TheLen

Below is a sample assignment showing how I would use a wiki in a college-level history course. It’s far from a perfect assignment and I would love feedback about how to improve it, but I think it conveys some of my basic ideas about how wikis could reshape classroom interactions.

The class would build parts of a wiki as weekly assignments. The assignments would be scheduled at the beginning of the semester and the wiki pages would be due the week before the relevant classes. Wiki entries would include: (a) context for the readings/topics witing outside sources, (b) any relevant news stories, (c) discussion questions, (d) and overview of key issues, (e) possibly identification terms and exam questions. After the week covered by each group, the group members would be responsible for posting a summary of the in-class discussions and how they relate to the wiki posts and the rest of the class.

The goal of this assignment would be to have the students create a useful site for themselves (essentially a review sheet of the course) as well as for anyone interested in the topic.

I’m still not completely sure how I would control access to the wiki. I’m inclined to start with a free open-access wiki from pbwiki, but I do want to limit the wiki to class members during the semester. Perhaps the most efficient option would be to use a premium wiki to make some pages private, lock others, and give the class limited access to the rest?