Wiki-ing and Skype-ing: two ways of building knowledge

“Knowledge work requires people to be actively creative, to collaborate, to understand the shape of project work, and to be willing to learn continuously”(Bruns and Humphreys, 2005: 3).

I think that what Bruns and Humphreys state about knowledge work well sums up the kind of work we have done and we are still doing for the English course: blogging, wiki-ing and skype-ing are all good ways for exploring the immense, boundless, never lasting world of knowledge.

There are many ways of acquiring knowledge. Some of them are “traditional”, i.e. reading a book, going to a library, listening to a teacher, etc.; others are brand new, the “sons” of the Digital Age and the abovementioned “-ings” are three of these sons. These new media tools are helpful vehicles which oblige all of us to enact our understandings and give our contribution to the construction of knowledge.

The notion itself of ‘student’ has changed. In the context of social project-based strategies for learning, a student is no longer a separate part of the whole community, but a part of the main and every single student’s contribution is indispensable to the process of knowledge building. Far from being mere passive consumers, we have become active producers of knowledge who write collectively on a wiki page for the same purpose: learn and have our peers learn.

The notion of ‘classroom’ has changed as well. Thanks to Skype, I realized that the traditional classroom has virtually enlarged and become a potentially infinite learning space. The fact that students who are physically divided by an ocean have the possibility to use a computer to reduce distances and share their knowledge by means of a small microphone is absolutely amazing... How powerful knowledge is!

Source Bruns A. and Humphreys S. 2005 "Wikis in Teaching and Assessment: The M/Cyclopedia Project"