Wiki-Projects!

Wiki-Projects!

More and more classrooms are now learning, creating, reading, and testing online. To keep up with our technologically demanding lifestyles, the traditional classroom is making way for such innovative tools as wiki. It’s also a fun way to engage students in content across the curriculum. 

What is Wiki? 

Wiki is an online application that allows users to contribute to or edit its content. Meaning “quick” in the Hawaiian language, wiki is a creative and open environment where everyone has a voice. The significance of wiki lies in the fact that there is no assigned “leader” or “head writer”. 

Yet what makes wiki so unique (in most cases anyone can add or change content on a wiki website) has also given it a bad reputation among most educators. Wikipedia, for example, is the most commonly known wiki website and is often blacklisted by educators as a credible reference. 

Why Teachers Should Use Wiki in the Classroom? 

Incorporating a wiki into the classroom provides a very different online experience for your students. Essentially, you put them in the driver’s seat. By giving students more control over a project’s outcome, you are encouraging them to be producers, rather than just consumers, of information. This reversal of roles ultimately helps the students master the content. 

WikiProject’s is a place where students can create and publish collections of information and resources to be used collaboratively or in groups. Students may create presentations on a specific topic or posting collections of information over a period of the time. The beauty of WikiProjects, aside from its ease of use, is that each WikiProject can be set up differently and specific levels of access can be given to students and teachers. 

A few of your setup options are: 

  • Personal: Project: Each student has their own WikiProject. 
  • Collaborate: Customizable groups of students may Group Project together on a WikiProject. 
  • Class Project: The entire class collaborate in the same WikiProject. 

In this Personal Project, each Student has their own Wiki as an individual space to edit, create and share information. This Teacher has asked them to share a little about their accomplishments, their family history and their life.

After you’ve determined what type of WikiProject, you’d like your class to work on, you have a few more options about who can see what: 

  • Teacher Review: Students can only view their own WikiSite. Comments are enabled. 
  • Peer Review: Students can view and comment on other student WikiSites. 
  • Peer View: Students can view other student WikiSites. Comments are disabled. 

WikiProjects gives students nearly all the tools educators have for creating and posting content. Students are creating their own websites. Teachers and administrates feel good about the safe and contextualized space where students are creating and posting this content. WikiProjects provide a well-organized portfolio-like space where teachers and students can view individual or collaborative progress over a semester or school year.

Most LMS’s have a wiki-project aspect to it, if yours doesn’t then check out these sites:

My understanding of each of these sites is that they have a free aspect, and a paid one which has more tools. I would look to Unified Classroom or your LMS as the best tool to use.

When setting up a WikiProject within Unified Classroom, follow these directions: 

Create a WikiProject 

  1. On a class page, click + Add Content Block. 
  2. Select the Messages & Activities tab. 
  3. Select WikiProject. 
  4.  Enter the Project Title.
  5.  Choose a Rubric if needed.
  6.  Enter a project description and any instructions for your students. Use the formatting options to customize the text formatting.
  7. Click Next. 
  8. To add project feedback directly within the wiki, select Enable Comments. 
  9. Choose a Due Date.
  10. Click Block placement and select a placement option. 
  11. Click Save. 

Manage a WikiProject 

  1. From the top menu, click Activities. 
  2. Click  WikiProjects. 
  3. Use the Manage WikiProject menu to edit the project details or view the wiki. 
  4.  To delete the wiki, click the trashcan icon.

Here are a few activities you can do with using Wiki-Projects

  •  The Fan Club
    Start a historical fan club by having students submit their favorite figures from history. The teacher will set up the wiki with pages for each figure. Students then add favorite quotes from, or accomplishments by, these individuals. Students can take it a step further by adding pictures. Everyone will see how the wiki grows and watch the back-and-forth as things are added and edited. 
  • The Debate 
    This is the classic classroom activity, with a twist. The teacher posts a question, and students debate it. The teacher serves as the moderator to ensure that everything remains civil, but students also have a role in maintaining decorum. Wikis, by nature, are self-policing, and the exercise is a good way for kids to practice this important 21st-century skill.
  • The Newsroom 
    In this scenario, the teacher is the editor. Students post items they think are interesting from their everyday lives at school. Again, the teacher has the responsibility of moderating the wiki so that students don’t post scandalous items or rumors. This activity is a good way to introduce a media-literacy lesson on libel, or a digital-literacy lesson on cyber-bullying. 
  • The Role Reversal 
    The very nature of a wiki is its edit-ability. Capitalize on that learning opportunity with this activity, where the teacher posts a document containing spelling and grammatical errors. Students then correct any mistakes they find. Teachers can take this a step further by not announcing that there are errors in the document and allowing kids to find mistakes, then take the initiative to edit on their own. 

Tips: 

As with all group projects, it is a good idea to set up classroom rules for how to work in a group. We find with WikiProjects, since the content is being added online, and students don’t have to be in the same room to work on the same project, that it is important to know a few things about how editing content works in order to avoid potential conflicts. 

I have collected many tips to using WikiProjects in the classroom. The most concise version of these tips comes from eLearningIndustry.com, they are a great website, full of amazing tools and information.

1) Organizing 

You can organize your WikiProject in many ways. Each project centers on Pages and Blocks, just like teacher sites. Students will want to figure out how Pages will enhance the organization of their project. For instance, Pages might be organized in terms of topics & subtopics, or perhaps by lesson or by unit. The structure will also inform each role the student will have in the WikiProject. It may be helpful to ask students to plan a site map of the project before they create content. 

  2) Delegating 

It may also be helpful to encourage students to delegate responsibilities ahead of time. Maybe each student is in charge of a page or set of pages, or a topic or subtopic within the larger project. Or perhaps each student will have a role – Researcher, Scribe, Editor, Publisher, etc. The assignment may create clear roles, or it may not. Either way, knowing whose responsibility it is to do what is very important for online collaboration. Read on to find out why! 

