After a brief explanation of the project and the site in the classroom, I turned my students loose to play with their pages. Now, the assignment was simple. They were asked to find a visual that demonstrated the opposition to the argument they were working with all semester. I asked them to place this in the center of their page and use the remainder of the space to refute that argument using any of the means available through PikiWiki. They did an excellent job.

But what I truly loved about PikiWiki was the fact that I did not have to hold any of my students’ hands through the experiment. Even those who are terrified of computers were able to do a great job with their page. And, it allowed those who knew more about technology to help out those who were struggling with the site.

But I think the biggest benefit to PikiWiki was to those who were not techno-savvy. They had the chance to work with technology and come to realize that if they experiment and try new ways of working with technology, it’s not as scary as they perceived. Even one of my less techno-savvy students has said that she will use the site in the future for visual presentations if her professors will let her.

In the end, I give PikiWiki two thumbs up. Below are pages created with PikiWiki by both a techno-savvy student and a techno-illiterate student. Take a look. I’ve rated them by the student’s technology capabilities over the course of the semester. You’ll notice that they’re both well done pages and without the identification of the student’s skills, you would never know which page was done by the techno-savvy student.

Benefits of Standardized Testing (a techno-illiterate by her own definition)

Legalizing Marijuana (a techno-savvy student)

I’ll be posting a few more times on this subject as we work through this. I firmly believe that keeping up with what’s going on in this unit will give some essential information to me about using PikiWiki in future semesters and I think that this information can help those who are considering using this technology. They’re going to spend only two class periods working on this assignment since it’s a brief assignment and I think that they can accomplish what is needed in the short two days of class. Normally, when I do an oral presentation I spend at least one full class period showing students how to use the technology (PowerPoint, Dream-Weaver, etc.). However, given the ease with which students have already begun picking up this technology, I’m going to see if we can get the discussion and brainstorm of their project done in the same day that I introduce them to the site. I think that this is possible, but we’re going to find out (I have a few “wiggle room” days if it doesn’t go successfully). So here’s the plan for this assignment.

Overview of the assignment

My students have spent the majority of the semester working on an argumentative essay on a specific topic and they will use this topic for their third writing assignment. I am asking them to find a visual aid (YouTube video, poster, visual on a website, etc) that takes the opposite view they argued in their paper. So, if a student wrote about being for abortion, then they can use an anti-abortion sign as their visual aid. I’ve already run each of their topics through the great Google Imager, so I know that finding an image will not be a problem. They are then going to use the sign as a basis for their pikiwiki. They are going to use the image to create a visual/oral response to the image. On their page, they are going to respond to the image using any means they can within the confines of pikiwiki. This gives them the option to:

• Talk about the weakness of the image in an audio
• add a second image to refute the first
• add comments to the image with post-it notes
• emphasize points in text

I’m not giving them an extreme amount of guidance on what to do. I’m telling them that based on the argument they presented in their essay, they need to demonstrate why the visual they chose is wrong. They need to argue, via PikiWiki, for a correct statement of the opposition. For example, if they are using the aforementioned anti-abortion ad, they should point out any fallacies in the argument and refute these through any means necessary. I’ve got a week to nail down the specifics and I want to detail the process and progress of this assignment as it plays out in the actual classroom (these are my favorite types of posts). So, before next Tuesday, I’ll post their official assignment and I’ll be posting on their progress all week (and through any extra time they need).

Stay tuned!

Tuesday, I took advantage of an opportunity to teach my students a small Blackboard trick that they would be able to use throughout their academic career. Then, one of my students stopped me as I was leaving the lab. She wanted to talk about a post on this blog that she had read (more on how she got that link coming on Monday). She had read the post on pikiwiki and student presentations and wanted to know if there was a chance that I could be convinced to use it this semester. I told her to argue for it in a comment (which she did effectively–it’s on the post. You should read it). Another one of my students even went so far as to create her own pikiwiki. Check it out here

Then came Wednesday. I’ve been talking all year about needing a mentoring program for our first year instructors. I threw myself on the sword last year and again this year and took on three new teachers who needed some help. Overall, it wasn’t a lot on my part. I just answered questions and gave advice when needed. Since my career plan is to take on a job as a WPA (Writing Program Administrator), this will essentially help me with this endeavor. I know that when I take over as a WPA at a university, I want to make sure that the program I am in charge of has a good mentoring program. So I spent Wednesday (my normal lazy-off campus day) sitting in the office, reading over portions of teaching portfolios and suggesting changes for specific documents. I was really feeling like I had a purpose and was making a difference.

