Blog post 13: Helping a teacher use wikis
Background:
Jane is a teacher with ten years of teaching experience. She learned about Wiki from her colleagues and she decided to integrate it into her science classroom. Students had been using Wiki for their hydrology research. As students started writing their questions and worked on their research, Jane noticed some problems. Unfortunately, students were not collaborating in their groups, research was lacking content, they were plagiarizing information, or they were not editing each other work. Jane had been struggling to find solutions these problems.
Scenario- Problems:
After reading about Jane’s case, there are many problems in Jane’s science class when students are using Wiki. It is important to recognize that many teachers are open to merging their lessons with technology. However, teachers could face some obstacles when introducing new online tools to students. I recognized that there are three main problems that Jane must address before students could continue with their research project. First, Jane did not provide students with a detailed rubric on how to edit and conduct their group research on hydrology. Then students were placed in groups without having a clear goal about why they are using Wiki. Next, Jane did not have clear instructions on how her students should be using Wiki or how they should be contributing to their research.
Solutions:
1 Jane needs to provide students with a clear rubric where students can equally contribute to their research report. One way can be explaining the assessment rubric for this project, which can be divided into the following criteria: cooperation, research, presentation, organization, and member responsibility. Jane can set group members roles for students to have equal responsibility, groups can post a role distribution table to avoid any disagreements in the group.The ultimate goal is for Jane to promote a culture of collaboration using a wiki for her classmates.
2 A wiki fosters collaboration and learning because users can share information. It is an online tool that is perfect for Jane’s science research assignment. However, students do not understand their responsibilities and expectations when using a wiki. Jane needs to model to students’ good netiquette. She can do wiki activities for students to do where she can develop her science class wiki etiquette when posting, writing and sharing their findings. As result, Jane can create a wiki community where students feel that they belong to a wiki learning community. It is important for students to have an open collaboration in their research groups in order to develop a sense of ownership on their research.
3 Jane can also allow student peer assessments to make students feel accountable and encourage to actively participate in their research. Jane can provide students computer lab time so everyone has an opportunity to contribute and meet specific deadlines. Overall Jane must monitor group projects to check if all students are contributing to the group work and understanding the importance of studying hydrology.
In the end, Jane could follow these solutions to solve the problems that she had been encountered through the students’ group project. Despite all the problems, Jane took the initiative to allow students to begin using technology.
3 links:
Jessica, I like your suggestion about dividing the project up into different criteria which will make each student responsible for a certain part of the criteria. I also liked your idea of having etiquette lessons when using wikis. We need to be able to walk students through the steps of completing a project even if it involves technology.
ReplyDeleteHello Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI do agree that Jane did not set expectations for students. Students need a rubric and need to be aware of what is expected of them, especially in 6th grade. Students had trouble working together and even focusing on the content of the project simply because the expectations were not set. Thank you for sharing your observations.
Lourdes
Jessica
ReplyDeleteI like your idea about allowing students computer time as a class so that everyone gets hands on experience and questions can be answered as students are confronted with situations about the research project. Taking the initiative to assign a technology project to 6th graders is a great way to expose students to working collaboratively as a team. But I do see your point that a grading rubric should have been explained so that they are aware that they all need to contribute to the overall grade of the project. This way students will not be surprised when Jane grades them according to their research contribution.
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with creating an environment where the students feel that they understand and belong. Jane needs to model, visualize, demonstrate, and generate a student learning community. We should never introduce something to the students without overdoing the instructions. Constant monitoring is important to regulate and keep the students on track. Wikis is a wonderful way to engage the students but it is not easy- it must be learned step by step. Good post!
Linda
Hey Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI think wikis can really help the teacher facilitate the lesson to students. I think that their should be an age range to use wiki. I think that in the example provided in our assignment, sixth grade was too young. I think that may be a reason why the students did not work equally.
Hi jessica,
ReplyDeleteI liked your pin point ideas on what she could have done to improve her lesson. I think that the classroom was the young to use wiki. However, I think that providing a clear rubric would have addressed the root of the issues the students were having.
Hey Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog this week. They are always so lively and have me sitting back thinking, how the heck did she put that picture in there!?! I think you provided problems and solutions that many did not catch about Jane's approach. I agree that a rubric should have been established and presented to the students so they knew from day 1 what their objectives were.