Wiki

** Group Name: Wiki Page **
 * TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH REPORT **
 * Group Members ** : Nicole Hakes, Sarah Murphy, Kristin Arnold

Name of Resource: Wikispaces Author/Publisher/Company Information: Tangient LLC 2009 Website URL for Resource: http://www.wikispaces.com Pricing Information (Cost of Hardware/Software, Site License Info): Free-$8,000

** GENERAL INFORMATION AND OVERVIEW ** A Wiki is a page or a compilation of web pages. It is made so that anyone who has access to it will be able to alter the content, whether that be adding, deleting, or modifying information that was previously added to the page(s). The founding father of the Wiki was a man by the name of Ward Cunningham. The website was called WikiWikiWeb and it was developed in 1994. The best known Wiki is known as Wikipedia, a large resources gateway to finding any information you ever wanted to know. Now Wiki's can be found through dozens of websites and often are free though some business wiki's will charge up tp 200 for the software. However, for organizations the pricing can be up to 8,000 dollars for premium wiki use! It is available for both Windows system and Mac OS X. Anyone with an internet connection can use most wiki's, but in order to gain specific wiki's one would need to purchase the software for their oppressing system and download it. As we will discuss later, Wikis are a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom. Whether it be through group projects, class websites, journals, reading guides, exam reviews, or as an international experience, Wikis do a great job of making the classroom more of a community by increasing interactions between students and teachers at school or home. ** FEATURES/FUNCTIONS (What can it provide to teachers?) ** || || Wikis allow any person with an account to access that wiki, making this technology wonderful for a classroom webpage and class discussion. Teachers can post information here for an entire class to view and discuss. || || This technology allows all users who are granted access the ability to edit and/or remove information from the wiki. This is perfect for group projects because group members can continuously add to and edit each other's work to create a collaborative project. || || Wikis allow access to anyone, anywhere with an internet connection. This is wonderful for classroom purposes because a sick student can keep up with assignments and classwork from their home, and it eliminates the need for groups to find times to meet together because they can all work on the same project from any computer. || ** Application Activities **
 * ** Technology: **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** # **  || <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** Feature/Function **   || <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** Description/Purpose **   ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** 1 **  || <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Webpage access for any User
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** 2 **  || <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Editing Capabilities for all Users
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** 3 **  || <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Access to Classroom from any Location

**<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Activity One: World War II - Wiki Style ** <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> ** Activity Overview ** In this activity, students will be put into groups of 4 and given a wiki to write a report on WWII. The cool thing about this though is that they will be pair with 4 other students from a classroom in England! The 8 students will work together to write information about generals, battles, supplies, major events, etc. The two different cultures should make for a very interesting project. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** Target Audience ** This project would be directed toward a 7th or 8th grade classroom. The students would be in groups of four and they would have to do a good deal of research to make the wiki a good one. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** Goals/Objectives of Activity ** The goals of this activity to to make the student more aware of the fact that our view of history is not necessarily the same view as another culture -even if it is the same event. The students will get to work with others and get to see how different people from another culture can work with you even if they aren't right beside you. Also, it is important for the students to get a good overview of WWI and that they are able to recognize the key battles, events, and generals. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** Relevant Technology Standard ** The students will have to know and understand how to use a wiki page and how to communicate with others using a wiki page. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** Supplies and Materials ** The students will need the internet and their books to look up information on WWII. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** Activity Description and Sequence ** Students will be put in groups of four and they will be assigned to a group of four students from a classroom in England. They will also be assigned a specific topic on WWII. They will be assigned research on two generals, one major battle, and two major events. Also, there will be a page dedicated to the affect of WWII on the two respective countries. Then the students will be given three weeks to work together as a team to build a wiki with all of these different pieces of information in it. They will be expected to know how to set up a wiki, make links to other sites, and add things to the wiki. Also, the groups are expected to keep a log of how they interacted and communicated. I want to know about any problem, challenges, or exciting things that happened. Each of the different components of the wiki site (aka the battles, events, etc) will be expected to be at least two pages long. Also, the last page will be a response to how working on a research paper with people from another country helped change (or not change) how they viewed the major event. They will be expected to cite the websites and books where they found there information. The wiki site will be graded on content, accuracy, spelling and grammar, and creativity. They will not just put the information in and be done. They will be expected to add pictures and any other interesting components that they want. Also, a big factor will be assessing what they learned from people of another culture. Did they embrace it, did they ignore it, how did they try to use that to their advantage? The goal is to be able to walk away with more than just an understanding of WWII, but how different cultures were affected by it. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
 * Assessment **

