wikid! student appreciation of wikipedia / use of wikis in creating group reports in economics nick...
TRANSCRIPT
Wiki’d!
Student appreciation of Wikipedia / use of wikis in creating group reports in economics
Nick [email protected]
Julian [email protected]
School of Economics
Introduction: what’s a wiki?
Everyone ‘knows’ Wikipediato be an encyclopædia, written and edited collectively
Not everyone knows what a wiki isor even that Wikipedia is merely a particular wiki
Wikis‘a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language’
‘Wiki’ article from Wikipedia
In other words, a generic software category
Two common problems: 1
Wiki-plagiarismCut-and-pastefrom Wikipedia— and elsewhere, of course
More generallyFailure to address resources critically
Two common problems: 2
Group work …● Monitoring and assessing individual contributions
● Organising collaborationEconomics has form here:
Rob Watkins’ handbook for the HEA Economics Network
… in skills modulesA Foundation in
EconomicsEC1228
Applied Economics WorkshopAP2178
‘Common’ = ‘frequent’ and = ‘related’
Plagiarismmakes life easywhich is also motive for free-riding in group work
and they don’t know/understandabout Wikipedia structure/process
Collaborationis hardstudents’ life and business skills have not matured
and because of complex extra-educational commitments
Hence, a common solution
One forked projectwith two prongs● Appreciating Wikipedia
● Using wikis to prepare coursework
covered over two courses ...... and two years
Using MediaWiki ...software driving Wikipedia
... NOT StudySpace wiki engine
A Foundation in Economics
Assignment 1● My profile ● My favourite book
test of written English
● Plagiarism ● Harvard referencingwill be required for all u/g economists at Level 4
Assignment 3Group projectincluding Wikipedia appreciation
full field Applied Economists only, to startroll out to the entire level 4 cohort in 2010/11
Why wikis?
wikis ...Mediate and record
Assignment 1● composition ● tutor feedback● student response
Assignment 3● individual contribution ● collaboration
Eliminate paper shuffling
Ease assessment
Pinpoint plagiarismin group work
Why MediaWiki?
Look-and-feel of ‘real’ wiki
credibility
Better featuresDiscussion pages, not comments
Formatting for references, etc.
Introduction to ‘proper’ computingUse of mark-up language
Preliminary results 1
Students don’t get it (easily)It’s not• a blog • an appointment book • e-mail• a receptacle for Word documents • etc.
It isa space where one can compose / edittext in a pre-set format
Notion of collective production often absent
Hence Wikipedia appreciation first?
Preliminary results 2