e-tivity 8

Let’s wiki!

Now that you’ve explored the “wikisphere” and analyzed wikis, you seem to have a better idea of what wikis are. But that’s not enough! To really know what it’s all about you’ve got to wiki. You’ve seen many different types of social software on this course so far and analyzed them so now it’s time for you to share your knowledge on how these tools can be used for English language learning. Rather than have you create your own wiki as I’d originally planned, thanks to Francesca in BloggingEnglish1, we’re going to contribute to an existing wiki. Francesca found one on educational technologies, which is what this course is all about in the end. So, though it may not be easy at first (as many things in this course have not been), I’m sure you’ll manage and, hopefully, enjoy the experience in the end!

Have fun wiki-ing!

Sarah

Purpose: To contribute to a public wiki on educational technologies to better understand what wiki-ing is about and to write about what you’ve learned so far in this course.

Task:

1 – Go to edutech wiki. Take a look around. Read the various introductions, notes to editors, etc. Click on the All Pages button on the left and take a look at some of the pages on the wiki to better understand their style and structure.

2 – Choose a page you’d like to contribute to. Start taking notes on what you could contribute to the wiki.

3 – Write a comment to this post letting us all know which page you intend to edit.

4 – Search the Net for sources to back up what you would like to say (and don’t only use Wikipedia as a resource!). If you search, for example, in Google looking only for the domain .edu and the filetype .pdf, you will most likely find academic papers on your topic.

5 – Write your contribution in a Word file and the paste it into the wiki. Be clear and concise and remember to cite your sources. All you have to do is register (upper right-hand corner) and then click on the “edit” button on the page you’d like to edit, then copy your text into the wiki and click on the “save” button. And voilà you’ve contributed to a wiki.

N.B. You’re more than welcome to contribute to a page together, i.e. to collaborate before posting your contribution. Just make sure each one of you adds something of their own. You can communicate online via one of your personal blogs. One person makes a post and the other(s) comments.

Respond: Given the fact that Friday is a holiday, and many, like me, will be away, you will not have to “Respond” this week. However, some time before the next lesson, please make a post to your blog in which you reflect on the wiki experience. We will “Respond” in class!

Timeline: Monday, December 11