Learning & Teaching with Wikis & Blogs Denise Buckley Learning Development Officer Learning & Teaching Development Unit

Workshop Layout 10am – 11am: Wikis Break 11.10am – 12 noon: Blogs

Wikis Hawaiian for Quick! Bus transfer service Honolulu airport A wiki is a website which can be edited individually or collaboratively, using the Internet browser Ward Cunningham, developer of the first wiki WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as –"the simplest online database that could possibly work". (Wikipedia 2007)

Examples of Wikis First Wiki First Wiki Most popular: Most popular: Wikipedia Mediawiki Mediawiki (free but need to host system files on a webserver) Wikispaces Wikispaces (free but can pay for extra functions) Confluence Confluence (Ideal for large scale & corporate institutions) Writeboard Writeboard (very simple, free wiki, good introduction) Jotspot Jotspot (free, recently purchased by Google) PBWiki PBWiki (free, easy to use)

Tools within Wikis Browser based editing Access control (all visitors or login only) Wiki mark up (formatting) Tracking version history Version comparison Page version rollback Discussion pages Automatic page edit alerts Locking current page version

Precautions using Wikis Open & easy access for editing – open door to malicious changes (vandalism) Vulnerable to spamming (aims to advertise product or links to websites/improve google search rank) Edit wars! (two contributors with opposing opinions)

Approaches to problems Wiki editing community - deal with problematic edits Wikis provide facilities for users to act as administrators (sysops) – oversee groups of pages & ability to block users Spamming restricted by editing user access & monitoring pages with automatic updates Edit wars can be overcome by a Wiki Administrator or by both contributors using Discussion area

Learning & Teaching with Wikis New/different web resource for tutors & student Student participation/involvement– active –Gilly Salmons “Transformation” Integrate with VLE – Blackboard Ideal for group authoring (contributors revealed) Flexible for any type of structure/layout Collaborative tool Web publishing without HTML/Frontpage/Dreamweaver -Improved connectedness, collaboration & construction of knowledge (Mader, 2006)

Things to be aware of … Wiki mark up (formatting) Managing wiki (commitment) No predefined structure Open to all (sensitive information) Clear policies ( ownership & copyright of pages )

Examples of how wikis can be used in learning & teaching Wikis authored by staff Wikis authored by students –(Group work: assignments, discussions, peer feedback, student feedback to staff, individual portfolios) Wikis authored and used by both staff & students –(Marking schemes for assignments, subject glossaries, FAQ’s, discussion forum, case studies, writing agendas etc) Wikis - publicly available and created by others –( source of information, model of how knowledge is constructed, develop writing and research skills by contributing to existing wiki )

Learning & Teaching Wikis Sheffield Hallam University University of East Anglia Leeds University

Wikis as references “ Please help me. I got an F on my paper because I cited Wikipedia…” (The Wired Campus 2006) For Wikipedia: –Overall information accurate & useful –errors dealt with quickly & by anyone –promotes a neutral point of view –constant peer review by many is better than one off review by few Against Wikipedia: –Inaccuracy!

Planning to use a Wiki Motivating students to participate –Assign authoring/editing responsibilities to individuals or groups –Use interaction as part of assessment –Integrate wiki into course Provide direction & student ownership –Initiate interactions but allow student autonomy Monitoring & assessing –Monitor for inappropriate content, control edit wars, track individual participation & provide feedback

Setting up your wiki

Break

Blogs Short for web log –Original blogs – link driven – listed links of interest –Personal journal – independent of web logs – Blog (online diary) A blog is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in reverse order (recent entries first). (Wikipedia 2007) One of most common types of website on the Internet – over 66 million! (Technorati Feb 2007)Technorati Used for: –personal diaries –Opinions –journalist reports, –real-time commentary on live events –providing news –customer/student help information

Examples of Blogs Blogger Blogger (free and most popular, now owned by Google) WordPress WordPress (free alternative) Bloglines Bloglines (free blog tool with other facilities such as search and subscriptions to blogs and news) Typepad Typepad (a subscription based blog system aimed at commercial applications) Elgg Elgg (Open source software (non-commercial) for social networking that can host a community of blogs (Swansea, Leeds Universities)

Tools within Blogs Authorising tools Search facility Add public comments Automatic archiving of previous entries News feed – subscribe to a specific blog & receive automatic alerted to new posts

Activities associated with Blogs 1. Reading existing blogs –Add comments 2. Writing own blog

Learning & Teaching with Blogs New/different web resource for tutors & student Student participation – active – –Gilly Salmons “Transformation” Integrate with Blackboard Flexible for any type of structure/layout Encourages Reflection Encourages writing skills Facility for visitors to leave comments – –contacts can be made, discussions built upon, communities formed

Things to be aware of … Entirely owned by author – –no control over what is posted for public viewing –Blogging system hosted by the University – Staff member control to remove offensive postings Externally hosted systems allow anonymous postings in comments area!! Long term blogging requires motivation and desire to participate –Encourage students to engage in subjects and communities of interest –Start with reading –Then reflect, criticize, question, react (the writing of a blog is the exposure of your thoughts)

Examples of how Blogs can be used in learning & teaching Students: Personal Development Portfolios Project Logs Placement Journals –Feedback & support can be directly given Groups blogs (seminar sessions, summaries of group work) Peer assessment & review Alumni communities for graduates Staff: Post course details & related news, organise seminars, in class discussion, reference materials, opinions on publications, FAQ’s

5 applications for blogs in the classroom 1.Replace traditional webpages 2.Linking websites – blogs written about websites 3.In class discussion 4.Class seminars & summaries of readings 5.Writing own blogs (Downes, 2006)

Learning & Teaching Blogs University of Warwick Highest profile academic blogging system in the UK – launched 2004 – designed & built specifically for staff & students – 4000 blogs hosted University of Glamorgan UWIC

Planning to use a Blog Questions: –Who is going to author a blog, tutor or student or both? –How will you motivate the students? –Which blogs will be read by students? –How will you assess the quality of the information in the blog? –Will students be encouraged to enter into discussions etc? –How will you monitor the blogs? –If using blogs for assessment – how will it be marked? –Time length for blogs? –Evaluation if added to the teaching & learning experience?

Setting up your Blog

What's next for UWIC… Campus Pack (Learning Objects) –Wikis –Blogs –Facility to store Podcasts –PDP: E-Portfolios per student account –Search tools Trial in November Roll out January