Collaborating on the Internet with a student Wiki

Developed by Susan Gaer For Annual English TeachingConference2009

What is a Wiki? Its focus is on collaboration. It was named by Cunningham, who

remembered a Honolulu International Airport counter employee telling him to take the "Wiki Wiki" shuttle bus that runs between the airport's terminals. According to Cunningham, "I chose wiki-wiki as an alliterative substitute for 'quick' and thereby avoided naming this stuff quick-web."

Features A wiki invites all users to edit any page or to

create new pages within the wiki Web site, using only a plain-vanilla Web browser without any extra add-ons.

Wiki promotes meaningful topic associations between different pages by making page link creation almost intuitively easy and showing whether an intended target page exists or not.

A wiki is not a carefully crafted site for casual visitors. Instead, it seeks to involve the visitor in an ongoing process of creation and collaboration that constantly changes the Web site landscape.

Wikis in Plain English

Wikis in Plain English

Wiki Ideas for ESL Collaborate between 2 schools or programs

book reports: students write a book report

collaboratively or individually to a book report wiki

brainstorming wikis: student use a wiki to brainstorm ideas for a project or assignment

poetry: students compose poems together

class wikis: students use the wiki as the class website school history wiki: students collaboratively write a history of

the school

More Wiki Ideas exercise wikis: students create exercises for each other project wikis: students use a wiki to plan a project and

present their work in a wiki planning a party/barbecue/concert: students use a wiki

to plan and divide duties for a class or school activity the graduating class wiki: student use a wiki to keep in

touch with each other after they graduate quizzes: students construct quizzes for each other to

respond to short stories: students collaboratively write and develop

a short story letters to the editor: students write letters to the ‘editor’

on a current issue assigned by the teacher

Organizing Students for Collaborative Writing

Given the versatility of wikis, there are many possible ways of grouping students for collaborative writing projects. The following are some examples: the class as one big group; anyone can write to the

class wiki the class divided into sub-groups; students write

within their sub-group, but their work can be read by anyone in the class

joint writing projects involving different classes joint writing projects involving different schools "community writing projects”, eg, a wiki for all

students in a school or in a school district who are interested in NBA

writing projects involving schools from different school districts or countries.

Making a WikiStep 1: Click on Get Started

Choose Education

Click Try it Now

Select Basic (Free)

Choosing A Name We are going to

make a class wiki. Get into small

groups and brainstorm names for the class wiki.

PB WORKS Manual http://pbworks.com/content/supportcenter

Add a Page and Collaborate Start working on your page now. Write you’re the address to access

the Wiki on your handout Go home and add to your page! Comment on other pages Ask Me questions

Let’s keep in touch with this wiki!