World Wide Wiki

This month, I have decided to try creating a class wiki. I have wanted to do this for a long time and thought that if I wait any longer I will never get started. The response from students has been very positive. I have been finding united streaming videos that I can download to our wiki and then making cloze notes for students to fill out while they watch the videos. After they watch the video and take notes, there are some problems for them to try or links to websites that offer activities they can practice with. When they feel they are ready, there is a link to a zoomerang quiz on the skills they are working on. The preparation is taking me some time, but I think as I get more familiar with the wiki I will become quicker at preparing. I am hoping to get some student volunteers to help find activities and content to put on our wiki and that will help things as well.
There have been so many noticeable benefits of doing work on line. The students are definitely more engaged this first week of wiki madness. They are eager to log on to the site and I have had many students complete work at home or add to the wiki from home. They are also working together better. They are working with a partner and have to share the computer as well as discuss what they are learning as they watch the video and take notes. I am not lecturing as long as I used to and am not answering the same question over and over. I present a quick mini-lesson on the skills they will need for the days work and then show them what wiki pages they can find information on. While there have been many positive outcomes of working on the wiki, I am still trying to get students to think more academically when they post comments or talk to each other. They are very excited to have conversations, but so far not even half are really about the content we are working on. This is something we will have to keep working on. Please visit our wikis and comment on what students are saying and doing. They are: , , and