<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">**Activity Two: 14th Century Travel Brochure** <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">**Activity Overview** The activity is a travel brochure wiki in which students use wikis to “advertise” the particular setting of the novel they are reading at the time. In this particular case the students will write a travel brochure for 14th century Verona and Mantua in Italy in conjunction with their reading of //Romeo and Juliet//. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The targeted group would be ninth graders but some could depend on the level of the students. This project could be done while reading the book and probably around the midway point because the students would have had to read enough of the play to have an understanding of the setting but it is also important that they understand how the setting affects the play. The students would break up into groups of three or four depending on the number of students in the class, as well as the level of the students. The students would need prior knowledge that they would get from the book but it would also require some outside research in order to have an excellent brochure! <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> **Relevant Technology Standard** <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** Supplies and Materials ** <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> First, students will start reading //Romeo and Juliet// and the teacher would decide when he/she thought the students had a significant amount of information to work on this project. The teacher would then assign the travel brochure providing some guidelines and some specific things he/she wants included in the brochure in order to asses that the students have a strong understanding of the setting. With this particular play it is important that students not only focus on the physical setting but also the time period in which //Romeo and Juliet// takes place and including that information. The teacher could choose their own requirements but some things one might want the students to include are: pictures or graphics, citing information from at least three outside sources, analyze how the setting is important to the play, how it would be different if the setting were different, etc. Students would work in small groups and discuss/plan their brochure in class but also add information that they find at home to their Wiki brochure, allowing groups to get a significant amount of work done outside the classroom. This is important as it provides the teacher with more time to focus on other aspects of the play while students work at home! When all the projects are completed, a class period or two can be set aside to discuss the project and share their Wiki pages with their classmates. Hopefully the students will be proud of their work, thus wanting to share their information with the rest of the class. Even though students can look at each other’s projects it would still be a good opportunity to do a small presentation, pointing out main points or interesting things they found! At the end, the teacher can again discuss in a group discussion format about what did and did not go well with the group projects. They can also discuss the importance of setting as an entire class so the teacher can be sure that the students understand how setting affects the mood, tone, etc of a play or novel. A teacher can assess their students through group discussions but also by grading the students’ brochures. A main part of this project is creativity which is hard to “grade” but making sure that the students understand what setting is, why it is important, the specific setting of //Romeo and Juliet//, etc. Much of this project is to allow the students to be creative which is difficult to grade but the amount of work they put in and knowing that they understood the main ideas is something that can be assessed.
 * Target Audience **
 * Goals/Objectives of Activity **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gain a greater understanding of the setting of //Romeo and Juliet//
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Understand how the setting affects the rest of the play
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Show their Wiki to the class, pointing out things that they found interesting/important
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Creativity and Innovation
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Communication and Collaboration
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Research and Information Fluency
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The students would need computer and internet access at their houses or be able to spend time at the school library adding information to their Wiki
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The teacher would need a projector screen in order for students to show their Wiki during their class presentation
 * <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Activity Description and Sequence **
 * Assessment **

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**<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Activity Three: Online Worksheet **

