richard a. korb / kári driscoll / jutta schmiers-heller columbia university department of germanic...

Richard A. Korb / Kári Driscoll / Jutta Schmiers-HellerColumbia University

Department of Germanic Languages

ACTFL Boston 2010

Student Wiki ProjectsCollaborative Communication in Language Learning

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Presentation Agenda

• Wiki Basics: RAK• 1201 Wikis: Kári

• Students evaluate Wikis: Jutta• Wiki Q/A’s: Audience• Online Version at

http://rakorb.wikispaces.com/

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmByB0sIPog

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Who Wikis?

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Wikispaces

Details at: http://www.wikispaces.com/ This ACTFL presentation at: http://rakorb.wikispaces.com/

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Why Wiki?Groups generate ideas together

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Why Wiki?Groups learn to work together

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Why Wiki?Peer editing

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Why Wiki?Collaborative interpretations

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Wikis are Quick: Edit / Add / Save1: Set up wiki

Demo:student 1

Demo:student 2

Collective wiki product

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Assessing Group Work and Individual Progress

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StudentWiki

Projects

Students’Portfolios

Additional cultural

resources

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Wiki Project I: Extreme Travel

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Wiki Project I: Extreme Travel

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Wiki Project II: Political Parties

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Wiki Project II: Political Parties

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Wiki Project II Follow-up: Political Blogs

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Wiki Project III: “Planet Germany”

Music VideoListening Comprehension

Material for Discussion

Short FilmEmbedded in Wiki

Students can reviewoutside class

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Wiki Project III: “Planet Germany”

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Extreme Travel (Unit: Traveling)

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Goals

– Recycle and further practice content, vocabulary, culture and grammatical structures of unit in a meaningful but fun way.

– Apply knowledge to a new context.– As student says: “Apply knowledge to an area that

actually interests us.”– Introduce students to a new technology.– Evaluate the usefulness of this technology in my

teaching.

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Wiki I – Evaluation

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Wiki I – Evaluation

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Wiki I – Evaluation

The results in short:• The wiki as a friend of the poster-weary!• Overall positive: new technology, mess-free, no handwriting

issues, able to work from home, more exciting and creative than textbook, pick something they are interested in, lots of German spoken during group work, groups posed no problems.

• Voices of concern: technology challenging, technology cut into the German-speaking, general concerns about group work.

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Wiki I – Evaluation

• I posted all their comments on our wiki and the students had to read them.

• Discuss the evaluations with the students in light of future wikis.

• General consensus: we should ‘wiki on’.• Use of wiki in a way where most of the work is done

outside of the class.

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Immigration Amerika (Unit: Planet Germany)

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Wiki II – Evaluation

Re-Read our Wiki II again and then write your comments / evaluations. If there are already contributions read your fellow-students’ evaluations and comment. Here are some questions to guide you:

1. How did you like this version of wiki? (=Doing most of the work from home.)2. We did meet in the LRC and talked about the wiki in class. How important do

you think it is to meet as a group and discuss the project?3. Where did you encounter problems?4. Do you think the wiki is a good replacement for an essay?5. How do you like our final product?6. Any other thoughts or comments?

[Discussion Board Evaluation]

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Discussion Board Results• Overall positive.– Students:

• enjoyed working from home according to their own schedule.• felt more comfortable with the technology and felt it did not get in

the way any more.• did point out how important it was to come together as a class

and discuss the project while in process.• Concerns:– technological hiccup (login to same page).– difficulty in correcting the grammar of other students. – One student: writing an essay s/he would have written

more and maybe learned more. – Another liked that she had to write less and could hence

spend more time on working on her writing.– most were happy with the result and the sarcastic nature.

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My Evaluation• Wiki proved a meaningful way to practice, content,

vocabulary, grammar, and also culture of the unit.• Based on positive student feedback, I will continue

with wikis.• With respect to assessment: It’s a lot of work to go

through every history entry and check what has been changed and when. – Wiki II: History revealed 194 changes made. (25 on intro

page, 24 on Facts page, 97 on questions, and 48 on answer page)

• However, class size will be a major factor in my decision to use wikis.