Wiki, Wiki, Run Fast

So I started using Wiki with my classes.  For the low and intermediate level classes, I am using it as a place where students will contribute their learnings and be rewarded.  This seems to work well.  Many students are contributing.  I must say, not as many as I'd like, but it's a good start.

I also use Wiki for students to post their assignments.  I will then put comments and the students will go back and edit the assignment.  This also seems to be effective.  The only thing is that, it is time-consuming for the teacher.

For the higher level students, I decided to let them work on the same collaborative-writing  assignment that we did on SocialText.  Little did I know the trouble it was going to stir up!  As the students wrote their parts, some disagreements arose.  It escalated to an online-argument of some sort.  I monitored their conversation to be sure that it didn't get out of hand, but it got me thinking about this onine learning thing.

While I agree with Dr. Bonk that e-learning technology does make the world flat and accessible to more people, it also can be dangerous if used without guidance.

In my situation, I think the students' conflict arose from lack of understanding about each other's culture and the difference in maturity level.  Of course, personality played another part in the conflict.  One of the students eventually came to speak to me and asked if I would intervene.  I explained to him that I was monitoring the exchanges, and I would only intervene if it was beyond something the students could handle.  I also explained to this particular student about their cultural differences and hence the miscommunication.  One good thing that came out of using Wiki is that the students are kept apart when their "argument" took place, instead of being face to face.  They were also reacting to words without emotions, which either lessen or fuel the conflict.

So, what does this mean?  There are so many cultures on tihs world, with the development of e-learning technology and open coursewares, it is inevitable that more and more people will cross paths.  Will there be more conflicts or will people become more culturally awared?  Will this also promote flatness of culture?  Will we "westernize" and "standardize" other cultures?  Is this a good thing?