Sarah Guth

Wikis in education: is public better?

Wikis are being used in educational settings more and more but they are often installed within existing institutional Learning Management Systems (LMS) and as such are private, readable and editable only with a password, or semi-public, readable but not editable without a password. What differentiates the use of social software tools such as wikis in the classroom from other traditional computer mediated communication (CMC) tools is that they enable communication between people and knowledge sharing beyond the limits of the classroom and classroom activities. This paper investigates whether or not closing a wiki limits the very potential the tool has in education. Based on a brief review of the literature on wikis in education, the first section discusses how the benefits of wikis might be greater when they are public. This is followed by a description of two courses carried out at the University of Padua, one using a semi-public wiki and the other a public wiki. The same groups of students contributed to both wikis over two semesters and conclusions on the advantages and disadvantages of using a public wiki are drawn from a qualitative analysis of the data gathered. The preliminary findings are then used to suggest that a compromise between public and private wikis in education might provide the ideal learning environment.

Open Intercultural Dialogue: educator perspectives

While language educators are being encouraged to exploit the Web for authentic intercultural communication, research is showing that rather than bringing people from different backgrounds together, the Internet is offering a platform for people to express their opinions with those who share similar ideas. When intercultural contact does occur, it often appears to be highly conflictual. This paper begins with a brief discussion of the open Web and intercultural dialogue, followed by an overview of attitudes to conflict in education and foreign language teaching and learning. We then turn to our preliminary study of the perspectives of educators from European universities on disagreement and the discussion of sensitive topics in online intercultural exchange. Our data indicate a considerable divergence of views and a great need for dialogue amongst educators and further research into this topic.