[Session at Educause Southeast Regional Conference, Jacksonville, FL June 2-4, 2008]
groups of students (3-4) created wikis based on the identities that recur in Shakespeare’s works (also did Milton)
create an online resource for Shakespeare studies, ongoing research guides
gauge effect this medium has on critical thinking in lit, info lit.
Why Wiki?
maximize creative freedom…we learn as the students do
promote community and collaboration with wikis
make classic texts feel more contemporary
provide insights into how students seek, use, and organize info
Milton, focused on Paradise Lost
themes rather than identities
grant to upgrade quality of the wikis
tweaks:
greater use of formal scholarship required, MLA format & bib
narrow the focus of the wikis, defined target audience
assigned a shorter individual research paper so the entire grade was not tied into the wiki
successes:
engage students with course material, relatable context
greater sense of immediacy, importance to students work
demonstrated classic texts/themes are in constant flux
students went beyond the textual and think creatively
students showed initiative in going out on their own with ideas
medium has a life-span beyond a single class or semester
students took ownership, continued work, evolve
supports different learning styles and information/knowledge acquisition
read outside the text, think more about the history/context
concerns:
suffered from style over substance, no clear relation between text and image; images used as padding
lack of high quality scholarly resources; often unclear citations
over-reliance on general info and summery, not enough in-depth analysis and discussion
occasional lack of audience awareness and cohesion (navigation and usability issues)
How do we promote formal research skills in this new medium?
How do we evaluate work done in a medium that is open-ended, collaborative and in constant flux?
How will this new medium affect how we think about information fluency?
What role does the medium play in shaping how students think and write?
assessment:
much of the value is experiential, how do you grade experience
value can’t be assessed apart from the process of creation or the experience of using the wikis
Do projects like this have value outside a specific user community?
What do they do that traditional research papers don’t? Does one have more value then the other?
a new rubric:
balances traditional scholarship with exploration and invention
needs more reflection about what counts as info fluency in a changing environment…and the nature of info is changing
visual literacy:
relationship between image and text, is it just fluff, or is there more?
Are the wikis visual first and linguistic second?
How do we read and write differently in this environment?
Role of ephemera?
Some students wanted to preserve “their” wiki at the end of the semester.
May seem less authentic
