Wikis@MacquarieLearning and Teaching Centre

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Wikis@MacquarieLearning and Teaching Centre

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Why are we supporting and using Wikis@MQ.Take advantage of ‘the human network’

One common, evaluated platform and process

Development of 21st Century digital literacies

Quality Assurance and support at enterprise level

Social Media is important to learning & teaching

Why support themEnsure Read/Write technology is persistent and available to all staff at the enterprise level

Allows greater ‘just in time’ development

Inter-operability between processes and platforms

Responding to our staff being increasingly involved in collaborative projects, often over distance - using ‘secret’ solutions

The role of Wikis@MQAs way to make communicate easier between staff working on group negotiated projects

To develop Professional Learning Communities (PLC) within the University and beyond

To get mass-consensus viewpoints and a timeline of conversation and discussion.

Use of a highly adaptive, easily adopted toolset using existing skills.

Consensus, not encyclopedia.

We have diverse stakeholders and priorities.

Allows asynchronous collection of views and opinions - expected and unexpected.

Knowledge is socially constructed

Not all information is ‘terminated’ – much of today’s important information is time and date relative and must reflect evolving policy, trends, technologies and priorities

Community needs

Must have a common interest or problem to solve

Must have people willing to participate

Must have a way to communicate

The easier it is to communicate, the greater the participation is between people.

Wiki characteristics

Pages viewable though an internet browser

A way of discussing those pages to review and propose later improvements

Simple toolset: create, edit and save information

All pages have a history and can be rolled back or editions compared

Hyper-dynamic – and use links to connect ideas

Consequences happenAllowing people to share and communicate openly and online comes with its pros and cons

Leaders/managers need to be prepared.

It can allow new ideas and lead to innovation

It will surface diverse views, dissent & challenges also, challenge people in power.

Many organisations struggle with the latter and have decided to overtly 'suppress' and/or 'manage' these diverse views, have failed to implement Web2.0 initiatives well.

Here comes everyone!Opens up communications

promotes new ways of working:

New ideas / input

Praise / Support

Innovation

Engagement

Dialogue

Clarification

Deeper understanding

New learning

Multiple perspectives

New challenges

Open and transparent communication culture means being prepared for new challenges

Some of the key words to describe those challenges include:

• Diversity • Challenge • Dissent • Sub-groups • Surprise • Uncertainty • Emergence • Unable to plan too much• Less control

Usual Push Backs

Some members of staff are not willing to share their views publicly

Some will never have published anything to public or space, let alone participate in social media

Most people have used the internet ‘passively’ to get information and uncomfortable creating it

Change to culture; often manifests as though claims of not being able to ‘use’ the toolset – provide support and training opportunities

“Build consensus – If only a few people are on‐board with the idea, it won’t work. But consensus doesn’t mean taking something from everyone 

and sticking it onto the original idea until what 

you have is the worst of committee­based 

decisions. It means listening for the truths in what other people are telling you and being willing to make substantive change when it makes sense.”

Wikinomics

CHRIS LEHMANN, SCIENCE ACADEMY, PHIL.

Why a Policy WikiAsynchronous discussion

Mass distribution of information

Ability to ‘watch’ limited discussions

Compare & Discuss changes to ideas/info

Be notified by email

Create and publish information directly

Policy is evolving, not static

Implementation & Training is available now