Teaching Tips with Technology - Montgomery...
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Wiki’s Used for Collaborative Learning Featuring: Dr. Linda Zanin, Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Takoma Park/Silver Spring I was first introduced to Wikis when I attended a Maryland Distance Learning Association (MDLA) seminar a couple of years ago and heard a professor comment on how their “students couldn’t live without their wiki.” This comment sparked an interesting discussion among the participants about how wikis were being used in distance learning to make learning more interactive, collaborative and student- centered. It was a fascinating discussion, but there was one small problem, I had no idea what a wiki was. I left that seminar and immediately investigated wikis and how I could incorporate wikis into my teaching. One month later and now two years later, I can honestly say, “I couldn’t live without my wikis”, and either could the students and faculty within the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program at Montgomery College. The best way to describe a wiki is to have you visit the Wikis In Plain English video clip, by CommonCraft, at http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english . This video is a 4- minute introduction to wikis that illustrates how they can be used to organize a group's information. This video clip explains how a wiki makes it easy to share ideas and information. In many ways using a wiki has become the communication of choice in our program over using e-mail. When using e-mail to get a group to comment on a project, I have often times felt that there is a breakdown of communication, not everyone selects “reply all” and half the participants of the e-mail are left out of parts, if not all, of the correspondence. Using wikis has stopped the breakdown of communication and has allowed the DMS students and faculty to get on the “same page.” Using wikis has increased how we creatively think about tackling projects in our program. Here are a few examples, on how I am currently using wikis. 1. Clinical Wiki – faculty post their Open Scan Lab Schedule for student sign-ups. In one location, students can find when an open scan lab is being offered by every DMS faculty, which students are looking for partners with whom to scan, and when volunteers have offered to come in to be scanned. The DMS clinical wiki has increased our faculty and student interactivity and clinical productivity. 2. Class wiki – the DMS program is an online-blended program where students do not meet weekly for lectures. In addition to the students’ WebCT courses, the class wiki is used as a shared workspace among students and Teaching Tips with Technology
Transcript of Teaching Tips with Technology - Montgomery...
Wiki’s Used for Collaborative Learning Featuring: Dr. Linda Zanin, Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Takoma Park/Silver Spring
I was first introduced to Wikis when I attended a Maryland Distance Learning Association (MDLA) seminar a couple of years ago and heard a professor comment on how their “students couldn’t live without their wiki.” This comment sparked an interesting discussion among the participants about how wikis were being used in distance learning to make learning more interactive, collaborative and student-centered. It was a fascinating discussion, but there was one small problem, I had no idea what a wiki was.
I left that seminar and immediately investigated wikis and how I could incorporate wikis into my teaching. One month later and now two years later, I can honestly say, “I couldn’t live without my wikis”, and either could the students and faculty within the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program at Montgomery College.
The best way to describe a wiki is to have you visit the Wikis In Plain English video clip, by CommonCraft, at http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english. This video is a 4- minute introduction to wikis that illustrates how they can be used to organize a group's information. This video clip explains how a wiki makes it easy to share ideas and information.
In many ways using a wiki has become the communication of choice in our program over using e-mail. When using e-mail to get a group to comment on a project, I have often times felt that there is a breakdown of communication, not everyone selects “reply all” and half the participants of the e-mail are left out of parts, if not all, of the correspondence. Using wikis has stopped the breakdown of communication and has allowed the DMS students and faculty to get on the “same page.”
Using wikis has increased how we creatively think about tackling projects in our program. Here are a few examples, on how I am currently using wikis.
1. Clinical Wiki – faculty post their Open Scan Lab Schedule for student sign-ups. In one location, students can find when an open scan lab is being offered by every DMS faculty, which students are looking for partners with whom to scan, and when volunteers have offered to come in to be scanned. The DMS clinical wiki has increased our faculty and student interactivity and clinical productivity.
2. Class wiki – the DMS program is an online-blended program where students do not meet weekly for lectures. In addition to the students’ WebCT courses, the class wiki is used as a shared workspace among students and
Teaching Tips with Technology
faculty. This wiki is used by all students and faculty across DMS disciplines, encouraging networking among the students and faculty who do not often meet to collaborate in person. The class wiki was a way of bringing all the participants of the DMS program together to communicate and collaborate, regardless of what courses they were enrolled in within WebCT, which only allows for enrolled students of that course to communicate and collaborate. The Class wiki increases communication and networking among all the students and faculty and the feedback and Q & A enhance our students engagement.
3. Project Coordination – the DMS program manages projects through the use of wikis. This past year the DMS program was undergoing program accreditation. Using the wiki to coordinate information that needed to be collected, distributed and analyzed made the self-study process and the outside accrediting body’s site visit manageable.
4. Sharing Technology - the Health Sciences programs at MC shares technologies via our Health Science Technology Wiki. Monthly technologies are introduced and faculty has the opportunity to “check them out” and comment on how they are using them to teach or facilitate learning. Faculty share first hand examples of how the technology has impacted their teaching.
Wikis are fun and easy to use. After viewing the short video clip link that I provided, you too could begin using a wiki to manage projects, coordinate meetings and share ideas.
There are many wiki generators that are free and easy to use, like: www.pbworks.com and www.wikispaces.com/. I can guarantee that once you get started using a wiki, you will also be able to say “I can’t live without my wiki.”
DELT wants to hear it directly from you! If you would like to share your favorite technology tips please contact Gloria Barron at [email protected].
