--- Forwarded Message from Lauren Rosen <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:29:27 -0500
>From: Lauren Rosen <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #9225 WIKIS AND BLOGS
>In-reply-to: <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum   
<[log in to unmask]>
>References: <[log in to unmask]>

Dr. Ward,

The short answer is expect a ton from your students and they will do  
their best to meet those expectations. We have been using wikis for  
several years now with our Japanese students and by late September- 
early October, 1st semester students are writing short paragraphs  
about themselves, including pictures and short videos of things such  
as their daily routine. These are students that first had to learn to  
type using the Japanese font and didn't start class until at least the  
first of Sept. (By law in WI public universities can't start before  
the first). As a Spanish teacher who knows wikipedia, your students  
will have no trouble using it. It will be similar to them typing into  
a word processor and the students are already so use to these  
technologies just from using facebook and so forth that they adapt  
very quickly. Remember they have been posting videos and photos to  
YouTube and similar sites for a long time now.

My recommendation is to focus on your instructional and learning  
goals. Give students a clear idea of your expectations, perhaps in a  
rubric, and use the wiki and/or blog regularly. You may decide to not  
do regular compositions/papers as they will be writing more and more  
often using the technology. I also recommend that what you have them  
do in your wiki or blog is connected directly to what they are  
learning in class as well as being personalized connecting it to  
themselves. Then also design your writing assessments on tests to be  
similar in topic to what they have practiced in their online writing.

Finally, one of the things that these technologies allows for that is  
hugely important is a broader audience. Your students are no longer  
writing just for you. They are writing for their classmates and  
whomever else has access to the content based on how broadly you want  
their work shared. You will likely find that they take more care in  
what they write and their precision in writing it when they know and  
understand that others are reading it. Make part of the assignment  
that they need to read and comment on each others writing. You'll want  
to organize this so that students aren't only reading one person and  
the rest of the students don't get comments. Teach them about  
constructive commenting (compliment, present a problem, suggest a  
solution to make it better). This will help them in knowing what might  
be appropriate to write as a comment and will help the author to  
improve. Have the authors follow up after the comments adding more  
information in response to their readers. At the same time, design the  
writing so that for a student who didn't get a comment on a particular  
posting still has more they can add to demonstrate what they know and  
can say/do in the language.

I don't want to overwhelm you with what we have learned through doing  
this but feel free to ask more questions. I could go on for a while on  
this topic.
Lauren Rosen
Collaborative Language Program
University of Wisconsin
618 Van Hise Hall
1220 Linden Drive
Madison, WI  53706

[log in to unmask]
608-262-4066 (voice)
608-265-3892 (fax)
http://www.uwosh.edu/cols/clp/

El Sep 4, 2009, a las 7:06 AM, LLTI-Editor escribio:

> Hi all, I'm transitioning my class from a web 1.0 organizational
> structure (hand-tooled html and java: these pages were like my babies,
> it's sad to say goodbye to them!) to a more 2.0 place:  I'm using
> wikispaces for overall course structure, blogs to replace diaries,  
> prezi
> instead of PowerPoint (thanks for that tip, Jorg), animoto...  I'm
> really excited, and the students are on-board completely.
>
> My general question is: for those that have already made that
> transition, what are some pitfalls that can be avoided, and what are
> some general words of guidance you can offer?
>
> My more specific question is: with regard to the wiki, how much  
> Spanish
> production can I or should I expect from the students there?  Or,  
> should
> that be a langauge neutral area: the importance of content superceding
> that of language production?
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> V/R
>
> Alexander Waid, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor of Spanish
> Department of Humanities
> United States Coast Guard Academy (dh)
> 27 Mohegan Avenue
> New London, CT 06320-4195
> 860-701-6866
> [log in to unmask]
>
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