A Course and Curriculum Design Wiki:

Sustainability, Authenticity, and Collaboration

Kathryn Plank & Teresa JohnsonUniversity Center for the Advancement of Teaching

The Ohio State University

Course Design Institutes

To help faculty prepare for quarters-to-semester conversion, we are offering multiple course/curriculum design institutes• 5 days long• 12 participants in each institute• Interactive, hands-on sessions based on the

principle of backwards design• Participants complete individual portfolios of

their planning materials

Why a Wiki?

• Sustainability• Authenticity• Community

Sustainability

• Handouts and worksheets are all available on the Wiki.

• Participants work on laptops during the sessions.

• They can view materials and work on their portfolios on the wiki, both in the sessions and at home.

• No paper is used.

Handouts and resources

Authenticity

• We wanted participants to leave the institute with the basic structure of the course, including beginnings for a syllabus, assignments, assessment tools, and a course outline.

• We did NOT want them to leave with a pile of worksheets and handouts that would sit on their desks.

• Wiki pages export to Word for easy access and ongoing work.

Participant Portfolios

Xx Xxx’s

Sample worksheet

Collaboration

• The institutes were designed to build community and collaboration.

• Participants can view and comment on each other’s portfolios.

• With each new institute, the community grows. Participants can collaborate on their work both in real-time and across quarters/institutes.

Peer comments

Feedback

Feedback on the Wiki has been extremely positive:– “very helpful – I will probably implement a wiki

format in my courses”– “Really liked it and am scheming about how to use it

for curricular redesign”– “The wiki idea was excellent (also allowing content

to remain available for future use); also the ability to work progressively on our own course.”

– “I loved all the examples and links, and comments from everyone else.”