Wikis and Collaborative Writing
The Ultranet Wiki
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Collaborative writing is where a group of people have worked together to create a piece of writing, and has more than one author. Collaborative writing is a skill that requires learning; it consists of peer assessment and editing, peer feedback, co-writing, co-publishing, co-responding and helping one another. Students need to be taught to not only edit their work, but another’s work, and to look at the editing process as feedback on the content and quality.
Peer assessment and peer feedback can be just as important and effective as the teacher’s feedback. To work collaboratively, students discover and learn from each other, they encourage one another and foster each other’s learning. When writing collaboratively, students have the ability to edit each other’s work, correct spelling and grammar errors, and insert or delete text to clarify ideas. However, both Grant, (2009)and Meishar‐Tal & Gorsky, (2010) found that students were more likely to add text rather than delete their peers work, and at times, there was hostility between students when they corrected each other’s work. Meishar‐Tal & & Gorsky believes that these difficulties must be overcome in order for students to work collaboratively, (2010 pp 27). Collaborative writing is not new, however, the tools that empower students to write collaboratively are.
To effectively teach collaboration, we must teach our students what collaboration is, how the process of collaboration is done, and what tools can support collaboration (Lending, 2010 pp 12). A wiki is a great example of how collaborative writing can be integrated with web 2.0 technology. Wiki means quick or fast in Hawaiian. A wiki is a set of web pages that have an open editing system, with the ability to add, delete or change text, graphics or links. Using is a wiki is highly collaborative, and the most well known and probably the largest wiki is the Wikipedia.
As educators, we must learn to incorporate collaborative technologies in a way that will help students use them effectively in their personal and professional lives (Tharp, 2010 pp 46). Wikis enable students to interact with one another, to share ideas, clarify ideas and to assess their peers contribution in terms of language used, spelling errors or even to encourage and praise them for their work. The Ultranet contains its own wiki, which you add as an application.
For students as well as teachers, the wiki allows multiple users to edit and add to the wiki. However, the Ultranet wiki does not allow more than one user at a time to work on it and update the page, sometimes work can be lost if two people work simultaneously on the one wiki and press save at the same time. In a group work situation within a classroom, it may be necessary to have pages for each student to work on within the wiki, and this will eliminate the problem.
When using the Ultranet wiki, it is possible to see ‘Recent Changes’, meaning that you are able to see which student has last added or edited the wiki. The Ultranet wiki also allows you to see comparisons of versions of a page, enabling you to see exactly what each student has written, their insertions and deletions of pre-written text. This may not seem important, but if groups of students are working together online, it is important to see how they worked together, which student was able to correct spelling errors, if one student didn’t participate as often, or if another student created more graphics etc.
Working online with a wiki enables students to work at home, even across geographical distances, so it may not be possible for the students to ask one another questions in the same room or in real time, therefore a discussion forum is ideal. The Ultranet wiki enables students to leave comments at the end of each page. The comments can prove very helpful for students to ask one another questions regarding their work, questions relating to suitable graphics, more or less information or even just encouraging one another. The Ultranet also has a chat application, which would be useful if students are working online outside of school hours, or even two schools working together, which would allow students to chat to each other in real time.
Wikis are fun and highly interactive. They encourage students to participate with one another and to collaborate together. There are many ways to introduce wikis into the classroom, here are just a few:
- Presentations to the class
- Reader’s guide: students add information about boor, characters, plot that is being read to the class
- Explore Unit of Work: students add their own information, share knowledge, graphics, links to other websites, books to read etc
- Peer review: students post work on wiki for others to edit and comment on
- Fan club: create a fan club of favourite artist or sportsperson, add graphics, quotes, achievements etc
- Choose your own adventure story: begin a story, each child creates new pages that branch and lead the story on another journey
- Multiple Author Story: students begin a story, each contributing where the last student left off
- Classroom Scrapbook: share news, events, achievements for a class of students
- Classroom Newspaper: Share news, upcoming events, homework, etc for parents and students
- Recipe Book: families contribute favourite family recipes
- International Sharing: work with an overseas from another country, share images, recipes, to show differences in culture, create “A Day in the Life Of...”
- Cybersafety Policies: Students draft rules and policies concerning cyber safety
- School Rules: Students draft rules regarding school rules
- Teacher Collaboration – share lesson plans, websites, activities
Wikis are a great tool for collaborative writing, but it is not the only tool. StoryBird is a free Web 2.0 tool that can also foster collaborative writing and group skills. Storybird does not have the components a wiki has, but it allows for students to work together and create a beautifully illustrated story.
Grant, L. ( 2009). ‘I DON’T CARE DO UR OWN PAGE!’ A case study of using wikis for collaborative work in a UK secondary school. Learning, Media and Technology , 34 (2), 105-117.
Lending, D. (2010). Using a Wiki to Collaborate on a Study Guide. Journal of Information Systems Education , 21 (1), 5-13.
Meishar‐Tal, H., & & Gorsky, P. (2010). Wikis: what students do and do not do when writing collaboratively. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning , 25 (1), 25-35.
Sutherland, J. A., & Topping, K. J. (1999). Collaborative creating writing in eight year olds. Journal of Research in Reading , 22 (2), 154-179.
