Wikis and Engagement Theory

Recently, I have been involved in developing my own wiki.  You can view it at http://chocoholicsparadise.wikispaces.com/.  I have never set up a wiki before and initially found it challenging to work out how to use it.  I found it a little easier once I chose a theme/topic that I had some knowledge and interest in - chocolate - as it helped me focus on understanding wikis and perhaps how they could be applied to other settings e.g. to school or work (as a community of practice as discussed by Wenger (2006)).  It could be suggested that this is a deep approach to learning as described by Felder and Brent (2005, p 63) as I was seeking to understand how wikis worked and how they could work for me and others. 

Upon thinking about how wikis could be applied in classrooms, I tried to think of activities that would align to the engagement theory of learning, which "is that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks" (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999, p: 1), but also keeping in mind the instructional conditions proposed by Felder and Brent (2005, p: 67) for promoting intellectual growth.  With this in mind, my idea for using a wiki involves the following:

Topic:  Healthy Food Options for School and Home
Problem to Solve:  Kids complain about boring food in their lunch box, parents struggle to come up with interesting ideas that are also nutritious and easy to prepare, and schools are also under pressure to provide nutritious food options.  Other linked issues: childhood obesity, massive options of readily available processed foods and fast foods, kids/parents struggling to identify healthy food options, misconceptions that healthy food won't taste nice etc.)
Audience: broad audience but primarily targeting families.
Product:  publicly available wiki with multicultural food ideas for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snacks with a nutritious food guide (pre-existing or one established by the class) to make informed choices.  A five star rating can also be applied to recipes as an option.  Would also hope that the school canteen could use it to have a cultural theme one day a week.  The students would be able to promote the site through the school newsletter but also to Child Health Centres, Women's Health Centres etc.

To me, this is active learning at its best.  Something like this would challenge the students' own thinking and perceptions of food, allow them choice and creativity over what goes into the pages, allow them to work cooperatively and collaboratively within groups and between groups, allow them to explore the diversity of food with no boundaries and provide the motivation to making a great product because it could be accessed by everybody and anybody (and it may even solve some issues closer to home - that is, variety in their own lunchboxes). 


References:

1. Felder, R. M., & Brent, R. (2005). Understanding student differences. Journal of Engineering Education, 94(1), 57-72.

2.  Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning.  Retrieved from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

3.  Wenger, E,. (2006). Communities of practice a brief introduction. Retrieved from http://www.ewenger.com/theory/