Then came Thursday. I thought to teach my students to use a new technology. Then, I had an awesome discussion with them involving their papers. I have to say that these students are coming up with some rather unique topics and I think this is because of the method that I used to have them brainstorm. So, I’m giving myself a big pat on the back there. And as I stood there helping them start thinking about the points they want to make in their essays, I had a student who just announced in class that it was a “great way” to put the argument together. But they amaze me on their own. I’ve got them thinking critically about their essays and what to include and they came up with great questions during class today. These are not normal questions that my students ask, so take a look at these:

• Can I use a survey in my essay? Do I need to find one or can I do my own?
• Can I use song lyrics in my essay?
• I’m not arguing specifically for my topic. How do I add parameters to my thesis statement?

Honestly, I don’t get these questions on a regular basis. I think I’ve grown as a teacher, but I also think that this speaks to the abilities students have when they’re given adequate preparation.
I also had a chance to meet with one of our potential graduate students this week and had the presence of mind to give her one of the packets I designed for potential and new students. I’ve been talking about them in the office all year, but this was the first chance (outside of a conference our university hosted earlier this year) I had to give out one of these packets. I was suddenly glad that I had created them.

But this post was not intended to sound like chest thumping. I’ll admit that I’m amazed at all that I’ve done this week. But more than that, I’m also feeling extremely motivated to keep putting these ideas into action. We’ll see how well things go from here on out. Look for more coffee breaks in the future. There’s a lot more bragging about my students in my pedagogy post for Monday. I would normally put it here, but I don’t want to be too repetitive.

More to come!

I followed a link from somewhere to pikiwiki the other day and I think I’ve found a new technology that would be great for student presentations. Let me explain.

I usually have students do a group presentation each semester and require them to incorporate some form of visual with their presentation. I’ve always asked them to consider creating a wiki or a website, yet I always end up with nothing more than a simple PowerPoint. I know that part of this is because some of them are not sure about how to create a website or a wiki. Unfortunately, this is a complex thing to teach in a class (believe it or not). I try to get my students to create visual aids that supplement their presentations instead of creating presentations they read. However, no matter how much I try, it seems that my students are always putting ALL of their information into the PowerPoint and then simply reading it to the class. So, I think this is one area where a website would benefit them. So, I’ve been pondering ways to teach them to create a visual aid where they can use the features of the aid as talking points without reading directly from it. I think pikiwiki can do this. Why? Read on.

Pikiwiki works like a wiki–but with NO programming (CSS or HTML) required. Students can type in text boxes and then drag these boxes around where they want. They can resize their text, color, it and change the font, all with the same forms of technology they use in their email, blogs, and MySpace pages. They can drag and drop pictures and move them around as they wish. They can record audio or link a YouTube video. They can add images and change the color of the background. It’s fabulous in my opinion. Why?

First, students are limited to create one page at a time, so they have to focus on putting the most important information on that one page. This means they have to think carefully about the specifically about the videos and images they upload. They also have to think about what specific text is on the page and how they arrange everything. I think that, in the classroom, this will allow me to spend more time focusing on creating a better visual aid (and thinking outside the box) than I spend trying to teach each individual group how to write a wiki in only a few ways. Instead, I can use a longer assignment later in the semester and have each one create a page for a wiki. This way, we can walk through this technology step by step.

Second, pikiwiki makes students collaborate on a higher level than other formats do. Powerpoint, wikis and even websites all allow each group member to create their own slides or pages. However, I think that asking each group to create only one pikiwiki page will require them to collaborate on a more complex level. This means that students returning to their personal computer to do “their part” and then come together to only discuss the background and order of the pages is a thing of the past. With pikiwiki, each group member is required to talk about all aspects of the page to make sure that the page has the best impact for the presentation. They will have to decide which of the flicker images or YouTube videos they want to use instead of using each of them.

Finally, I think that using pikiwiki can help students learn to collaborate on the level they will need in the real world. By asking students to collaborate on every aspect of the page, they will gain experiences that can be used far beyond the classroom. So, I think that it would be a good idea to ask students to keep a journal of their experiences as they go. This way, they can reflect back on the big decisions that came with the collaboration. In this journal they can discuss the choices for video and image layouts. They can discuss the way the group collaborated on the text that was included with the page and how decisions were made on the final product. It might even be a good idea to have students write a reflective essay (if you teach an English class, this is another good way to get students an essay credit while further talking about their use of technology) in which they discuss their journals and their collaborative projects in a more detailed, organized manner.

For more on pikiwiki (and a brief discussion) see the short video below. It’s brief, but a simple preview. Just remember, the rest of the post is below the video

Now, since I fully believe that we should all try out the technology before considering it in the class, I decided to make my own page. The great thing is, not only does the page allow me to share it with you, but it allows you to edit it as you wish (a setting that can be turned off, but please don’t). So here’s what I’m proposing. For all of you reading this who are considering using pikiwiki in your classes, check out the page and edit it. Then, post a picture of the updated page on your blog and talk about it. Make sure to send me a link.

Here’s the link to the page I created.

Here’s a visual of the page. So, what are you waiting for? Try it and post it. Let me know what you think.