Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Something Wiki This Way Comes

Set up wikis for group projects. Each class can have its own section, and each group can have its own page. The discussion forum feature makes it easy to see who has said what, and the recent changes and page history logs make it easy to see who has been participating. You can click on individual students in order to view their editing histories too! In addition to using a wiki to help them manage the process of group work, students can also use it as a "product" in which to display what they've learned about the content of a particular topic.

Here are some examples of how one school district is using wikis:

At the district level: http://thompsonwlc.wikispaces.com/
At the department level: http://lhswlc.wikispaces.com/
At the language level: http://lhsfrenchclasses.wikispaces.com/
At the club level: http://lhsstudentcouncil.wikispaces.com/

Here is an example of how I use a wiki with the student teachers in my foreign language methods course: http://languagelinks2006.wikispaces.com

Here is an example of how someone else is using wikis to provide a comprehensive library of "how tos" on a variety of topics: http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page

Click here to see what something similar might look like in video: http://www.videojug.com/tag/diy


Low-tech Alternative: Give each group a folder with blank templates on which they can record their group goals, the ways in which they have spent class time, the tasks they have assigned to each group member, and logs of their individual work. Store the group folders in color-coded hanging folders in a free-standing folder box or filing cabinet.

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