1. Wiki: An “Enhancing” Tool For Foreign Language Instructors and Students
Jean M. Janecki University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Dept. of Modern Languages

2. Outline for this Presentation
An introduction to the world of wikis
What’s a wiki?
What makes wikis a great learning and teaching tool?
Wiki Projects
Wiki projects for elementary, intermediate and advanced language, literature and culture classes
Creating your own wikis
Getting started with wiki software
Pilot study data
Assessment ideas
About “soft security”
Setting up your own wiki
Terminology and Trivia

3. What’s a Wiki? Terminology & Trivia
“A single page in a wiki is referred to as a ‘wiki page,’ while the entire body of pages … is called ‘the wiki.’”
The name was based on the Hawaiian term wiki wiki, meaning "quick" or "super-fast". Sometimes wikiwiki or WikiWiki are used instead of wiki.
The first wiki, the Portland Pattern Repository, was founded March 25, 1995

4. Key characteristics of wikis
Documents and web pages are created collectively
Pages are easy to create and update, similar to Word documents
“Internal” and “external” links are simple to add
Images and videos can be included
Often wikis are open to the general public, but can be private
Wikis can be made with open-source programs

5. What makes wikis a great learning and teaching tool?
Students can create learning materials!
Wikis allow a variety of authorship/ownership combinations
Wikis break down the dynamics of traditional writing assignments
Stimulates students interests in subject
Wikis can expand both the audience and the participants in writing projects
usage statistics
The creative projects are endless
Wikis break down the traditional dynamics of writing assignments  Students & Teachers may not be accustomed to this new freedom

6. Wiki as a Collaborative tool
Students like the ability to collaborate any time anywhere
The wiki facilitates, but doesn’t teach collaboration skills
Students need help organizing collaborative writing projects
Wiki management is ideally controlled by the students
The “history” and “recent changes” tools can help with assessing participation

7. Wiki Projects Language classes Literature classes Culture classes
Recipe book
Make and correct a composition
Create a story together
Literature classes
Exam review guide
Reviews of stories
Journal entries of characters in stories
Culture classes
Biography of famous people
Travel guide
Current events

8. Students’ Comments Best Features:
“I think writing for an audience and a purpose is what wikis can add to the classroom experience”
“Ability to communicate and share information”
“Being able to edit constantly”
“I like that anyone in the world can see the wiki”
“The fact that you can personalize the wikis with pictures, videos, links, etc.”
“It’s more fun to make than a paper”
On ease and usage:
“At first I was confused and had some issues-but now I can manage it easily”
“The wiki was surprisingly ease to use in terms of creating, editing, etc.”
Least Liked Features:
“Formatting the pictures”
“Hard to coordinate time with partner”

9. Creating your own wiki projects Wiki software
Wikipedia article on wikis
Wikipedia list of wiki farms (a server or an array of servers that provides hosting for a wiki, or a group of wikis hosted on such servers. Wiki farms are also known as 'hosted wiki service providers'.)
Places to make your own wiki
Wikispaces.com
Pbwiki.com
CALICO and IALLT Wiki

10. Tips for successful task-design
Task-design and an assessment plan are crucial
Try to incorporate text when applicable
Allow experimentation time
Ease into it
Remember that collaboration is a skill
Create guidelines (or let your students create them)
Have an assessment plan and make it clear to the students
Plagiarism and copyright can be an issue (Wikimedia Commons)

11. Assessment Options Use the History / Track changes feature
Grade is based on participation
Use page- s / RSS to keep track of changes
Use Discussion feature
Self/Group-assessment
Grade is based on S reports of their contributions and self-reports of what they have learned
???

12. Wiki-fy that writing assignment!
Discuss ideas for wiki writing assignments:
Which uses of the wiki seem most promising or interesting to you? Why?
Can you think of a project that would work well for your class?
Goal – Identify one project that might work well on a wiki. Think about:
Successful writing projects you’ve used in the past
Common challenges your students face

13. Questions? Jean Janecki: Assistant Professor of Spanish
Dept. of Modern Languages
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse