Thing #6

Thing # 6

I'm writing about this one today because I am trying to plan a new unit in my media studies English class in which students will collaborate on a BIG project about corporations and their social responsibility/irresponsibility. The idea is to have them work in small groups to create an educational wiki meant to inform and educate about a specific corporation. This is going to involve a LOT of research, evaluation of various websites, and then production skills. I was thinking I'd have them create a WEBSITE for the information, but I got scared and settled on a wiki. That alone will be a new concept in organizational thinking for them - it was for me at first when I set up my wikis this year.

So, how to get them to collaborate on all the parts and pieces I will expect them to produce as a group. . . I will have to teach them to use google docs for sure. Should I have them set up the wiki as a work space and just put stuff straight in there - since it's a place they can invite only themselves and me - and they can all edit all of it, I can comment and give feedback. . . this will be an interesting experiment. I am a bit concerned that it might overwhelm several of them who are still not completely clear on how and why we use the wiki I created for the class yet - it's December and we use it EVERY DAY almost!!! YIKES! Many of them don't seem to be clear on the fact that they cannot cite google as a source! (Although, many of them are starting to really get the hang of all the web 2.0 tools we are bombarding them with this year. I am seeing lightbulbs come on!)

I need to do more work with the stuff we talked about at November's meeting - the "Hidden Web" and "Think Like a Librarian". . . NetTrekker . . . I better get started.