Embedded Files
Accessing your WikiSpaces
Your WikiSpaces web address is: http://edn113-2012-groupproject.wikispaces.com/
During the week beginning 16th April you will receive an email inviting you to join the WikiSpaces we have set up for you. Your login is your email address and your student number (as password). You can change your password once logged in.
Once there you will need to navigate to the page for your group - look for the group name in the grey panel on the RHS of the page:
Online tutorial
Step 1: Begin with the Group Brainstorming activity (there is a worksheet to help you with this on Google Docs at Group project brainstorming doc
The outcomes of this brainstorming activity are that ALL members of your group should agree on:
name of your group
who is in your group
your aims and objectives in working together (how high are you aiming?)
how you propose to communicate and work together?
what skills do each of you bring to this project, and how would you like to allocate roles and tasks?
You may choose to do this brainstorming using your WikiSpace site - bearing in mind that everyone in this unit will be able to read it. Otherwise, you will need to set up a process for working through the brainstorming process.
Step 2: Continue your brain-storming process: work out the topic and year level for your task.
Some points to bear in mind here:
Keep it simple - start small (you can always add more later) - too many students spend too much time developing a really complex teaching activity - and run out of time.
Who is creating things using the technology? If you using the technology to create teaching resources for your students - you have gone down the wrong track!
Think about activities first, technologies second. If you are asking yourselves 'how can we use (facebook/ twitter/ youtube ...) in our teaching?' you are working in the wrong order. Once you have identified activities that you believe will enhance student learning THEN you should explore technologies to support it. Document your explorations.
Do you have agreement and clarity from ALL members of your team about what you are doing? If not, then what do you need to do to get it?
Step3 ... Fill in the rest of the Group Brainstorming document as you progress through your project.
Step 4 - Create your Wikispaces pages and add your information and resources. New! View the Wikispaces - Getting Started video (this is a narrated PowerPoint presentation that has been uploaded to authorStream).
New! View example Wiki project: Plants in the Classroom based on 2011 student example. Sincere thanks to Shelley & Lea for permission to adapt their original work.
Step 5 - Create your online presentation. See Task 3a - Teacher project page for suggested ideas and technologies.
Editing your WikiSpaces
Click on the 'Edit' button at top right of your wikispace (just beneath the green banner). This will give you the usual editing tools for formatting text, adding links and images.
Feel free to experiment with the various tools and widgets available.
NOTE: Only one person should edit a page at any one time - if two people edit the same page your changes may disappear once the other person saves their changes.
RECOMMENDATION: You (as a group) should divide the task into separate sections, and set up a separate page for each section.
Adding pages to your WikiSpaces
Name your page beginning with the name of your group, then add (say) 'resources page' or similar. Also, tag your page with your group name (without spaces).
Finding your WikiSpaces pages
With over 300 students in this unit - there will be almost 100 groups - each with several pages .... the best way to find your stuff is to search by the tag you gave your page. You DID tag your new page didn't you???
When you type the tag for your group's pages into the search box (in the grey box at the right) you will be shown a Google-style search result of the site showing all of your group's pages ... providing you have been consistent in using the same tag for all of your group's pages.
Why WikiSpaces?
Now that you have all become comfortable and enthusiastic WikiSpaces users ... :) ... this might be a good place to explain why we have suggested this site ...
Wikis provide several services that your familiar websites such as Weebly and Yola do not:
they keep track of EVERYTHING. Yes, every change you make to a site is recorded when you SAVE the change - so it is possible to see who had done the work, and when they did it. This makes Wikis a great tool for group work - slackers cannot hide behind the work of the rest of the group.
every change can be UNDONE. So, if someone comes along and deletes something you wrote, you can see who did it, and you can undelete it if you choose to.
every page has a discussion page - so, as a group you can discuss each other's pages and make suggestions for improvement. This facility helps your group improve the quality of your team work and end product.
you can subscribe to your pages - so you can get notification by email as soon as anyone has changed one of your group pages.
Need more help?
Try the HELP button in the wiki menu bar - they have heaps of information! OR do a Google search, OR use the discussion boards to ask for help ... the tutors will try to respond as soon as possible.
Still have problems? Email Dani at d.boase-jelinek@murdoch.edu.au
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