Transcript Wiki and Blog Joseph Delaney Teaching Excellence Center Rutgers University, New Brunswick

Wiki and Blog
Joseph Delaney
Teaching Excellence Center
Rutgers University, New Brunswick
Why
Existing “Course Management Systems” are
relatively stagnant
Trends in education are changing
Student Portfolios
Collaborative learning
Current Tools
Example - WebCT 4.1
“Group Project” feature
Private Discussion
Shared directory space and files
No revision control or “check-in/check-out”
Provides a place but not a method
Current Tools
Example - eCollege
“Journal” feature
Private to student, optionally instructor
Not for building community within a course
What is a Wiki Wiki?
Wiki wiki
“Quick” web site creation (content
management)
Anyone Can Edit
Revision Control
Collision handling
Wiki Usage
Mnemonics — //italic//, **bold**, and
__underline__
WordsSmashedTogether create new pages
Page History is “undo”
http://TeachX.rutgers.edu/wakka/
Wikis in Action
The Original Wiki — http://c2.com/cgi/wiki
http://www.wikipedia.org/
Just about any open source documentation
project
Wiki Software
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiEngines
MediaWiki
WikiTikiTavi
Tiki
What is a Blog
Blog / Web Log
Essays, not discussion
Automatic dating and archiving
Comments and “trackback”
Subscriptions (RSS feeds)
Web Log Software
Movable Type, GreyMatter, WordPress,
Radio/Manila
Hosting Services - blogger.com,
livejournal.com, xanga.com, etc.
Syndication - http://blo.gs,
http://www.weblogs.com/
Immediate Needs
Per-user, not centrally available
Alternative at
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/webtools/tiki/
User Accounts on Rutgers Central systems
Apache and PHP
MySQL
Wiki of Choice
WakkaWiki - http://www.wakkawiki.com/
PHP, MySQL
ACLs
Separate comments area
http://TeachX.rutgers.edu/wakka/
Problems with Wakka
Slow Development
Existing Bugs, missing features
Consider forks - WackoWiki, WikkaWiki,
others
Blog of Choice
b2Evolution — http://b2evolution.net/
PHP, MySQL (the deciding factor)
Multiple bloggers, multiple blogs
ACLs (new feature)
Sibling of WordPress
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~jpd/b2evolution/blogs/
Problems with
b2evolution
Feature-drunk
Unpolished, interface not fully finished
Administrative tasks increase with each
student
Example Uses
Larry Scanlon/Nicole Smith — Chaucer
Mary Jo Watts — Gender and Technology
When to use Wiki
Collaborative work
Write - comment - revise process
Partial MUD/MOO replacement
When to use Blogs
Student Portfolios
Reflective writing
Creative Writing
Training and Use
Blogs are familiar to some students
Wikis are easy to learn
Psychological barriers to “anyone can edit”
Complex environment = resistance
Additional
Considerations
Public access versus password protected
Spam
Ownership and long-term use
Assessment of Gender
and Tech Course
Students resisted collaborative work
Contrary to “normal” practices
Divided tasks, one person given the wiki
Wanted to use more familiar tools (MS
Word, IM/text-messaging, e-mail)
Initially felt wiki was “too difficult”
Assessment of Gender
and Tech Course
Wiki became most popular tool, used for:
Discussions
Address book
Project management
eGroupware’s file manager still used for
sharing files
Assessment of Gender
and Tech Course
Things to do Differently
Structure group project to ensure everyone
contributes (the wiki is not a task to be
assigned)
Rules for name-space collisions
Incorporate instant messaging
Chaucer
Wiki software was used to emulate blog
function
Few if any student problems
TA pre-built the structure
Wikis and Blogs
Joseph Delaney
http://TeachX.rutgers.edu/
[email protected]
(732) 932-7466