This video is on Wikis. The video gives introduction to wikis in a very simple language. Wikis are collaborative and co-ordinative web tools in comparison of e-mails and blogs because on blogs we can not work together at the same time whereas wikis allow us to work together at the same time and at different places. E-mails are not good at co-ordination.
Wikis are a large language community that involve both the teacher and the learner centeredness. Anyone can edit the information on wikis. Clicking on 'edit' button, information can be edited on wikis. Once we are done with the edition of the information, we can save that information by clicking 'save' button. Link button helps link one page with another. Edit, save and link buttons are helpful to create a good work on wikis.
Online projects, student involvement and group activities can be done with the help of wikis.
Graham Stanley's video is about different web tools and their use in language classroom. He has given a good amount of information on different generations of web tools and different types of web tools as well.
Web 1.0 : This generation was introduced in 1989 and it ended in 2005.
Web 2.0 : Web 2.0 emerged technologies. it has a power of publishing students' work online. Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and videos are different web tools of Web 2.0
Blogs : Blogs open classroom walls. They are a small language community. It encourages ESL and EFL learners. It engages students with native language speakers. Blogs motivated and increased quality with a reason to write. In blogs, only blogger can re-write, edit and save the changes.
Wiki : Wiki is a website that can be used for classroom projects. In wiki, not design but the space is the priority. Any one can re-write, edit and save the changes in wiki since it is a large or wide language community.
Podcasting : Podcasting is a way to use voice to connect students. It allows us to listen to it as many times as we want. Digital natives are much more familiar with podcasting than digital immigrants. In podcasting, language lessons can be given with the help of MP3 player. It shows notes, opens classroom with a wider world with the help of clustrmaps, gives confidence to students of different cultures. It is a real audience for student work.
Web 3.0 : Web 3.0 is a second life. It provides e-learning for distant students of different cultures. It is a motivating way of educating future generation.
Further, Stanley has given a few points of distinction between e-mail and wiki:
1. E-mail is not co-ordinative.
Wiki is co-ordinative.
2. We can re-write, edit and save the changes in wiki.
E-mail does not allow us to re-write, edit and save the changes.
3. Co-ordination becomes more easy in wiki.
Since e-mail is not co-ordinative, it does not make co-ordination ease.
4. Wiki allows linking one page with another as well. Reverse history in wiki is also helpful to re-gain previous information in case of if we lose it.
