Examples of Collaborative Project Wikis

In a few weeks I will be giving a PD on online collaborative projects. I would like to share examples of how wikis can be used to create collaborative projects. The PD is directed at elementary age students in grades 3-5. It does not matter if the project has already been completed or is currently open to contributions. Subject also does not matter.

Does anyone have a wiki site they would be willing to allow me share?

Tags: wikis

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Permalink Reply by Deanie Fincher on February 2, 2009 at 6:29pm

Tanya
I am hoping you will get some feedback to this request. I am teaching a WIKI 101 class to teachers using PBWiki, Wetpaint and Wikispaces. Tonight we just looked at PBWiki and i am trying to figure out how this really works in the classroom. Too much of it was blocked when you have 15-20 students online at the same time. Have you used wikis before with students? How did you handle this?

Deanie

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on February 2, 2009 at 7:35pm

We did the wikis mentioned above with up to 20 kids writing, typing, linking and adding pictures at the same time. We, my co-teacher and I, co-ordinated the saving. NO one saved until we told them to. Even though it's not the best option some of the typing can be done in Word while others are working on the wiki (see Pirate wiki) from link above.

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Permalink Reply by Tanya Travis on February 3, 2009 at 4:42am

I am currently working on two wikis with my students. My students just began building a wiki using Wikispaces on the water cycle last week. We are just finishing up the research portion of the project. The second site is a collaborative project for grades 3-5 on problem solving using Wetpaint. Unfortunately the adminstration wants this site to be private.

I agree with the reply left by Nancy to co-ordinate the saving. I learned the hard way that if more than one student tries to edit a page at the same time only the first person who clicks on to the page will actually save. I also get around saving problems by having students work on different pages in the wiki.

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Permalink Reply by Mary Bless on February 5, 2009 at 6:45pm

The easiest way to avoid the editing issues with multiple students is to create individual pages for each student. One of our teachers had her students doing a project on artifacts so we created an "artifacts" page and then each student created a link on that page to their own individual page where they will upload their information. This allows all of the students to go to the lab together and work on their project. Hope this is helpful.

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Permalink Reply by Clive Buckley on March 8, 2009 at 2:27am

Yes this was our solution too. One added advantage is that is easy to see what each student has done. We invite the other students to give feeback to others by using the 'Comment' facility.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on February 2, 2009 at 7:30pm

We have done 5 classroom wikis (grades 4-6) over the last couple of years. Scroll down and see them here. the collaborative-ness varied. I think the one the kids did on the book The Wright 3 was the best 'wiki', kids read the book and research the life and works of Frank Lloyd Wright then linked it all together.

The best collaborative wiki I did was with 12 other teachers, let me know if you want to see that one--it's not on the list.

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Permalink Reply by Tanya Travis on February 3, 2009 at 4:58am

Your examples were great. The sites built by students were especially impressive. I would love to see the wiki you did with the 12 other teachers.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on February 4, 2009 at 3:24pm

email me at nbosch@aol.com and I'll send you info on how to access our teacher wiki and I'll explain what the project was.

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Permalink Reply by dwedgewood on February 5, 2009 at 11:40am

I looked at The Wright 3 wiki and was impressed with it. Your students did a wonderful job connecting the information. I would love to see the wiki you did with 12 other teachers.

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Permalink Reply by Brett Mohr on February 2, 2009 at 8:52pm

I too am interested in using wikis in the classroom. As and administrator I would like to sell the idea of using wikis in the classroom, but have just started to learn about wikis. Looking for examples of wiki pages that have been used in the classroom in a secondary setting

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Permalink Reply by Gene Carboni on March 6, 2009 at 6:47pm

I am teaching in an all boys catholic high school. This year I am using pbwiki in a Microsoft Desktop Support Technician class. Every Sunday the wiki is updated with the assignments and important links for the week. The wiki contains a planner for tracking important dates. Early in the year, the boys created their own pages. They also created group pages for collaboration. Checking the comments on a page give me a pretty good idea of who is participating and at what level. These group pages assist the students in creating answers using problem solving and critical thinking skills. The class site is private so I cannot share the address. At the end of the year, I may be able to open it up once I clear the student data.

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Permalink Reply by David Cox on February 2, 2009 at 9:10pm

I have started using a wiki in my class this year. This is what we have so far. I have sole control of very few pages so the kids do most of the editing. I hope this helps.