Response to WIki Reading

Before reading this piece on wikis I was not familiar with them at all. In fact, today before class I noticed what we would be doing in class and actually had to Google "wiki". I now understand that it is a website in which anyone can edit, upload and change information on that webiste. What actually suprised me most about this piece is the fact that these teachers liked the way the wiki worked in a classroom setting and adopted it into their other classes. As a student I really feel like a wiki is a very insecure way to submit your work because everyone can see your ideas- edit your ideas and basically ruin your project if they really wanted to. On the other hand I can understand one of the points they make in this aticle that students can contribute to a project without having a very specific meeting time where everyone gathers around the computer and collaberates. I can appreciate that because I work 30 hours a week and it can be a real challlenge to find a time that works for everyone to meet. With a wiki we can all still contribute to our project but we can do it at all hours and seperately. One of the problems that Martin and Dusenbury mentioned was that students felt "pressured to protect their ideas from eachother to make sure they get appropriate grade-related credit". This is one of my main concerns too because credit should be given where credit is due and I would personally be extremely unhappy if someone took one of my ideas. This article did convince me that using a wiki is worth a try because of the convenience- but I am still rather skeptical about who has access to my ideas.