Wikis

This is a link to the very first Wiki site I completed for assessment. This was created in Wetpaint. http://guidetofirstpenance.wetpaint.com/ For a first attempt it was extremely time consuming however I was happy with the end products. Had a couple of problems with layout of contents but have since completed another Wiki again in Wetpaint and have ironed out all the problems.

'Guide to First Penance" was created for an age cohort undergoing the Reconciliation of Penance at their local Catholic Primary School. The Parish had their own workbook which formed as a guide to both parents and children. Within any Catholic School school there is of course additional lessons assigned for such an important ritual - Reconciliation of Penance. This wiki site was designed to be presented to the students undertaking the 10 week long preparation in conjunction with the Parish resource book. It was designed to be a self paced learning tool with plenty of opportunity for feedback, questions or concerns. There were interactive quizzes, games etc to engage the students thinking.


Why did I use a wiki site to engage my learners?

A Wet paint website is built on the power of collaborative thinking. At Wet paint you can create websites that mix all the best features of wikis, blogs, forums and social networks into a rich, user-generated community based around the whatever-it-is that rocks your socks. A social website that’s so easy to use, anyone can participate.


If you are interested take a look at Wetpaint the link is below. There is a section where teachers can submit how they use wikies in their class: http://wikisineducation.wetpaint.com/page/How+we+use+wikis+in+class

Wikis encourage group social interaction and collaboration and support asynchronous communication allowing users to contribute at a time, and from a place that suits them. Many students find that their learning is most effective when they are actively involved in the construction of their knowledge.

Wikis In Education

View more presentations from Jennifer Dorman.

On my travels I found this interesting article. Augar, N., Raitman, R. & Zhou, W. (2004). Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference. This paper presents wikis as a useful tool for facilitating online education. Basic wiki functionality is outlined and different wikis are reviewed to highlight the features that make them a valuable technology for teaching and learning online. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/augar.html