Wikis and University Faculty

Deirdre BonnycastleCollege of MedicineOctober 28th, 2009

What is a Wiki?

A wiki is a website that allows the visitors themselves to

easily add, remove, and otherwise edit and change

available content.

This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an

effective tool for mass collaborative authoring.

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

Clinical Informatics Wiki http://www.informatics-review.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Student Doctor Wiki http://more.studentdoctor.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

I use several wikis for Research and Committee work because the team always knows that we are working on the most current document.

-Dr. Marcel D’EonFaculty of Medicine

Committees Research StudentsSTORES

STORES

STORES

MinutesContact InfoImagesAgendasReportsDocumentation

ArticlesStatisticsImagesInterviews

ArticlesLinksResourcesQuestionsSyllabus

Universities are Obsessed with Paper

A Wiki

Committee Wiki (Invisible to public, multiple editors)

Deirdre’s Post Workshop Wiki(Anyone can see, three people edit)

https://wiki.usask.ca/display/db/Home

Faculty Development Wiki(Anyone can see, ten people edit)

http://medicaleducation.wetpaint.com/

Peanut Butter Wiki (no longer active)

(Anyone can see, only I edit)

College of Nursing Wiki(Anyone can view, multiple editors)

Committees Research StudentsCREATE

PlansProjectsDraft ReportsDraft Documentation

PlansDraft Papers& Presentations

PapersTeam ProjectsPresentationsProject Plans

Universities are Obsessed with Papers

CREATE

CREATE

A Wikihelps

Committees Research StudentsSECRETARY

Key Elements for Involvement

LEAD

MARKS

OBJECTIVES

CLEAR

TASKS

U of S Students Say

Throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies I had never been assigned such a unique and challenging project.  It was unique in that I had never used or even heard of a “Wiki.”

It definitely inspired me to consider the future uses of such technology in my own work or future projects that require a lot of collaboration.

Wiki Limitations

New technologyWikis are new to you as a faculty member and

new to the university as a whole. Policies and

support systems are still being developed.

Web-based writingContent created on wikis and copied to a word

document lose their formatting. This may be an

important consideration when preparing

collaborative articles for publication.

How might you use a wiki?

?You need to become proficient with Wikis before asking your students to use them.

How might your students use a wiki?

?