Blog post 13 Helping a teacher use wikis

Helping a teacher use wikis

 Jane had an awesome idea to use wikis in her science assignment that would help students collaborate with their peers based on similar topic selection. One of the issues Jane’s students have run into is there does not seem to be a clear expectation of what group members are expected to do. This situation can be addressed in several different ways. One way to solve this problem is to set clear expectations with students about what makes an online collaborative project successful. One way this process could have gone smoother is to provide group members with specific roles in the group. The group should be given clear written explanations of each roles duties and responsibilities. Group members could read over the descriptions and chose roles they feel they can be successful in.


Students in Jane’s class to not all seem to know what the expectations are for the project as a whole. This could be clarified by presenting a rubric that shows varying points for different levels of completeness, Rubrics are a great tool for group collaboration because it provides all members of the group with a framework of the assignment. The use of a rubric for group work provides a fair unbiased assessment tool.

 Another way Jane could help her students to be more successful with their group project is to break the project down in to manageable chunks. This could be accomplished by having students turn in their research question. Once this is approved students could move on to turning in their hypothesis. Each step could also include a rubric that sets clear specific expectations. By providing the assignment in chunks Jane would be better able to identify groups that are struggling with different parts of the assignment.

 In Jane’s classroom there seems to be a differing degree of student knowledge skills and abilities. Perhaps one way to help Jane’s student groups to be more successful would be to group students based on their abilities on different functions required on the project. Groups could consist of a good communicator, a good writer, someone who is very tech savvy, and so on. When we create groups that have students that have different skill sets they may be more successful.

One of the major issues that seemed to plague Jane’s group projects is a lack of communication between group members. One way to help students work well together is by providing a grade that is determined by the peers in your group. Group evaluation forms are a great way to set expectations for group members and a way for members to provide feedback about their peers in their group. A great editing checklist is available at readwritethink.org. Jane can use any of the above mention strategies for improving the collaborative wiki assignment for her science class.

 With the use of these tools Jane’s students will have clear expectations and an opportunity to evaluate the effort of their peers as well as how well they performed themselves as a member of a team.

 http://compus.uom.gr/INF188/document/Arthra_gia_ergasies/Using-wikis-to-develop-student-teachers-learning,-teaching,-and-assessment-capabilities-.pdf

 http://edtechteacher.org/assessment/

https://youtu.be/4nAnsRQx7-g https://flatclassroomproject.wikispaces.com/Rubrics

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/printouts/editing-checklist-self-peer-30232.html