Technical Evaluation Report 27. Educational Wikis: Features and selection

This report discusses the educational uses of the ‘wiki, ’ an increasingly popular approach to online community development. Wikis are defined and compared with ‘blogging ’ methods; characteristics of major wiki engines are described; and wiki features and selection criteria are examined. Defining Wikis According to Leuf and Cunningham (2001), creators of the original wiki concept, “a wiki is a freely expandable collection of interlinked webpages, a hypertext system for storing and modifying information – a database, where each page is easily edited by any user with a forms-capable Web browser client ” (p. 14). Content can be directly linked to that found in other wikis (interwiki) and in Web documents. Browser-based access means that neither special software nor a third-party webmaster is needed to post content. Content is posted immediately, eliminating the need for distribution with the associated risk of virus transmission. Participants can be notified about new content, and they review only new content. Low graphic use results in pages that load quickly. Access is flexible