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USING WIKIS WITH RESEARCH PROJECTS AND PORTFOLIOS
Celeste Scholz, World Bank, celeste.scholz@gmail.com
This article documents a presentation at the 2008 TESOL
Convention in New York City on April 3, 2008. Find the PowerPoint
abstract, slides and handout here.
The World Wide Web has available applications and services that
allow users to easily post original content. Many call this trend Web
2.0 or the read-write Web. To get an idea of just how extensive this
trend is, click on this
link to view a trend map. Looking at the lower left corner,
you will see Wikipedia, the largest and most well-known wiki, an
encyclopedia that allows users to edit its content.
Wiki is the short form of the Hawaiian phrase “wiki wiki,”
which means “fast.” A wiki is a Web site made of wiki pages, or Web
pages. A wiki is a powerful, free Internet tool that allows users to
quickly create Web pages organized into Web sites without special
training. The Web page editing screen has recognizable formatting tools
as shown below from www.wikispaces.com, a
large educational wiki provider.
Although the tools are limited, wikis have a number of
exceptional capabilities that enhance Web page creation for educational
use both individually and collaboratively. This article focuses first on
the features of wikis and second on their use with student-created
research projects and portfolios. Four features commonly available from
Internet wiki providers are the discussion tab, the history tab, privacy
choices, and uploaded media files.
DISCUSSION TAB
Each Web page in a wiki or Web site has a discussion tab that
allows readers and creators to have a running dialog about the
corresponding Web page. This takes the appearance of a discussion forum
where replies are posted under the comments preserving the original
threads. In the screenshot below, you can see that the threads are
listed with the most recent on top.
When a user clicks on one of the links under Subject, the screen looks like the one below, showing the username, user’s profile photo, date, and time in addition to the main text of the comment.
The comments are useful for peer and self-evaluations as well
as those of teachers and parents. This and these two
examples are from the K12 Online 2006 Conference wiki
competition.
HISTORY TAB
The history tab attached to each Web page records the name, time, and date each time a user saves:
Each saved page has a link to that version represented by the
date and time. When the link is clicked, the deletions are highlighted
in red and the additions in green as seen below. A “revert to this
version” button on the page also allows a user to resave the Web page in
a previous version. Participants easily track the changes and avoid
losing anyone’s work, invaluable during distance collaboration.
Classroom teachers can also tell who contributed to the Web page if it
is assigned for work outside of class.
PRIVACY SETTINGS
Privacy settings determined by the teacher or organizer include
public, protected, and private. Protected allows anyone to view Web
pages but only members can edit the pages whereas private permits only
members to view and edit. When the material is sensitive, password
protection at the private level gives everyone peace of mind.
DOCUMENTS, IMAGES, SLIDE SHOWS, VOICE RECORDINGS, VIDEOS
You can upload documents (.doc), images (.jpg), and voice
recordings (.mp3) to your wiki by clicking on the tree icon on the
toolbar. Images show directly on your Web page and documents and voice
recordings show as hyperlinks that the reader clicks. You can also link
to videos (e.g., YouTube) and slideshows (e.g., SlideShare) published by
others. To do this, click the TV icon on the toolbar and follow the
instructions for the correct media.
STUDENT RESEARCH PROJECTS
In September 2007, several high school classes from Cairo
American College contributed to a wiki dedicated to Peace Day
activities. In Web design class, students chose a related topic either
individually or in pairs and developed a Web page based on their own
ideas formulated through research. A
rubric guided the students’ efforts.
Examine Saad’s
exemplary work. You can see that he created an interesting,
well-thought-out Web page that includes a video and the required
citation of resources. His ideas are in his own words and easy to
follow, through his use of subheadings to get the reader’s attention.
STUDENT PORTFOLIOS AND RESPONSES TO CLASSMATES
In Yearbook class at the end of quarter 3, when all the
yearbook spreads were completed and at the publishers, the students were
asked to reflect on their yearbook work on their Web page of the CAC
Yearbook wiki.
The reflection included a thumbnail image of each spread and the answers to five questions:
- For which deadline was the spread?
- What do you like best about this spread?
- What did you learn doing this spread?
- What risks did you take?
- How would improve this spread knowing what you know now?
The rubric below guided the students’ efforts. Find
the complete
rubric at our wiki.
Students were able to look at examples of student reflections
from Yearbook 07, the previous class. Adriana’s
reflections met the criteria at the A level, because she
detailed her journey over the previous three quarters in a thoughtful
way, highlighting her risk-taking and progress. The thumbnails help the
reader visualize descriptive comments.
After their reflections were complete, students commented on
their classmates’ reflections by using the discussion feature of the
wiki. The rubric below shows that thoughtful comments are required about
one spread, including an understanding of the classmates’ reflection as
the writer was required to agree or disagree with the classmate’s
statement. Find the complete rubric at here.
Again, the students used the exemplary work of the previous
year to inspire them. Tienjen’s comment on Adriana’s Spirit Week spread
is one such example.
She is thoughtful in commenting on three aspects of the spread and
agreeing with Adriana’s own reflection on color.
CONCLUSION
A quick review of the Cairo American College Peace Day and
Yearbook wikis shows that wikis have strong potential as course
management systems, like Blackboard. Teachers can post assignments,
attach handouts, and list links to resources. This article looks beyond
those capabilities at two ways students can contribute to wikis by
creating Web pages on a research topic or portfolio reflections. Student
contributions are made easier through powerful wiki features including
discussion and history tabs, privacy settings, and use of sound and
video media. Students create these Web pages quickly and share them with
their class or larger community. With free wiki providers for K-12
education like www.wikispaces.com,
teachers can experiment with wikis at no cost and harness the potential
of Web 2.0 for their own classrooms.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bellizzi, Dominick. 100,000 Wikis in the Classroom
[wikispaces.com wiki]. Tangient.
http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers100K
Davis, Vicki. (2006, Oct. 30). Student Data Storage - Needs
& Methods [k12wiki]. K12 Online Conference. Retrieved from
http://k12wiki.wikispaces.com/Student+Data+Storage-+Needs+and+Methods
Davis, Vicki. Wiki Grading Rubric. K12 Online Conference 2007.
Retrieved from http://k12online.wm.edu/WikiGradingRubric.pdf
Popinchalk, Jocelyn. (2007, Oct. 27). [CAC Peace Day wiki]
Cairo American College. Retrieved from
http://cacpeaceday.wikispaces.com
Scholz, Celeste. (2007, Sept. 30). HS Web Design [CAC Peace Day
wiki]. Cairo American College. Retrieved from
http://cacpeaceday.wikispaces.com/HS+Web+Design
Scholz, Celeste. (2007, Nov. 26). Reflections 07 [CAC Yearbook
wiki]. Cairo American College. Retrieved from
http://cacyearbook.wikispaces.com/reflections07
Celeste Scholz, currently consulting for World
Bank, has been a language teaching specialist for many years. She has
presented at regional and international conferences since 1992, while
working in Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, and Egypt. She has served
as on-the-job course developer, technology integration specialist, head
of department, and team leader, and taught technology, ESL, language
arts, and publications.
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