[LM_NET] SHARE: Wiki for Freshman Orientation

[Shonda Brisco <sbrisco@GMAIL.COM>]

Some of you have asked questions about the Freshman Orientation
project that I've done, so I'm sending you a link to what the students
created.


http://moncrieflibrary.pbwiki.com/

Click SIDEBAR (on the right-hand side of the page--white box) to see
the content pages.

The students were divided into different groups (I had about 7 classes
of freshmen students working on the project throughout the three
weeks.  I only had classes with them on Wednesday--but it was an
all-day teaching assignment for that month, basically.)

You can figure out what types of questions were asked based upon the
information that the students offered.  In addition, each student was
assigned a database to review and learn more about---we had 93 online
databases available.  We also had two video streaming products to
review.

I had approximately 90+ students and they created 90 wiki pages of
content in three weeks (a lesson in how a wiki is born).  In order to
create a page (or edit a page), the student(s) would log-in and begin
work.  The interesting game that was discovered along the way included
"stealing the lock."  When someone edited a page, they were given
approximately 5 minutes to complete their edit.  If the time expired,
another student would be given the opportunity to "steal the lock" or
stop the current student from editing and causing an access
"shut-down" of the page by the "editing hog" ---as the students called
the one who would not finish in a timely fashion.  The game in the
classroom was "steal the lock" which resulted in many team members
trying to edit the pages by kicking off their team members after the 5
minutes had expired.  It became fun to watch how the students would
interact by kicking each other off and making corrections to the pages
or adding new content.  (It was like watching a furious newsroom
before a broadcast or a publication!  The journalism teacher in me
LOVED the activity!)

The students had to explain how to access and (if possible) use the
online catalog (although this was also taught later in different
research projects).  The basic goal was to let them "play around" with
the resources enough to pique their interest in the programs.  Many of
the students later told me that they really liked the databases that
were assigned to them---and I did allow teams for some of the more
difficult databases like MEDLINE.

For many of the students, it was the first time they had ever been
give the "opportunity" to create something without specific directions
and direct hand-holding guidance from a teacher (more creativity and
critical thinking skills were involved).  Some complained that it
wasn't a "fill in the blank" project like they had in the past---which
is what I wanted to get away from, obviously.  This project required
that they put some effort into learning something and then teaching
others by presenting their facts online for the world to see (the idea
of a world-wide publication was scary for some too because they did
not want to appear "stupid"...which, I don't think they did at all!)
Members of the groups were required to edit and critique as they went
through the process but I found that they were very supportive and did
a great job working through their differences (something that would be
ideal in the "real world of work.")

If you have any other questions, let me know....by the way, the PBwiki
online is FREE....the one that we used was free and you can see how
much stuff we piled into it!    http://www.pbwiki.com


~Shonda

-- 
Shonda Brisco, MLIS
Library Media / Technology Specialist
Digital Bookends wiki / blog:
http://digitalbookends.pbwiki.com
http://shonda.edublogs.org/
sbrisco@gmail.com

"Digital Resources" columnist
School Library Journal

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