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Wiki 2|Videos for beginning students. See the 4|Time 3|September Calender:

__**Problem scenario**__ Jane is a 6th grade teacher in the Ysleta Independent School District, in which she has taught for more than 10 years. Although born in Generation X, Jane has always been curious about the potentials of new technology for education and tried to integrate technology to improve her teaching. This semester she wants to try a new tool called Wiki in her science class. She has seen the use of wikis in her fellow teacher’s classroom and was impressed by its capability to promote collaboration, writing, thinking, and problem-solving skills among students.

She decided to use wiki in a science inquiry project in a unit of hydrology. She asked students to generate a research question about water and then grouped students into small groups of 3-4 according to the similarity in their research interests. Students conducted research online on their questions, and then collaboratively wrote an essay on a wiki in Wikispaces.

Using the page history function and the discussion page, Jane can easily track how students were working on their wikis. She was pleased that some groups were highly engaged in collaborative research and writing, editing one another’s work, challenging one another’s thinking, and providing reliable resources to support their ideas. Yet, she also had some disturbing discoveries. In one group, only one student worked to write the essay. Other students made only minor editing. In another group, she observed tensions regarding ownership and credit. One student said “I want to cry when others changed my page!” Another student became upset when he found out his entry was deleted by his peer. As a result, students ended up writing their own paragraphs separately, but were reluctant to revise the work of others. In addition, some groups focused on making their wiki look pretty, changing formats frequently, but paid less attention to content. Some of them just copied information from other websites. In another group, students imbedded nice looking pictures and videos in their wiki, but the content of the pictures and videos had nothing to do with their research questions.

Jane was overwhelmed by her observations. She did not know what she should do. She asked for your help. She would also appreciate it if you could provide some great resources on how to use wikis more effectively in her classroom.

__**Response to problem scenario, Group 9:**__ Problem 1.
 * The class assignment is too general. Unless the teacher is the only person posting to the wiki, students would tend to have very little instructional focus. Rather than giving students open-ended choices, perhaps giving them choices of "teacher-approved" ideas would be more age and maturity-level appropriate.
 * Directions and teacher expectations for student wikis were not clear.
 * The teacher did not provide feedback or direction on the discussion page.
 * Wiki editing "etiquette" was not addressed, so therefore feelings were hurt unnecessarily.
 * Help for students to troubleshoot problems with their wiki was not provided
 * There were no group leaders in charge of the activity. Tasks should have been assigned so that all students were provided with a list of jobs within the activity that they could chose from for accountability purposes.

2. Prioritize the problems within the scenario.
 * 1) The class assignment is too general.
 * 2) There were no group leaders in charge of the activity.
 * 3) Help for students to troubleshoot problems with their wiki was not provided
 * 4) Directions and teacher expectations for student wikis were not clear.
 * 5) The teacher did not provide feedback or direction on the discussion page.
 * 6) Wiki editing "etiquette" was not addressed, so therefore feelings were hurt unnecessarily.

3. Generate solutions for top 3 problems Students at this age will tend to have very little instructional focus. Rather than giving students open-ended choices, perhaps giving them choices of "teacher-approved" ideas would be more age and maturity-level appropriate. Alternatively, the teacher could allow students to brainstorm their own ideas. Unfortunately, "brainstorming" may prove to be a pointless endeavor for many in the class, since students of this age and maturity level will typically respond that they "couldn't think of anything." Once the teams were formed the teacher could have assigned a specific task to each member by having the students number off from one through four. By doing this the teacher would have discouraged domination by one person. This was a problem in the scenario because some students felt left out of the activity. Through a well structured activity all students are given the opportunity to practice various social, communication, and leadership skills. Wikis can:
 * For problem #1: Locate about 10 different topics about water that students can choose from. You can allow brainstorming time in class for students to generate those topics, or come up with them on your own.**
 * For problem #2: Tasks should have been assigned so that all students were provided with a list of jobs within the activity that they could chose from for accountability purposes.**
 * For problem #3: Students should have clear-cut guidelines along with a teacher rubric for grading that would tell students how they should approach creating their wiki project, and what to do if they encounter problems.** Without teacher input, this is a disaster waiting to happen. Grade level guidelines should have been provided, explained and embedded in the assignment. There were too many groups that lacked structure and the guidelines would have given them more clarity of how to begin, work on and complete their project while keeping them focused on the task. For example, the guidelines would have outlined the required material that needed to be in the wiki such as introductions, questions, links, solutions or thoughts that the instructor wanted in the wiki. A rubric would have provided students with the criteria that the teacher would use to grade them and would have provided them with examples of good and bad submissions.
 * 1) Focus instruction - intentionally
 * 2) Guide feedback - descriptively
 * 3) Characterize desired results - objectively
 * 4) Operationalize performance standards - purposefully
 * 5) Develop self-assessment competence - constantly
 * 6) Involve students - thoughtfully

4. Add 5 links that can help with ideas or can help in the scenario __**Wiki Resources:**__ 1. Exemplary Resources for Middle School Math and Science. //Teacher Tools That Integrate Technology: Wikis// Written by: //Todd Williamson and// **Kimberly Lightle** [] This page explores what a wiki is, where they are found, how they can be used and gives examples of their use in the classroom. It also helps to explain “What if” things are deleted or changed, and helps to troubleshoot problems that can occur. It also explains about how to establish “ground rules” in creating a class wiki. 2. Middle School Science Initiative. **//Wikis for Science Ed Collaboration.//** **2/5/2010 -** //**NSTA Reports**//**—Debra Shapiro** [] This wiki explores collaboration between colleagues in the field of Science. It also explains some of the different types of wikis that can be created. 3. Learningwithtechnology. Exemplary classroom wikis. http://learningwithtechnology.wikispaces.com/Exemplary+Classroom+Wikispaces This is a wiki with links to some very good wikis. 4. Middle School Portal 2 Math and Science Webinar. MiddleSchoolPortal/WebinarArchive. [] Webinars on creating wikis and other technological feats in the middle school classroom. 5. Environmental Science Interactions Wiki. http://environmentalscienceinteractions.wikispaces.com/ This wiki gives ideas on how to run an environmentally appropriate wiki in a Science class.

5. Collaborate on your wiki as a group.