Today I peeked at some very creative, intriguing wiki-blogging classes. While the students' writing may be posted quickly (the beauty of the wiki), the teacher's creation and maintenance must take considerable time.
First the sites:
Miller's site is a good example of what a teacher can accomplish on-line, in terms of setup, assignments, look and feel. However, I didn't see collaborative, student project-based, on-line work. Merely their comments, albeit, intelligent.
Mr. Morrison's History Coll
aboration is a rich collection of teacher's blog - student's wiki pages. Because the semester is over, it doesn't have a clear "home" page, with assignments and responses flowing in an organized fashion. But by clicking around, I see all kinds of writing, blogging, pod-casting, etc. by students. This site seems to be an example of 2.0 in the classroom. I like the way he poses a question, adds video or photo, and then asks for and receives student work.
My personal comment for my classes: Downside: Limited access to computers at school, scant access at home, huge startup investment of time for teacher to create. Upside: clearly the future of learning and responding, appealing, resource connected, interactive.
Here's list of what you can do with a classroom wiki
I like the ideas of using a wiki for: "class notes" "publicize good work" "share web research", and "upload visual demonstrations. Also, trading cards, once completed, could be added to a class wiki. And, the idea of colllaborative note-taking where everyone pitches in and adds a facts or two about a topic. Include opinions, challenges, and criticism. Students then write essays using only these notes. Make sure each addition includes a citation to book, website, etc.
More good ideas from "out there": Interesting examination of all the changes a wiki website goes through over 4 years, as contributors edit and expand on entries from Professor Jones' wiki: I always show Jon Udell’s screencast about Wikipedia’s rockdots entry, to show students what collaborative writing might look like.
Professor Jones also has an interesting lesson that combines "class notes" with "wiki" practice.
When it comes to grading the student-groups' wikis, he says, "I can see who’s made what changes by using the history and statistics features."
Another do-able use of a class wiki: I post a question related to whatever topic we are covering and students are required to post a response (at times they are also required to reply to other student posts). An example can be found at http://mrsatwood.pbwiki.com/Election+...
A how-to get started with my classes: I have a class that I want to collaborate on a project, what is the easiest way to give them access to the wiki? I use the free wiki.
Lots of pbwiki how-tos for setting up, etc.
1 comment:
I especially like your idea of using wikis for collaborative research. I'm hoping that google docs will provide a "safe" place for students to store their internet research and notes. But in addition, it would be good for them to interpret their newfound knowledge to a wiki, thus practicing paraphrasing and citing. I haven't yet looked at the sample sites you included, but I wonder if wikis can do both - provide a place to store research, as well as a place to interpret?
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