The wiki platform is yet another powerful tool in the Composition/ESL instructor's arsenal. In my undergrad and grad programs I sat through classes that were simply lecture, start to finish, day after day. Having new media tools such as blogs, web pages, and wikis has saved my own teaching from falling into this wit-dulling cycle where students have every reason not to be invested... there is nothing collaborative about straight lecture. The whole idea behind my own teaching is to create a student-centered classroom where ideas can flow freely back and forth and I act more as a mediator between students and their ideas and perspectives. Blogs, which I require for journaling, allow students a time and a place for personal reflection. Web pages give my students a home base where they can organize their academiclife for not only my class but for their entire class load. But, these are all solipsistic forms of new media use in the classroom.
Now that I have been exposed to the wonders of the wiki here in English 808, I will be able to bring something collaborative back to my students. Group projects will have a user-friendly and truly collaborative platform. Of course the impetus will be on the students to share the load when it comes to a project, but the wiki will be a great introduction to what they can or might expect when they are out in the working world and collaboration is key if not always an equitable situation. The challenge for me as an instructor, of course, will be to determine who has done what and how much. Assigning grades for a collaborative project is going to be a challenge that will have to navigated and I can alread y see emails in my inbox and hear knocks on my office door from students disgruntled by the lack of effort of one or another team member on these types of collaborative platforms. So, there will be a learning curve for me as well, but that is always the best situation for any class: for me to be adding to my knowledge and skills as an instructor at the same time my students are discovering new ideas and new ways of working. Clearly the collaborative nature of the wiki will challenge me to come up with a new model for checks and balances on student work. I look forward to this challenge, but understand, like my students, I will stumble at first while adapting to a new model.
In terms of the public nature of collaborative writing, I think it will be fascinating to note how my students' writing changes in this new group dynamic. the mix of individual effort assignments and collaborative projects should provide a wider perspective of and deeper insight into each student. Will weaker writers work harder to match the level of other stronger team members or will stronger writers be dragged down? The world of the wiki is as much a social experiment as it is a lesson in working together. To ignore this powerful platform as a potential tool for creating a dynamic class experiment is to limit myself as an instructor and to deny the my students an opportunity to dip a toe in new media's brave new world.
Yes! The whole grading thing is the sticky wicket with collaboration! I sat through a presentation last week with all of these tools to encourage students to participate. Some required students to rate each other using online surveys. For my group projects, I usually require students to complete an individual assignment at the start as a pre-requisite toward getting the group grade. Still, there is always frustration. But then, that's good prep for the real world where almost ALL work is collaborative!
ReplyDeleteYou note, James, that your challenge with Wiki collaboration will be to determine who has done what. Years ago, my chair at the time suggested I desginate a portion of the grade for the completed paper the group produces and another portion a score for individual work. For this indivudal score, students grade one another (could do 60/40, 70/30, etc.) This has worked well for me. I also have students write indivudal reflections at the end of the project in which they discuss the most helpful action taken by a group member and the least helpful action taken by a group member. I keep these reflections and the scores that students give one another completely confidential.
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