>Learning together: introducing Wikis - secondary

>Agenda for today Approximate timings: 2.15 pmPre-course activities - discussion 2.40 pmIdeas for secondary school wikis 3.00 pmCreating a wiki 3.20 pmIssues around using a wiki with learners 3.40 pmThe Vital community, post-course activities and forum 3.55 pmFinal questions and feedback form 4 pmEnd

>Learning Objectives for the course Professional and reflective practitioner skills: At the completion of this course, participants should be able to: >Identify opportunities for groups of learners to use wikis in a collaborative situation >Consider how wikis may be used in other contexts to encourage learners to collaborate on multiply authored projects

>Learning Objectives for the course Practical skills: At the completion of this course, participants should be able to: >Create a wiki page using open source software or register for a hosted wiki space >Make use of wikis that are already available on their school VLE or learning platform

>Learning Objectives for the course Knowledge and understanding: At the completion of this course, participants should be able to: >Consider how a wiki could be used as a tool to support learners in a collaborative activity >Understand how to support learners in the collaborative activity by providing ground rules and making all learners feel able to add to the wiki

>Learning Objectives for the course Cognitive skills: At the completion of this course, participants should be able to: >Critically assess the use of wikis as a tool for successful collaborative activity >Consider the issues around codes of conduct for multiple authoring

>Our wikis..... >Pre-Course Workspace (June to beg. Of September >Virtual Schools Project >Mentor Wiki

>Wiki Providers >Useful to compare functionality and pricing (if applicable) for these providers. Also check compatibility with schools’ firewall: > > >See my colleague, Martin Belgrove wiki on podcasting for an example of the ‘wetpaint wiki look’: > > >(pbworks is used by UEL Secondary Team)

>Your Chance to Test our Mentor wiki >Create a page on our wiki – give it a name >Try these actions: - Type some text on a page (Edit then Save) - Insert a Google picture/image (copyright free of course!) - Create a new page and then link this to your initial ‘home’ page or link to the navigation Side Bar >Easy or not???

>Pre- Course Reading Activity 1 - Wikis >‘Pluses’>‘Minuses’

>Pre- Course Activity 1 Cont’d >Access them from home as well as school to add content. >An advantage for your learners, or would you be concerned about them accessing the wiki and adding material outside school? >Would you prefer to have a wiki hosted on your school’s VLE or network

>Wikis can be edited by anyone given the rights to do so. You can allow all of your students to add material to the wiki and this can empower them to feel they have a special privilege to contribute to a project. Would you be worried about allowing all of them to edit the page, particularly as they might add content that carries errors or inappropriate material?

>Like anything that has multiple contributions, you will need to think about a code of conduct to ensure the learners know what they can and cannot do in the wiki. But have you already thought about this and how it might be addressed? Do you have any thoughts about the code of conduct your learners might need to ensure they behave appropriately in the wiki?

>Pre-Course Reading Activity 2 – Case Study >The paper reflects strongly on the issues around wiki use and there are anecdotes relating to students’ responses to multiple authoring that may well resonate with your experiences.

>Activity 3 – Becta Report on Web 2.0 technologies >Follow link from the course website – focus on page 20 (teacher perceptions of wikis and experiences of their use)

>IDEAS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL WIKIS ucational%20wikis v-tracking&utm_source=Home%20navigation

>A CHANCE TO EXPLORE... Although many school wikis require usernames and password, you can get an idea of the range of subjects they are being used for and American wikis seem to be made public by the teachers, very different to UK.

>Issues around creating and using wikis with learners. >Local access problems in schools (however the school may have a local MLE/LMS with wiki functionality already available) >Codes of conduct /AUPs – see quette quette >How would you put together a code of conduct, or wiki etiquette, for your group of learners?

>What next? >Register on Vital site if you haven’t already done so. >Read the 3 documents listed in Prep. For f2f session, if you’ve not managed to do so yet. >Contribute short comments on our Vital Forum on: >pros and cons of wikis and strategies to avoid problems (Vital Activity 4). >Ideas for activities using wikis (Vital Activity 5) >Aim to complete by mid December? Evaluate the course on the Vital website and then print off your Vital certificate!