Using a Wiki for eLearning

For structured eLearning, a Wiki such as the main Key to Nature web platform, may have several uses:

1. It can be used as a primary content repository, where short definitions, introductions to the subject or specific keys, if possible tailored to different audiences such as primary school, advanced school classes, amateurs or university students can be created and improved. Teachers can create specific courses for their students inside their own eLearning environments (such as Moodle, ILIAS, or GIUNTI Xact) by copying this information.
2. The wiki may to some extent also be an exercise in participatory learning. A highly interesting exercise is described in the following article: Wilma Clark: Wiki as semiosphere: students’ meaning making practices as authors and consumers of digital texts in the secondary school science classroom (PDF).
3. Although the wiki in general is no eLearning system, it may provide some related functionality. MediaWiki does provide an extension for structured eLearning quizzes. A wiki system administrator must install the extension. The extension is used on en.wikiversity.org/, although relatively rarely (see examples on Probability or on match). The extension does not provide many features of eLearning systems, such as individual tracking of a students progress. However, it can be a valuable resource for anonymous self-learning.