de Bono's Hat Wiki
This week our cohort was tasked with interacting with the
Mobile Phones wiki. The link here is to the site, if you are part of the cohort
and haven’t given your opinions I would do so now, if you are a general reader
please just observe, thank you. http://debonoshats.wikispaces.com/
By introducing de Bono’s hats I will use it here to discuss
my own personal thoughts on the design and experience of using the wiki.
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| Source: Google Images |
Black Hat = Judgement
Questions: What is wrong with this? Why will this not work?
Is this safe? Can this be done?
The wiki is a very open space that doesn't really give the
user a lot of privacy for their ideas. Much like a forum it is open for
scrutiny that cannot really be moderated by the creator of the opinions. It
also doesn't give the creator of those opinions options to follow the thread
that the user inputted into the system. Should someone else feel that they do
not like a creator’s argument they can really just dismiss it out of hand by
deleting it. For this cohort I cannot say that it won’t work, we are all here
to give our opinions on the topic of Mobile Phones in the classroom, and so we
are looking for a good compromise. It is a reasonably safe environment, however
in the design of the wiki I wouldn't have used a person’s name, as a rule of
thumb for myself, if you are contributing to an open space on the internet, it
is better to use a pseudonym or representation of yourself, for university
students a student number would be the best representation for yourself.
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| Source: Google Images |
Blue Hat = the Process
Questions: Where are we now? What is the next step? Where
have we been? What sort of thinking is needed?
Where are we with the use of wiki’s? I believe that wiki’s
really are a good tool for many people in the teaching profession. It allows
you to congregate a collection of ideas for a class in one area, allowing other
students from your school and beyond to read the ideas being given. What is the
next step with the wiki? Well I believe the next step would be use the ideas
and opinions given to create maybe a word collage to find out what word was
used the most with our ideas. Obviously this would probably work in each hat
category. Where have we been in the use of wikis? I believe the use of wikis in
most of our experiences really has come down to research of a topic, I
personally use Wikipedia, an open source encyclopedia, to grasp a basic
understanding of a topic, then if it is for more detailed work I do deeper
research into the topic. What sort of thinking is needed when using and interacting
with wikis? Well it is a very basic way of introducing an ICT tool to the
cohort. I understand that many other fellow students wouldn't have been
introduced to the idea of ICTs outside of their normal every day interaction
with the internet however to be using a wiki in this way really isn't pushing
the boundaries of ICT design. The next assessment task of designing a wiki will
push it further.
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| Source: Google Images |
Green Hat = Creativity
Questions: What new ideas are possible with this? What is my
suggestion for success? Can I create something new?
Having touched on some of the things we can do to push the
wiki idea a little further, i.e. the word collage focusing on more used words,
then we can use the wiki experience to further how we understand how to
communicate with our fellow cohort. Using forum postings really limits us for some
things such as how long does it take before a thread becomes obsolete? Can you
keep the wiki moderated correctly? In a schooling environment would it be
possible to use a wiki for a class topic and then get some students to moderate
it. Obviously the teacher would have overall say on the complete moderation of
such a wiki site, however giving the learners the opportunity to moderate give
ownership of the topic to the learners. Making a wiki succeed in a school
environment is about ownership of the content and how it’s presented. Making
sure that the students do not feel left out of the creating process and
information process will give the best opportunity for success. A newer form of
wiki spaces can be used as a collaborative space for students to contribute to the
topic, unit of work or subject as a whole; by making it a safe social place for
students to collaborate you can encourage students to seek out new ideas, new
sources, and new designs.
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| Source: Google Images |
Red Hat = Feelings
Questions: How do I feel about this? What do I like about
the idea? What don’t I like about the idea?
How do I feel about the interaction with the wiki? That is a
hard question. I feel as if the wiki interaction is very static, unfortunately
with a very text heavy wiki it can get bogged down very quickly. And for a student
such as myself who prefers creating new images over writing a million words I
find it difficult to like reading a long wiki about a topic. The image about
explaining the de Bono’s hats was a great way for me to get that information
without having to slog through a whole heap of text. The idea of collaborating on
a wiki all as differing groups is an interesting way doing things. It does lead
to some really good discussions; however it doesn't give us the place to
discuss the issues with each other really clearly. Maybe if there was a
messaging tool or online collaboration space to throw ideas around in a forum
style it would be good.
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| Source: Google Images |
Yellow Hat = Benefits:
Questions: What are some good points? Why can this be
successful? Why is this a good thing?
Some really good points about using the de Bono’s hat wiki
regarding the issue of Mobile Phones is that it allows the discussion to flow
from one group to the next. By giving spaces where it isn't crowded in by every
one of my cohort it gives a slightly more succinct feel to each group and each
point. Using wiki’s can be successful if you integrate it correctly. If you
used it in a setting where you decided to leave a hand free and just let it run
its course you may find that it will lead to a number of cyber safety issues.
However if you are diligent in the direction of the use of wiki’s then you will
find that the wiki will be a successful and useful tool in your ICT arsenal.
Why use wikis? Using wikis allows for learners to be a part of the teaching and
learning dialogue. If a student finds a useful resource and shares it on the
wiki for the entire cohort to see, then they will feel like they are contributing
to the overall teaching of the class. In some cases, some students will feel
that they need to outdo each other academically; this can then provide a tool
for mediation where students will challenge each other to be their best in a
learning environment without taking it out to the school yard.
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| Source: Google Images |
White Hat = Information
Questions: What information do I have? What are the facts?
What information do I need? What do I want to know?
This blog really was my reflection on the use of the wiki.
By using the wiki as a starting point for the reflection and by using the de
Bono’s Hats I have come up with this blog post. It would be really good to
continue learning about how wikis would work in schooling or learning environments.
Having done a social media course at university myself I have some idea on
wikis however I wish to push that knowledge further and this course should
cover most of that.
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| Source: Google Images |
Ken’s reCap
What did I feel overall? Looking back on this topic I have
felt that wikis are a really good resource and tool for the dissemination of
information. However if it is not used correctly then you need to really
re-think, as a teacher, what tools you should use. There may be a better tool
out there for me to use, and to continue in this journey I will be able to
expand my toolkit. As teachers, if you stop learning you really put a hold on
teaching. Some teachers can become stagnant in their ways and tools, so as my
lecturer, Gary Holmes has said time and time again, experiment. Find new ways
of interacting, teaching and pedagogy.
Finally just because Hats hats hats... Comedy Central's Key and Peele (2012) (2 mins).
References:
Black Hat [Photograph]. (2013). Retrieved
Blue Hat [Photograph]. (2015). Retrieved
Comedy Central. (2012, Nov 26). Key & Peele – Dueling Hats
[Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5ZM0-f5_CU
Green Hat [Photograph]. (2015). Retrieved
Hand tattoo [Photograph]. (2013) Retrieved
Pokemon Trainer’s Cap [Photograph]. (2015) Retrieved
Red Hat [Photograph]. (2015). Retrieved from
White Hat [Photograph]. (2015). Retrieved
Yellow Hat [Photograph]. (2015). Retrieved
Wow! great idea to use the wikis to scaffold your reflection. Nice touch.
ReplyDeleteRegards Katrina
Hey mate love the idea of using the individual coloured hats to scaffold your blog entry.
ReplyDeleteRegards Mathew
Hey mate love the idea of using the individual coloured hats to scaffold your blog entry.
ReplyDeleteRegards Mathew
Although it was a bit of a read, I like how you scaffolded your post so that you were using your new knowledge while you reflected on it. The exit video was also really amusing :)
ReplyDelete