Wiki Classroom Activities

Hello PFI and ISF! Today we will learn about wikis and their classroom applications.

What is a wiki and why should we use them?

• A wiki is a website or software that allows collaborative editing of content and structure.
• Wikis allow for socially interactive, evolving projects and assignments.
• Issues to consider when choosing a wiki site: privacy, scalability, power of engine, portability, and supported file types. Go to wikimatrix.org to compare wiki resources.
• To learn more about wikifying a course, click here.
• Features: log, public, instant editing, citation tool, formatting tool, hyperlinks
• 'Wiki' comes from the Hawaiian word for 'quick'.

Types of activities

• resource page
• group projects and research
• review compilation
• lesson planning
• journals and writing prompts
• group discussion and assessment
• role play and 'gallery walk' activities

Examples of Classroom Wikis

• LitSource - wikispace, for K-8 teachers to share lesson plans and forms.
• Mr. Armstrong's U.S. History Class - wikispace, history class activities and discussions.
• English Lizeowiki - wikispace, French EFL classroom.
• Booktalk - pbworks, book reviews and podcast for teens and adults.
• Climate Change Debate - wikispace, debate team

Gamified classroom wikis

• XP - assign students 'experience points' for task completion and participation. XP can be used to earn badges, levels, or used as a class currency for prizes.
• Badges - badges are a fun way for students to earn achievements and are sometimes used instead of grades to keep track of completion and level. Ready to earn your wiki badges?!
• Leaderboards - this creates a competitive system for student XP.
• Reverse grading scheme - student grade starts at 0 and accumulates by earning XP from assignment completion. Instead of grades, students can achieve levels with the hope of reaching the highest level at the end of the course.

For more information on gamification, visit TeachThought,

How to Create a Wiki

Classroom and free wikis on Wikispace close at the end of this month due to increased investment in infrastructure, so here are a few alternatives:

• Watch this video on how to create a wiki on Moodle or read this article from their website.

• Click here for Pbworks new page creation guide.

• Go to Wikiversity site for starting a new page.
• Watch this great tutorial on Google Sites!
  • Try interacting with this site for our workshop.

Practice Activity:

Create or add to a google site. Include:

• Three different headers with one subpage - not including home - (ex. journal or news article) with prompts or scenarios or discussion question on the topic of accessibility for people with disabilities. (15 XP each)
• One photo or video per page (3 XP each)
• Intrasite links (3 XP)
• Use google maps once (3 XP)
• Welcome message with site description on home page OR project page (7 XP)
• Site title (1 XP)

Total: 68+ XP

Questions to consider

What kind of activities would you like to create? How will the students interact with the material? Do you need a separate site or should this be a smaller part of the class wiki? How can we organize the material and instruction in a logical flow, through smaller tasks in order to complete the project?

Example Wiki Activity for Creative Writing - Earn "Worldbuilding" Badge

Geography

Goal: Create a simple town map.

• Plot bodies of water like rivers and lakes. (5 XP)
• Draw and indicate land types like sand dunes, foothills and mountains, plains, and swamps. (8 XP)
• Indicate markers of civilization by describing the roads (gravel, concrete, dirt), building types, and modes of transportation. (8 XP)
• Describe your town below including settlement type, spacing (distance between places), important features, and general location within your world. (6 XP)
• Give your town a name. (4 XP)

Total: 31 XP

Flora and Fauna

Goal 1 - create two plant species (5 XP each) for your new world.

• Describe and draw what the plants looks like. (2 XP)
• Does the plant produce any special effects (medicinal, lethal, etc)? (2 XP)
• Name your plant. (1 XP)

Goal 2 - create an animal species for your new world. (6 XP)

• Describe and draw what your animal looks like. (2 XP)
• How does this animal behave? What kind of sounds does it make? What does it eat or drink? Where do they live? (3 XP)
• Name your animal. (1 XP)

Total: 16 XP

Language

Language is English for ESL/EFL classroom.

Example Tasks

• Compare and contrast the political and state of nature philosophies of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes aloud. Which one do you agree with more? Which one would you rather put into practice? (10 XP)
• Choose a career for your character and do the following activity (15 XP):

Career	Prompt	Description
Chef	Cooking Show	Requires 2 people. Person 1 can't use their hand but has a recipe out in front. Person 2 wraps their arms around Person 1 to use their hands to demonstrate the recipe.
Jack of All Trades	Profession "Charades"	Have students write down a few career types/professions that would be easy to act out and place in a bag. Have one student draw and act out the profession while the other students guess what was written.
Nail Salon	We Aren't Friends Anymore	More Mad Libs: You are telling the story of how you broke up with your friend because she/he stole your ______ (noun) and spent your weekly allowance on _______(hobby) on a lot of _____________ (non-countable noun). Now, you must use the slang presented to you to tell your story.
Cop	Who Dunnit?	Brainstorm a funny crime - example prompts: Name something that very outdated - ex. Butter churner Name a place you love to go to when you have time off - ex. the bowling alley Student A was found murdered beside the bowling alley after arriving after hours. A witness testified they had seen Student A heading that direction only an hour before carrying something that looked like a butter churner. Another witness claimed they saw three people in the area only 30 minutes before Student A's most dreadful hour - one in a dark cloak, another in walking suspiciously the alleyways, and another watching people mischievously. Characters: Good cop, bad cop, guilty person, innocent witnesses. Questions - Why did you do it? Where were you? etc. (Denial language, past tense, avoiding questions)