Wiki for Student Book Reviews
Posted by Janice on April 15, 2009 in Internet Research, Language Arts, Teacher Voices
David Edelman, who teaches English at Ingraham High School, was looking for a project to celebrate and highlight student success in reading and writing. After the WASL is over, students see the end of the school year in sight and need something that engages their attention. David decided to use a wiki for an online culminating project. Each student writes a book review on the best book they have read all year, and publicly publishes the review to the wiki. The wiki becomes a repository for student book reviews year after year. This year’s class will be working on their projects in May, but there are great reviews there from past classes. David says: “Almost all students, in the end, thought it was fun. More importantly, they accomplished something they were proud of.”
When you go to David’s wiki to read these reviews keep these minimum student guidelines in mind. There must be:
- a summary,
- an explanation of why they are recommending this book,
- a description of where this book can be found which includes links,
- information about the author which includes links, and
- one or two images.
If you would like to know David’s thoughts on this project and how he set it up, click on
David says:
“I like the way the wiki lends itself to collaboration. It is an opportunity for students to work together and help each other. After the WASLs, I increasingly emphasize the reading culture, which includes discussing and writing about books with peers. Having the students collaborate took that idea a step further.”
“I had a rubric that set out my expectations for how they should work on the wiki and what they would accomplish. I set out the assignment clearly, blocked out lots of lab time, established rules for working on the wiki, and set them loose. I worked with them constantly, troubleshooting problems and helping them do what they wanted to do. I told them that their article had to be perfect because they were going to be public. The students helped each other with editing, but I also printed out their drafts and required many rewrites. Near the end, I sat down with students and helped them revise their articles in real time. Classes that finished early had an additional assignment of conducting interviews with wiki participants.”
“The project, in my view, was very successful. Almost all students completed it with good results. Many felt they had learned “real-world” skills. It was a good experience for them to have to write something to perfection. Because it was public, they understood why their pieces had to be perfect and they were motivated. Also, many felt they had the opportunity to do something “special.” Keep in mind, I teach struggling readers – - they liked being able to do something that was out of the ordinary.”
Set up:
“The key to making this work was planning. It was very labor intensive. I thought it would work more smoothly if I created email accounts for every student. I set up wiki accounts for every student, and then as administrator, I had to invite the students to participate in the wiki. I then accepted the invitation for them via their email accounts. Now, in May, all they’ll have to do is sign in with their assigned usernames and passwords. It makes it easy for them, and I have complete control over administration.”
“This year I created my email addresses using Google Apps, which allows you to create group email accounts. That turned out to be easy and cheap ($5 for the domain name). This service is connected with Google Sites, which allows you to create websites and wikis. I won’t be giving my students their email addresses, because I’m only using the email to set up their wiki accounts and invite them to participate in my wiki.”
(It should be noted that currently the only District email approved for student use is gaggle.net and epals. For those interested, here is a suggested gmail trick from Edublogs. …Janice)
“My wiki account on Wikispaces allows me to set the permissions to one of the following:
Public – anyone can view, edit, or comment
Protected – anyone can view, only members can edit and comment
Private – only members can view, edit and comment
Custom – defines custom permissions
I choose “Protected.” My wiki is not searchable, however. You can’t find it from Google, so far as I know. I have the option of updating my wiki to “Private.”
“There is no way to contact the students who are working or have worked on the wiki. The email addresses are not available on the wiki. The students do not have their email addresses because I don’t give them to them. I only use the email addresses to set up their wiki accounts.”
“There is only a 2 to 3 week window when the students are actively working on their wiki. As they complete their work, I lock down the pages so no one in the project can change them. When the project is completed in late June, I delete all the members except myself, the administrator. Thus, there is no way for anyone to get back into the project after it’s over.”
“I’ve never had any problems with inappropriate comments, writing or editing. The students are well aware of the rules. I check the comments the student make – they actually get graded on the comments. I would delete any inappropriate comments. In addition, students only go by first names or usernames. Students are not allowed to use their last names, and I would delete it if one was ever used.”
“As I said, this is a very labor intensive project. For teachers who are new to it, I recommend they start with one class of about 30 students or fewer. Expectations of students must be very clear. Treat the first time as a pilot project, and then see how it goes.”
April 16th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Janice,
Thank you very much for posting this article.
If anyone out there has any specific questions about the wiki, please let me know. I’ll be happy to answer them.