student wide wikis Tweet
An engaged student is like a fully working Merc, hugging the (learning) curves and running smoothly.
After a year or so using wikispaces I thought I would give some tips as to what are my own
experienced pitfalls, and successes. This blog is all about students, who in my eyes come first.
Later I will write a little more about what admins need to consider. Admittedly I had no real plan
as such but wanted to let it grow organically, and learn by doing myself, and falling on my face at
times.
Pitfalls
Privacy issues of paranoid students – some students do not want to join an unknown website even in
this web 2.0 age.
Confidence issues in a public realm – not wishing a visibility to their mistakes in a public sense.
Unstructured tasks – giving students free reign (“take a look at a thread/post and please respond”) is not
always productive, best to give them a set task.
Bachelor apathy – not about single men, but the study path. Had less success with Bachelor students
who still struggle with a concept of learner autonomy. With the exception of motivated ones.
First to post – when the wiki was but a baby students really were reluctant to post.
The overloaded student – less success with my create5 wiki, which so far has been for my overworked Architects.
Now a graveyard of unfulfilled lingo corpses. ;(
Disjointed threads – often students do not respond to previous posts, which challenged more my initial
intentions.
Successes
Cross course interaction – at first I wanted to divide the courses into separate wikis, but have had
success combining my I.T. English, and my General/International managment students.
Sourcing for lessons – using the wiki as a source for a discussion topic and peer correction has been
very beneficial for student input into my lessons.
Reaching critical mass – by setting assessed homework tasks that then populate the wiki.
Allowing for user anonymity – students like to use user nick names and avatars when possible.
I.T. Geeks go for it – had a great success with guys who already have an affinity with the medium, as
they are comfortable playing in their own back yard.
Honing in on opinionated managers – giving them a platform to express themselves on issues and
themes related to business has bore much fruit.
Springboard media – using links to videos and articles has started discussion threads well.
Any of you trainers wiki users and wanna add your own musings on the pitfalls and sucesses?
Tags: English, English learning, ESL, Germany, language, wikis, wikispaces
