Sue's Sample Wiki Assignment

Wikis can be used for a variety of purposes in which a collaborative outcome is desired. In my current class, a second goal of the wiki is to introduce students to the practice of gathering reliable research materials on a topic of their choosing. I try to structure the assignment so that wiki development is facilitated primarily through self and peer evaluation—with limited input from me. Below are a series of wiki-related assignments staged throughout the semester. I’d like to add a summative assignment to what I have here—perhaps formal analysis of one of the class wikis or a reflection upon the wiki process.

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Wiki Assignment

In week 4 of the semester, you will be assigned a wiki partner. Wikis will be listed in the Class Wiki Projects section of Moodle, by a letter designation and your names (If you would like to change the name of your wiki, please provide the new name to Sue by email so she can make the change.). 



Throughout the semester, you should add resources (articles, videos, pictures, links, discussion, etc.) to this Wiki that supplement our class reading and discussion on culture, race, class, and gender. The topic of your wiki is up to you: it may focus on a specific culture or an aspect of culture or identity. The purpose of the wiki is to collect college-level, credible resources on the chosen topic, that can then be used by yourself and others to develop essays and deepen your understanding of the subjects we discuss in class. Interesting/educational resources may be chosen for classroom discussions and reading responses during the second half of the semester.



At intervals during the semester, other classmates will visit your Wiki, review your resources, and comment on your content and/or your success in providing a thought-provoking and educational wiki. Please visit and work only on your wiki until you are asked to visit others for specific assignments.



Please make this your own space. However, also remember that this is an educational, university-level wiki. Offensive and/or profane material should not be posted. The goal of the wikis is to deepen our understanding of complex issues in American culture--not hurt or anger others.



For more information about wikis, visit the links under this assignment link on the previous page.

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Links

Wikis in Plain English: http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english
How wikis work: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/wiki.htm
Editing HSU Moodle Wikis (A pdf file from HSU)
Sue’s Sample wiki
5 Sample Student wikis
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Week 4 VF Assignment

Please read all the information and links in the Wiki Resources section of Moodle (Above). They describe the basis for this assignment, which will continue over the semester.



This week, there is no set time for your Virtual Friday class. You can complete the work at any time--during the regularly scheduled class, at another time, with your group members, or independently. By Monday at 6 pm, however, your partner and you must establish a topic, develop the basic framework for your wiki (the layout and design), and add three college-level resources related to the subject you have selected.



Here are a few things to consider:



Logistics

• Will you get together to do the work or collaborate online?
  
• It may be good to begin with a face-to-face meeting, and you do have common time available on Friday and Monday (furlough day) during class time. If you aren't meeting face-to-face, I'd recommend exchanging email addresses, phone numbers, or IM user names to help you communicate and coordinate your efforts.
• How will you decide what to add to the wiki? Will you consult with each other or will you both add what you want to?
• Will the two of you take on different roles for the wiki or will you both do all things? (i.e. design, content/resource collection, writing text, etc.)
• How often do you expect each person to visit/add to the wiki? 



Content


• Will your wiki have a single theme? Several themes? Will you identify subtopics?
• How will you organize the wiki? Will there be one page or multiple pages?
• Where will you get your information for the wiki? How will you identify credible sources?

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Week 6 VF Assignment

I've enjoyed reviewing your wikis and am glad to see that many groups are making good progress in gathering resources and organizing materials to create an educational wiki site. In order to help you further your progress, this week's VF will be dedicated to review and feedback of the wikis of the other groups in your class.



BEFORE FRIDAY: Review your own group wiki project and use the "A Good English 40 Wiki" guidelines (below) to evaluate your own wiki and make improvements based on your analysis. 



Note: Some of you have been having problems adding links to your wiki. If possible, try using Mozilla Firefox as your browser, as Internet Explorer may be causing this problem. In any case, it is helpful to include the URL/web address in parentheses after the link, so people can copy and paste it into the browser if the link fails.




