About Mediawiki at Evergreen

Definition

A wiki (IPA: [ˈwiː.kiː] <wee-kee> or [ˈwɪ.kiː] <wick-ey>[1]) is a type of website that allows users to add, remove, or otherwise edit and change most content very quickly and easily, sometimes without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative writing. - from Wikipedia

Wiki Links

• Quick Guide to Wiki Syntax
• Wikipedia

Curricular Uses

• Collaborative Writing
• Create a knowledge base
• Presentation tool
• Web-based research journal
• Research Coordination and Collaboration
• Conference and Colloquia Web Site / Coordination

Advantages

• Quick
• Flexible - wikis are not limited by directory and file structures but can present
• Focus is on content versus presentation
• Students can post their own work and get interactive feedback

Disadvantages

• Unless structured from the beginning, wikis can quickly become chaotic
• Possibility of losing or "orphaning" pages
• Students need to create their own table of contents to show links to their work
• In order to respond to peers' essays students would need to use the discussion tab which is not a threaded discussion but a another wiki page.