Report from T+L 2006 (2)

16:20 Using wikis to support collaborative exploration of anthropological issues.

Wikis incorporated into teaching. Looking forward to this one. Two presenters: Rodney Reynolds, Nicolette Makovicky. Material Culture. First year. I think I saw this on our Moodle (Phil Riding is a co-author).

Lots of ideas, new to the learners, flying about. Tutorials too didactic? ("Are you going to be like a normal teacher and give us the answer?"). Wiki an obvious (to me) a ripe medium for engaging with such ideas. How did it work?

Wikis seeded with opening text(1 sentence) by tutors.

Reluctance ... students concerned about "giving ideas away" ?
Confusion ... with summative/evaluative contributions in other courses
Is it competitive (in either a good or bad sense?)
Are traditional roles asserting themselves?

Can it be assessed?
Can participation be enforced?

Hugely interesting. Comparisons with Wikipedia's Discussion pages? Role of editors to provide structure? Assessment of all this?

16:58 Wiki technology in Dutch Dept and Virtual Dept of Dutch. Ulrich Tiedau, Kathryn Ronnau-Bradbeer.

Because Dutch departments round the country are small, they collaborate a lot. Bunch of stuff about their inter-uni study packs, use of WebCT, videoconference blah blah. What about the wiki? Motivation came from non-existence of WebCT collaborative ability. The speaker is Dutch and he says "vicky" now and again.

Each student given overall responsibility for one page, but encouraged to the others. Critical mass issues, need group of certain size (they had groups of ~4 and ~30), and for a certain time. Assessment needs to be integrated. S's would like to use this tool as part of assessment, but wisely decide to concentrate on what can be assessed.

Extremely interesting, look forward to discussing at the T+L club!