A recent publication on the use of a Wiki in a collegiate classroom highlights the concieved notion of the evil of wikis. Many professors liken the word and work done on an online environment (especially those labled Wiki) to the unreliable yet unyieldingly popular site Wikipedia. For years students have been using Wikipedia as a means of information--even to the extent of citing it as a credible source in research papers. This has been the thorn in many professors' sides as they continue to demand scholarly research and discourage the use of wikipedia as a trustworthy source. The public forum of a wiki instills fear in many educators' minds just by mere association with the ever changing status of wikipedia articles.

Patrice Williams of Okaloosa Walton College in Florida writes in the August 2008 issue of Learning and Leading with Technology of her experience using a Writing Wiki in her Composition classes. She has found that WetPaint.com, a wiki provider, allows for easy editing and formatting flexibility that both she and her students find very accessible. She says "my students...view our private class wiki as an 'academic' networking site" where they can post their own profiles, communicate with one another, as well as the professor. Most importantly, Williams notes the privacy of the entire wiki. Trying to pacify the fears of weary professors to engage in an online academic community, she reassures that members must be invited by the professor (which is easily done she explains) and then once again granted access after requesting it through the invitation.


Williams confesses that she too was guilty of condeming wikis and encouraging students to avoid them at all costs. She says she felt this way until she stumbled across WetPaint.com and very easily created a community for her students. She uses it not only as a means for extended class discussion but also in a familiar "Blackboard" manner posting the syllabus, class deadlines, and announcements. She says "Students love these features. They appreciate the fact that there is a portion of our class that exists in cyberspace that they can access regardless of the time of day or their physical location." Finally, with the very apparent push and love for online sources and information she makes a call for post-secondary as well as secondary levels of education to truly engage and "journey into the world of wikis."

This once "evil" world of wikis is slowing turning good.