<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** Activity Overview ** On a classroom wiki the teacher has posted a long scavenger hunt worksheet for her students to complete. The worksheet is on the life and works of Edgar Allen Poe, whom the class has been studying. In a computer lab the class will learn to edit the worksheet wiki to insert correct answers and even edit other student's answers if they are incorrect. Students will use the internet as their research tool but must site where their information came from. This activity is designed for a 9th grade classroom but could again depend on the level of the students. It would need to be conducted during a unit in which Edgar Allen Poe is being studied so that students have sufficient prior knowledge of the subject. The students would need to have prior knowledge on the basics of using a wiki as well as knowledge of what qualifies as a reliable internet resource. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Students will be able to access and edit a wiki page with relative ease. Students can identify reliable internet resources to answers worksheet questions. Students can apply prior knowledge of subject in helping to research worksheet answers. ** Relevant Technology Standard ** <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Research and Information Fluency Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making ** Supplies and Materials ** None; the entire activity should be completed with internet access. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Students will each be assigned to a particular worksheet on the classroom wiki so that a small group of students (3-4) is working on each of them. The group is allowed to divide up the work as necessary so long as everyone is working. Students are required to use the internet to search for the answers to various questions on Edgar Allan Poe and his works. Upon finding an answer students should go to their wiki worksheet and edit it to insert those answers. Along with this, students should paste the URL of the website form which the answers cams to ensure that answers came from a reliable source. This should take approximately 25 minutes.
 * Target Audience **
 * Goals/Objectives of Activity **
 * Activity Description and Sequence **

Along with answering their share of the group worksheet students will also be encouraged to check their groupmates' work. If an answer is contested students should add their answer to the worksheet without deleting the previous ones. Then, as a group, students will work together to choose the best answer for the contested questions. This should take approximately 15 minutes. ** Assessment ** <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will have a key to the worksheets so I will be able to quickly check if the students were able to find the correct information. By looking at their completed wiki worksheets I will be able to judge whether or not students understand how to properly edit/use a wiki, and because they are required to post the website where the information came from I will be able to access the sites to see if they understand what a reliable resource is. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">References:

[|Wikis in Education] The website is dedicated to helping educators understand and implement the use of wiki pages in the classroom. It is a great resource because it breaks down every the many different ways wikis can be helpful in the classroom, provides templates specifically designed for the classroom, and gives examples of various education wikis as a starting point for teachers. -Nicole Hakes

[|What is a Wiki? (And How to use it)] The article was written by a media company to explain the in's and out's of using wiki pages. I really like it because the site addresses the advantages and disadvantages of using a wiki, and later goes on to give a step by step on how to use one. It also helps you decide which wiki is best for you and your group to use. -Nicole Hakes

[|50 Ways to Use Wikis for a More Collaborative and Interactive Classroom] This article had some really good ideas on how wikis can be used in a classroom. They are not divided by subject areas so you have to look through and see which ones could be applied to English but still has great ideas! Some of the subject titles in the article are: resource creation, student participation, group projects, student interaction, for the classroom, community, and other. This could give us some really good ideas or a good starting point to come up with the 3 activities we need for the report. -Kristin Arnold

http://writingwiki.org/default.aspx/WritingWiki/For%20Teachers%20New%20to%20Wikis.html The title of this would not copy and paste but it is called "For Teachers New to Wikis." It is actually a wiki page itself which is kind of cool but it talks about what wikis are, how they can be used for writing and learning development, where appropriate wiki places can be found, how to introduce it, what obstacles to expect, etc. I think it also looks like a pretty good site and might give us some information for the report but I am thinking it might be good for the presentation. -Kristin Arnold

http://wikisineducation.wetpaint.com/page/How+we+use+wikis+in+class?t=anon This site is called "How We Use Wikis in Class" and is just personal accounts from actual teachers that use wikis in their classrooms. It is a chart that shows the teacher, the URL, and then a quick summary of how they use it. We could also use this site for the activity section of the report. -Kristin Arnold

[|Wikipedia] This is the most well know Wiki site in the world. It is an information and resource gateway where anyone is able to add information about any topic. It is a great way to research, though, because the information can be added by anyone, it is not always reliable. Still, it is an amazing way to look up quick information.- Sarah Murphy

[|The Teaching Wiki] This artical is about wiki's and was made to help teachers figure out how to use a wiki in the classroom. It offers suggestions, guidelines, and meaningful questions for a teacher to think about different ways to use a wiki. A wiki can be a great teaching resource and this website shows a lot of different ways that it can be used. - Sarah Murphy