who took Mr.
Netzley’s class and helped create a wiki page on digital media in Japan. “We usually see
the professor as the gatekeeper of information.”
Mr. Netzley acknowledged that during the past three years he had had to change the way
he taught with wikis to accommodate his students’ concerns about sharing their
incomplete work with others.
“The notion of saving face really complicates the learning process,” he said, “because how
do you learn if you’re not able to make mistakes and get feedback?”
To deal with that reluctance, he has let students keep their work on their own computers
until they are confident in its quality and ready to publish it online.
“When I started with this project, I did it from the point of view that the world is our
stage,” Mr. Netzley said. “Students were publishing their wiki on the Web and immediately
getting feedback. But it really didn’t work. The students’ feedback was quite clear; my
teaching evaluation went down!”
Mr. Netzley’s new approach, where the wikis are published for the marketing campaign
only after being completed, seems to have pleased the students.
Mr. Lee said: “The open wiki can be scary because you face the opportunity to be criticized
by a lot more people. But it’s also exhilarating. In this culture of instant gratification, it’s
amazing to be able to receive feedback on the spot by experts in the field.”
Misha Petrovic, an assistant professor of sociology at the National University of Singapore
who has been using wiki tools for five semesters, said he believed that using the wiki
format made the learning experience more dynamic. The approach encourages peerto
peer learning, rather than passive waiting for the instructor’s feedback, he said.
Mr. Petrovic, who has also taught in the United States and Europe, notes that in the
context of Asian culture, wikis can help students who tend to be less outspoken.
“Many here are often uncomfortable speaking in front of the class,”’ he said, “so dividing
them into wiki teams and allowing them to contribute from home and at their own pace
works great.”
Mr. Desai agreed, saying that the decentralization of the work was one of the advantages
of using wikis. Rather than have an entire study group meet up to work on a project, he
said, “all we needed to do was to go on to the wiki and edit the information ourselves.”
Related
Executive M.B.A. Programs Gain Popularity in India (May 2,2011)
Some British Universities May Go Private (May 2, 2011)
A version of this article appeared in print on May 2, 2011, in The International Herald Tribune with the headline: For More Students, Working on Wikis Is Part of Making the Grade.
Get 50% Off The New York Times & Free All Digital Access.
Get Free Email Alerts on These Topics
Education
Computers and the Internet
Wikipedia
ADVERTISEMENTS
Advertise on NYTimes.com
TimesLimited EMail Sign up to receive exclusive products and experiences featuring NYTimes.com's premier advertisers.
Privacy Policy
The Fujifilm X100 is different ALSO IN TECH »
Sony's first tablet The end of Friendster
T MAGAZINE »
Design and Living 2011
OPINION »
OpEd: When Bad Things Happen to DoGoodersOur unseemly delight at the troubles of the seemingly altruistic, explained.
N.Y. / REGION »
Father and Son, Bunking in G Block
MOVIES »
Summer Movies
TRAVEL »
In a Quiet Corner of Italy ... Trieste
OPINION »
OpEd: Unsafe at Any Dose
HOME PAGE TODAY'S PAPER VIDEO MOST POPULAR TIMES TOPICS
Education WORLD U.S. N.Y. / REGION BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SCIENCE HEALTH SPORTS OPINION ARTS STYLE TRAVEL JOBS REAL ESTATE AUTOS
POLITICS EDUCATION BAY AREA CHICAGO TEXAS
SIGN IN TO EMAIL
REPRINTS
SIGN IN TO EMAIL
REPRINTS
INSIDE NYTIMES.COM
Log In Register Now Help Subscribe to The Times
