Writing and New Technologies
SCAFFOLDING ACADEMIC WRITING THROUGH WIKIS
Susan M. StetsonTiligadas
DEREE The American College of Greece, Athens, Greece
Participants in the wiki workshop will see examples of wiki use in an undergraduate English for Academic Purposes course and will conceive and lay the foundation for a wiki they can use in their own teaching practice. The 60minute workshop will provide a brief background of wikis and highlight the constructivist nature of this collaborative tool for use in academic writing courses. Attendees will be prompted to think about how use of a wiki could help their students achieve the learning outcomes through curating resources, collaboratively creating knowledge, demonstrating visible evidence of learning, or acting as a fixed instructorcreated source of information. After viewing several examples of wiki use in an undergraduate English for Academic Purposes course, participants will work individually to think of ways a wiki could be used in their own teaching practice. Pairs of participants will share their ideas and decide on one idea each to develop in the remainder of the workshop. Through a stepbystep process, participants will lay the foundation for a wiki to use in their own practice. This will be conducted offline using a detailed handout. During the last part of the presentation, there will be a brief demonstration of how to set up and monitor a wiki on the presenter’s laptop as a roundup. The handout will guide participants through the conceptual process, give global wiki guidelines, and include links to setting up a wiki using an LMS or a free site, such as Wikispaces or CourseSites.
References
Elgort, I., Smith, A. G., and Toland, J. (2008) ‘Is Wiki an Effective Platform for Group Course Work?’ Australasian Journal of Educational Technology [online]24 (2), 195210. available from http://ascilite.org.au [29 November 2014]
Heng, L. T., and Marimuthu, R. (2012) ‘Let's Wiki in Class’. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences [online] 67 (10), 269274. available from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18770428 [16 November 2014]
Kear, K., Woodthorpe, J., Roberstson, S., and Hutchinson, M. (2010) ‘From Forums to Wikis: Perspectives on Tools for Collaboration’. The Internet and Higher Education [online] 13 (4), 218225. available from http://www.journals.elsevier.com/theinternetandhighereducation/ [16 November 2014]
Neumann, D. L., and Hood, M. (2009) ‘The Effects of Using a Wiki on Student Engagement and Learning of Report Writing Skills in a University Statistics Course’. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology [online] 25 (3), 382398. available from http://ascilite.org.au [29 November 2014]