3) Editing

All students have equal editorial rights, regardless of who created the content. Knowing who is responsible for editing which content is therefore very important when collaborating in a WikiProject. One student may think they are helping by fixing typos or tweaking others’ paragraphs, but it’s also possible that this is unwanted. It is also likely that students will sometimes edit at the same time. There isn’t a conflict when multiple students are working on the same WikiProject at the same time, EXCEPT if students are editing the same exact content block at the same exact time. If two or more students are editing the same content block at the same time, inherent conflicts will arise, and work may be lost. Creating guidelines about who should edit which content when is important for the success of the collaboration. 

4) Deleting

All students have equal delete rights, regardless of who created the content. If “delete etiquette” hasn’t been established ahead of time, it’s possible for users to delete others’ work, which can lead to painful setbacks. (Note: It is sometimes possible for PowerSchool Learning to retrieve deleted content blocks or pages, but it’s far better to establish a group system to which everyone adheres.) Often, how a WikiProject is organized will inform the collaboration process, including appropriate delete situations. 

5) Due Dates 

Unfortunately, there is not currently a way to prevent Students from editing a WikiProject after a due date. However, there is a workaround to restrict Student access. If you put Students in Groups, you can use the Clear Group function to remove the Students from their Groups. This will cause them to be unable to access their WikiProjects, but the WikiProject content will remain so it can be graded. If each Student is working on their own WikiProject, you will need to put each Student in their own one-person Group. These Groups would need to be in place before the Students begin working on their WikiProjects. 

Tips from eLearningIndustry.com 

  1. Set Clear Expectations 
    Before setting wiki guidelines and sharing them with your students, consult your school’s policies on social media. Provide students with written guidelines that must be adhered to. Let students know that if they publish inappropriate content, there will be consequences. Asking students to sign a contract is also an option. 
  2. Start Small 
    Take baby steps. Everyone will benefit from gradually increasing wiki use in the classroom. By starting small, teachers can stay on top of monitoring classroom wiki, thus remaining in control. 
  3. Ask for Help 
    Although wiki is easy to use, sometimes you’ll run into stumbling blocks. Ask for help when you don’t understand something. You’d be surprised at much your students and colleagues might know about wiki. 
  4. Read other Wikis 
    As a class and individually, explore other classroom wikis. This will give you ideas and inspirations for your own wiki pages. 
  5. Let Wiki Work for You 
    Wiki is more than just a learning tool for students; it’s a communication tool for teachers. Use a wiki to keep parents informed and post assignments and other class related content. Your wiki page is easily edited and updated so there’s no more need for a last-minute trip to the copy machine. 
  6. School-wide Wikis 
    Use wikis to showcase field trips, class events and school-wide events, such as the prom or last week’s football game. 
  7. Pinterest 
    This site has a wealth of information on wiki for the classroom. Type in a search term such as “wiki tips for the classroom”.  If you don’t already have a Pinterest account, learn more about it through The Teacher’s Guide to Pinterest. 
  8. Collaborate 
    Do lots and lots of group work. Create assignments that require students to work together, continuously communicating as part of the team as they would in the real world.  For example, a media class can work in teams to create an advertisement for a product of their choice that involves print and/or video.  For a science class, have students work together as a research team investigating the sudden drop in the local wolf population. 

12 Top Wiki Activities for the Classroom 

  1. Historical Figures 
    Instead of just another boring academic paper on a historical figure, make research and documentation fun by creating wiki fan pages. Students can add and edit text, post photos and famous quotes, and links to the references they used. 
  2. Student as Editor 
    Turn grammar into a challenging and competitive game. Have students use wiki to edit text with grammatical errors. Teachers can put students into groups and those with the most edits wins. Individual edits can also be counted. 
  3. Join the Debate Team 
    Using a written set of guidelines, teachers post topics that students can argue by using wiki online forums. Teachers will monitor the discussions/debates while students learn online debate etiquette. 
  4. Create a Collaborative Story 
    Start with one sentence pulled from a hat, “The girl looked beyond the dusty field and saw a team of horses approaching, their riders’ hands tied behind their backs.” From here, students add and edit text to create a story. Set a minimum amount of words, each student must submit. Chances are, you’ll have to set a maximum amount of words. 
  5. Poetry Class 
    For English class, the teacher can post a poem online and have the students discuss its meaning.  Students can also post their own poems for peer review. 
  6. Book and Film Reviews 
    Students can use wiki to write assigned book and film reviews. Other students can add to and comment and discuss the reviews on a monitored forum. 
  7. Word Problems 
    For math class, teachers can post word problems on wiki. Students work individually or in groups to solve the problems. 
  8. Wiki Worlds 
    For history and social studies, students can create pages for historical events such as famous battles or specific periods in history, creating entire worlds based on historical facts. 
  9. Geography 
    Wiki pages can be used to study geography by giving states or countries their own wiki page. Have students include useful and unique information about each geographical area. 
  10. Fact Checking 
    The reason why wikis is often blacklisted as a reputable source is because not everyone who contributes to a wiki page is an expert. Keep your students on their toes by assigning them to fact check each other’s work. 
  11. Riddles 
    Encourage teamwork by posting riddles and having groups of students solve them through online collaboration. The students will use a forum to discuss what the answer is. 
  12. Group Assessments and Tests 
    As an alternative way to administer assessments, consider using wiki group assessments.  Students work together, helping one another to achieve success. 

Tips from Tech for Teachers: 

Wikis Worth a Look – Examples of school and classroom wikis 

This is just the beginning, let us know in the comments below with your ideas on how to use Wiki Project! 

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