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.
2 comments:
netTrekker d.i. is a great place to start research. Love the topic!
For a while I created my content in GDocs and then transfer it to the wiki (since I was frustrated with some formatting issues), but then I went back to typing straight into the wiki, and I think it is easier. However, since your students may not know how they want to organize the wiki right away, it may be easier for them to start in GDocs until the organization of their content emerges. One idea may be for your to create a standard template for their wikis (i.e. require certain headings and pages) so that they have something to start with rather than a completely blank slate.
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