Tharp, T. L. (2010). “Wiki, Wiki, Wiki—What?" Online Collaborative Writing. English Journal , 99 (5), 40-46.
Peer assessment and peer feedback can be just as important and effective as the teacher’s feedback. To work collaboratively, students discover and learn from each other, they encourage one another and foster each other’s learning. When writing collaboratively, students have the ability to edit each other’s work, correct spelling and grammar errors, and insert or delete text to clarify ideas. However, both Grant, (2009)and Meishar‐Tal & Gorsky, (2010) found that students were more likely to add text rather than delete their peers work, and at times, there was hostility between students when they corrected each other’s work. Meishar‐Tal & & Gorsky believes that these difficulties must be overcome in order for students to work collaboratively, (2010 pp 27). Collaborative writing is not new, however, the tools that empower students to write collaboratively are.
To effectively teach collaboration, we must teach our students what collaboration is, how the process of collaboration is done, and what tools can support collaboration (Lending, 2010 pp 12). A wiki is a great example of how collaborative writing can be integrated with web 2.0 technology. Wiki means quick or fast in Hawaiian. A wiki is a set of web pages that have an open editing system, with the ability to add, delete or change text, graphics or links. Using is a wiki is highly collaborative, and the most well known and probably the largest wiki is the Wikipedia.
As educators, we must learn to incorporate collaborative technologies in a way that will help students use them effectively in their personal and professional lives (Tharp, 2010 pp 46). Wikis enable students to interact with one another, to share ideas, clarify ideas and to assess their peers contribution in terms of language used, spelling errors or even to encourage and praise them for their work. The Ultranet contains its own wiki, which you add as an application.
For students as well as teachers, the wiki allows multiple users to edit and add to the wiki. However, the Ultranet wiki does not allow more than one user at a time to work on it and update the page, sometimes work can be lost if two people work simultaneously on the one wiki and press save at the same time. In a group work situation within a classroom, it may be necessary to have pages for each student to work on within the wiki, and this will eliminate the problem.
When using the Ultranet wiki, it is possible to see ‘Recent Changes’, meaning that you are able to see which student has last added or edited the wiki. The Ultranet wiki also allows you to see comparisons of versions of a page, enabling you to see exactly what each student has written, their insertions and deletions of pre-written text. This may not seem important, but if groups of students are working together online, it is important to see how they worked together, which student was able to correct spelling errors, if one student didn’t participate as often, or if another student created more graphics etc.
Working online with a wiki enables students to work at home, even across geographical distances, so it may not be possible for the students to ask one another questions in the same room or in real time, therefore a discussion forum is ideal. The Ultranet wiki enables students to leave comments at the end of each page. The comments can prove very helpful for students to ask one another questions regarding their work, questions relating to suitable graphics, more or less information or even just encouraging one another. The Ultranet also has a chat application, which would be useful if students are working online outside of school hours, or even two schools working together, which would allow students to chat to each other in real time.
Wikis are fun and highly interactive. They encourage students to participate with one another and to collaborate together. There are many ways to introduce wikis into the classroom, here are just a few:
- Presentations to the class
- Reader’s guide: students add information about boor, characters, plot that is being read to the class
- Explore Unit of Work: students add their own information, share knowledge, graphics, links to other websites, books to read etc
- Peer review: students post work on wiki for others to edit and comment on
- Fan club: create a fan club of favourite artist or sportsperson, add graphics, quotes, achievements etc
- Choose your own adventure story: begin a story, each child creates new pages that branch and lead the story on another journey
- Multiple Author Story: students begin a story, each contributing where the last student left off
- Classroom Scrapbook: share news, events, achievements for a class of students
- Classroom Newspaper: Share news, upcoming events, homework, etc for parents and students
- Recipe Book: families contribute favourite family recipes
- International Sharing: work with an overseas from another country, share images, recipes, to show differences in culture, create “A Day in the Life Of...”
- Cybersafety Policies: Students draft rules and policies concerning cyber safety
- School Rules: Students draft rules regarding school rules
- Teacher Collaboration – share lesson plans, websites, activities
Wikis are a great tool for collaborative writing, but it is not the only tool. StoryBird is a free Web 2.0 tool that can also foster collaborative writing and group skills. Storybird does not have the components a wiki has, but it allows for students to work together and create a beautifully illustrated story.
Grant, L. ( 2009). ‘I DON’T CARE DO UR OWN PAGE!’ A case study of using wikis for collaborative work in a UK secondary school. Learning, Media and Technology , 34 (2), 105-117.
Lending, D. (2010). Using a Wiki to Collaborate on a Study Guide. Journal of Information Systems Education , 21 (1), 5-13.
Meishar‐Tal, H., & & Gorsky, P. (2010). Wikis: what students do and do not do when writing collaboratively. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning , 25 (1), 25-35.
Sutherland, J. A., & Topping, K. J. (1999). Collaborative creating writing in eight year olds. Journal of Research in Reading , 22 (2), 154-179.
Tharp, T. L. (2010). “Wiki, Wiki, Wiki—What?" Online Collaborative Writing. English Journal , 99 (5), 40-46.