1.Who designed the wiki? The wiki being evaluated is “The Flat Classroom Project”, http://flatclassroomproject.wikispaces.com/, designed by Vicki Davis (Computer Science teacher and Information Technology Director (Westwood Schools in Georgia, USA)) and Julie Lindsay (Qatar Academy, Qatar).
2. Who is the wiki for? The wiki is a global project for middle and senior high school students.
3. What is the purpose of the wiki? The purpose of the wiki is to discuss the impacts of globalization based on the study of Thomas Friedman’s book, “The World is Flat.” (Davis, 2007) The concept was built around ‘flattening’ the walls of the classroom, to not only work on the project, but work on the project with other classes via virtual means.
4. What subject(s) is the wiki for? The subject the wiki was created for was Computer Science.
5. What are the main contents included? The main contents included information related to the background of the project, student information, and teacher information. Project information included what the project was about, the participants involved, awards noted, the classroom Ning, project review, and student/teacher summits to express their experiences.
Student information included instructions, project calendar, project groups, topics, rubrics, video requirements, student awards, a gallery for different videos captured for the project, and a list of different tasks needed to be outsourced to complete the project.
The teacher information included How-to information, the project outline, lesson plans, and resources needed.
6. How do the participants contribute to the wiki? Participants contribute via Wikispaces, Ning (social networking site), and Airset (Cloud Computer that runs web applications).
7. Do you think the wiki serves its purpose well or not? Explain. I believe that the wiki served its purpose. Not only did it receive acclaim, but I believe that it was a good idea for a project. It seems to be quite a massive objective. I believe that the students were motivated and there seemed to be a lot of interaction and collaboration of all parties involved. Instructions seemed to be very clear. The site contained tons of links to get you where you needed to go, quickly. There was also a Table of Contents within the Wiki noted to the left of each page.
8. Report a thing or two you like and dislike about the wiki. I liked the idea of using Airset to coordinate their calendars across the different time zones. Also, I had not hear of Airset prior, so it was a learning experience that I thought was very interesting. I liked that the wiki has won awards, as well as being featured in Friedman’s updated version of his book. I thought that it was well organized for students and teachers. I did not like that when clicking on the links throughout, they did not open in a new window. There were also some formatting inconsistencies viewed.
Title: Evaluation of An Educational Wiki
1. Who designed the wiki?The wiki being evaluated is “The Flat Classroom Project”, http://flatclassroomproject.wikispaces.com/, designed by Vicki Davis (Computer Science teacher and Information Technology Director (Westwood Schools in Georgia, USA)) and Julie Lindsay (Qatar Academy, Qatar).
2. Who is the wiki for?
The wiki is a global project for middle and senior high school students.
3. What is the purpose of the wiki?
The purpose of the wiki is to discuss the impacts of globalization based on the study of Thomas Friedman’s book, “The World is Flat.” (Davis, 2007) The concept was built around ‘flattening’ the walls of the classroom, to not only work on the project, but work on the project with other classes via virtual means.
4. What subject(s) is the wiki for?
The subject the wiki was created for was Computer Science.
5. What are the main contents included?
The main contents included information related to the background of the project, student information, and teacher information. Project information included what the project was about, the participants involved, awards noted, the classroom Ning, project review, and student/teacher summits to express their experiences.
Student information included instructions, project calendar, project groups, topics, rubrics, video requirements, student awards, a gallery for different videos captured for the project, and a list of different tasks needed to be outsourced to complete the project.
The teacher information included How-to information, the project outline, lesson plans, and resources needed.
6. How do the participants contribute to the wiki?
Participants contribute via Wikispaces, Ning (social networking site), and Airset (Cloud Computer that runs web applications).
7. Do you think the wiki serves its purpose well or not? Explain.
I believe that the wiki served its purpose. Not only did it receive acclaim, but I believe that it was a good idea for a project. It seems to be quite a massive objective. I believe that the students were motivated and there seemed to be a lot of interaction and collaboration of all parties involved. Instructions seemed to be very clear. The site contained tons of links to get you where you needed to go, quickly. There was also a Table of Contents within the Wiki noted to the left of each page.
8. Report a thing or two you like and dislike about the wiki.
I liked the idea of using Airset to coordinate their calendars across the different time zones. Also, I had not hear of Airset prior, so it was a learning experience that I thought was very interesting. I liked that the wiki has won awards, as well as being featured in Friedman’s updated version of his book. I thought that it was well organized for students and teachers.
I did not like that when clicking on the links throughout, they did not open in a new window. There were also some formatting inconsistencies viewed.
Additional Reference:
Davis, Michelle (2007). Wiki Wisdom: Lessons for Educators. http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2007/09/12/02wiki.h01.html. Retrieved March 20, 2011.