1. Wikis in the Classroom Using Digital Tools for Improving Seminars S. Rajaratnam School for International Studies Paul T. Mitchell

2. Agenda What is a Wiki? The challenge of Seminars The Southernigloo site How do I make my own Wiki?

3. What is a Wiki? Wiki – Hawaiian word meaning “Quick” Ward Cunningham Method for sharing and organizing ideas, and collaborative writing A wiki (IPA: [ ˈ w ɪ.ki ː ] or [ ˈ wi ː.ki ː ][1]) is a website that allows visitors to add, remove, and edit content (OED, added 16 March 2007)IPA[1]websiteedit Limited knowledge of code Rapid, easy editing

4. Range of Wikis

5. Research Wikis Collaboratively author journal articles. Easily track information sources and bibliography. Track projects on the wiki.

6. Agenda What is a Wiki? The challenge of Seminars The Southernigloo site How do I make my own Wiki?

7. The Seminar Approach Seminars, Lectures, and Information Master/Apprentice vs. Partnership “I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance”: truth and authority The “circle of knowledge”: risk and understanding

8. Responsible Partners Teacher: –Ask questions –Clarify points –Suggest resources Student –Come prepared –Willing to participate

9. Seminar Questions How did you get on? Why? What do you think? Exploring the boundaries of knowledge

10. Seminar Challenges Vulnerability –Lack of Preparation –Second Language –Insecurity Uncertainty –The Silent Classroom –Class Capability –The Lecture Temptation

11. Oh the pain! Seminar challenges both the teacher and student –Student is placed on the spot: what do you know? –Teacher is placed on the spot: how fast can you respond? –Credibility of each is on the line

12. Agenda What is a Wiki? The challenge of Seminars The Southernigloo site How do I make my own Wiki?

13. Southernigloo

14. Functions Course Syllabi Joint Projects Recent Papers

15. Classroom Use Vulnerability and Uncertainty Creating Dialogue Breaking the Ice: Comments Page –Already exposed –Already primed Classroom “Intelligence” Who to ask? –Favouritism, burn out, and preparation Biotechnology example Proliferation example

16. Student reaction “The Wiki site was something new, but was useful as a place to write up unanswered questions or disagreements. I thought class discussion worked best when the Wiki site was displayed on the projector as it helped keep the discussion ordered.”

17. Student Reaction “I enjoyed the use of a Wiki site, which forced us to be interactive even outside class.”

18. Some negative points “when it involves a large class, it makes the wiki quite difficult to work with. I often hear of people finding their posts missing and so on, and not being able to log on at the same time etc... So it doesn't seem very attractive to me in that sense. I was thinking a sort of multi- user blog would be more effective, and individuals can post their comments and receive responses on their particular comment (and be notified by email as well) But of course it may not be as organized as Wikis unless we can use sub pages or tags.”

19. Agenda What is a Wiki? The challenge of Seminars The Southernigloo site How do I make my own Wiki?

20. How to? Choose a “Wiki Farm” –Wikipedia lists 51 different ones with comparisons –http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wi ki_farmshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wi ki_farms

21. Security? Can anyone read my wiki? –Private and public wikis Can anyone edit my wiki? –Passwords Is the information secure on my wiki? –Indexing, caching, and spambots More information herehere

22. Have fun Take advantage of collaborative features –Joint class projects –Encorporate new media and resources –Encourage experimentation –See what happens

23. Questions?