BETWEEN THE BEGINNING OF FRIDAY'S AND THE END OF MONDAY'S LAB MEETING TIME:

1. Visit the wiki projects of the 3 other groups in your class section (Located in the “[Time] Class Wiki Projects” section of Moodle); follow the links provided in the wikis, view videos, read articles, etc. Take notes throughout, in order to offer feedback and evaluation.


2. The links below indicate the title of each wiki. Please READ CAREFULLY and select the correct links to post your responses, as links will appear out of order as people make comments and save them.
3. Provide feedback for each of the 3 wikis you reviewed, including response to the three bullets below. 
COMMENTS SHOULD BE BOTH RESPECTFUL AND HELPFUL!



• Identify the two bullets from the “A Good English 40 Wiki” guidelines (below) with which the group currently has the most success. Explain.

• What new/interesting information did you learn? Which resource did you think was the most educational/interesting?

• Identify the one bullet from the “A Good English 40 Wiki” guidelines (below) that the group should consider improving further. Explain.


4. Send an email to Sue, identifying which of the three wikis you felt was most successful overall and explaining your reasoning. Minimum of 50 words.

AFTER MONDAY’S LAB: View your classmates’ feedback and begin revising to further build your wiki.



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A Good English 40 Wiki:






• Does more than just describe the topic chosen: analyzes and provides new insight to the chosen subject.

• Contains educational, college-level resources that educate and interest the readers.
• Has a variety of resources related to its topic: articles, web sites, video clips, pictures…
• Provides narrative from the group members that connects ideas and introduces the resources.
• Is organized and easy to navigate.

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Week 11 VF Assignment

The wikis have been coming along very nicely this semester, and I'm happy with the way you have been developing your own spaces and topics. So far we've done all of this internally--looking only at the wikis in our classes and commenting on them. For this week's VF assignment, I'm going to ask that you make some changes that would prepare you for sharing your wiki with a wider audience. 




BY THE END OF MONDAY'S (4/12) CLASS MEETING TIME (Although we won't actually be meeting "live," due to VF and Instructor Furlough):

1. Review your own group wiki project and identify changes/additions you could make that would significantly improve your wiki and prepare it for a wider audience. Each member of the group should identify two significant changes/additions: one to the format/appearance of the wiki and another to the content of the wiki. It may be a good idea if you discuss these plans in advance so that you don't duplicate efforts or erase each others' contributions.



What do I mean by significant?


A significant change may consist of one major addition/revision, or it may be a series of smaller, related additions/revisions. More specifically:

• A significant change in format/appearance will improve the impact of the wiki on the audience. Examples of such changes include (but are not limited to) redoing the color and font of all the wiki pages to be consistent, dividing a one-page wiki into several pages, adding illustrations and graphics throughout the wiki, etc.
• A significant change in content will provide the audience with quality, educational material. Examples of such changes include (but are not limited to) adding a scholarly article, writing text to introduce all sections of the wiki and make connections between them, adding a new page with additional resources, creating a new section (such as a links section with many resource pages), etc.


2. Once you've made your changes, please write a reflection of the changes you made and why you made them. Include a summary of the changes, why you feel these changes are significant, who your target audience is, and what effect these things will have on them. This reflection must be at least 200 words, but it may very well be longer. In order to get credit for the assignment, your changes and the description of them must convince me that they are, indeed, significant and will greatly affect audience response.



3. Post your response in the link provided for your wiki group.




Referring to the "A Good English 40 Wiki" rubric (below) may help you identify changes/additions and comment on them effectively. 



Note: Some of you have been having problems adding links to your wiki. If possible, try using Mozilla Firefox as your browser, as Internet Explorer may be causing this problem. In any case, it is helpful to include the URL/web address in parentheses after the link, so people can copy and paste it into the browser if the link fails.



Keep up the excellent work!


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A Good English 40 Wiki:

• Does more than just describe the topic chosen: analyzes and provides new insight to the chosen subject.

• Contains educational, college-level resources that educate and interest the readers.
• Has a variety of resources related to its topic: articles, web sites, video clips, pictures…

• Provides narrative from the group members that connects ideas and introduces the resources.
• Is organized and easy to navigate.