Hi!
I am trying to design a course with Moodle, where the main feature is that students
1. Write individual paper
2. comment on and discuss their papers in groups of 5-7 students.
I want to avoid uploading/downloading of documents, and therefore let students "submit" their papers as a wiki-page. However, I find no easy way to connect a commentary or discussion to the wiki pages (like for instance in Mediawiki where you can discuss every single page).
Also: I would like to have an opening wiki page that simply lists the names of the students and links to the pages where they have submitted their papers. But if I use a student-wiki I find no such "organizing page" (did this sound confusing??).
I am grateful for any help and suggestions, and if you have any implemented soultions that I could have a look on, I'd appreciate a lot!!
Magnus Larsson
Lund university, Sweden
Hello Magnus,
I too love and use wikis a lot. But the wiki in Moodle is not what I would call production quality. It dies under load. Unless you have monster RAM on your server I would be very careful on depending on the wiki. Sorry to say, but proceed into the Moodle wiki with great caution and scale your wiki assignments accordingly.
Dennis
I too love and use wikis a lot. But the wiki in Moodle is not what I would call production quality. It dies under load. Unless you have monster RAM on your server I would be very careful on depending on the wiki. Sorry to say, but proceed into the Moodle wiki with great caution and scale your wiki assignments accordingly.
Dennis
Dennis,
Thanks, that is very important information, as stability is one major reason for me to use moodle.....
So how do you yourself use wikis? Do you have another wiki that Moodle links to? I have considered that, but find no wiki where I could controll access as in Moodle.
Magnus
Thanks, that is very important information, as stability is one major reason for me to use moodle.....
So how do you yourself use wikis? Do you have another wiki that Moodle links to? I have considered that, but find no wiki where I could controll access as in Moodle.
Magnus
High Magnus,
I do use Wikis a lot and love them. I'm not experiencing the problems that Dennis have. My most populated course has 102 students.
Using the wiki module is not possible to enforce what you want: to ensure that each student has editing access to his page, and group members can see an comment on. Using a student wiki means essentially that each separate student has his own wiki. Depending on group mode, the wiki can be visible for other students. But there is no such "organizing page" because that's not a page of the wiki: the link in main course page drives each user to his own wiki.
If wikis of other students are available for visualitation (not editing), the student will find a dropbox at the top right to select the wiki to see.
However there are several solutions for you use case:
a) A single Group Wiki (with social rules to avoid students trashing the works of others)
In the main page you can setup a list of the students names members of that group, with links to secondary pages. In each of those each students write his paper.
At the end of the paper there may be a list of links to tertiary pages for comments of that page by peers.
As everybody in the group can edit any page, rules are needed not to change the pages of peer students. This form of work is fine for trusted groups.
b) Two wikis
You can setup a student wiki (in visible or separate groupmode). There each student can write his paper. No other student can edit it, only seeing
In addition you setup a second Wiki as a group Wiki. There the main page can contain a table with pairs of a) link to the paper Wiki of each student in the group b) link to secondary page in this wiki for comments on that paper by peers.
c) Use a glossary or a forum
Wikis do not have a "comment" or "discussion" feature.
But you may ask students to write their papers as the main text of a glossary entry. Peers can add comments to that text.
Another possibility is using a student wiki for writing papers, and an associated forum to discuss it (may be in separate groups mode). If you expect vivid discussion, with arguing between several positions, then a forum is better that plain flat comments in either a wiki or a glossary.
Hope that helps
- Enrique -
I do use Wikis a lot and love them. I'm not experiencing the problems that Dennis have. My most populated course has 102 students.
Using the wiki module is not possible to enforce what you want: to ensure that each student has editing access to his page, and group members can see an comment on. Using a student wiki means essentially that each separate student has his own wiki. Depending on group mode, the wiki can be visible for other students. But there is no such "organizing page" because that's not a page of the wiki: the link in main course page drives each user to his own wiki.
If wikis of other students are available for visualitation (not editing), the student will find a dropbox at the top right to select the wiki to see.
However there are several solutions for you use case:
a) A single Group Wiki (with social rules to avoid students trashing the works of others)
In the main page you can setup a list of the students names members of that group, with links to secondary pages. In each of those each students write his paper.
At the end of the paper there may be a list of links to tertiary pages for comments of that page by peers.
As everybody in the group can edit any page, rules are needed not to change the pages of peer students. This form of work is fine for trusted groups.
b) Two wikis
You can setup a student wiki (in visible or separate groupmode). There each student can write his paper. No other student can edit it, only seeing
In addition you setup a second Wiki as a group Wiki. There the main page can contain a table with pairs of a) link to the paper Wiki of each student in the group b) link to secondary page in this wiki for comments on that paper by peers.
c) Use a glossary or a forum
Wikis do not have a "comment" or "discussion" feature.
But you may ask students to write their papers as the main text of a glossary entry. Peers can add comments to that text.
Another possibility is using a student wiki for writing papers, and an associated forum to discuss it (may be in separate groups mode). If you expect vivid discussion, with arguing between several positions, then a forum is better that plain flat comments in either a wiki or a glossary.
Hope that helps
- Enrique -
Hi Enrique!
Yes, I find this helpful. The idea of using a group wiki for discussion is great, I'll have to have a closer look at that.
Otherwise, I guess the way to "link" wiki pages to forums would be to make a teacher wiki (that students do not edit) where I put links to each students pages AND to the forum, so navigation becomes fast and easy (relatively).
Do you or anyone else have any examples that one could have a look at, as guest? Nothing is as concrete as examples..
Regards,
Magnus
Yes, I find this helpful. The idea of using a group wiki for discussion is great, I'll have to have a closer look at that.
Otherwise, I guess the way to "link" wiki pages to forums would be to make a teacher wiki (that students do not edit) where I put links to each students pages AND to the forum, so navigation becomes fast and easy (relatively).
Do you or anyone else have any examples that one could have a look at, as guest? Nothing is as concrete as examples..
Regards,
Magnus
I create a Wiki page called "class list" with all the [student names] checked. From this list I ask each student to create a personal page that lists all the other pages that they have authored. I can use this information and the attached technology wiki rubric to very easily assess their contribution and navigate through their work.
Hi! And thanks. I take the idea of a "class list". But it has to be manually created, right?
Thanks for the Rubic as well, it is inspiring.
Regards,
Magnus
Thanks for the Rubic as well, it is inspiring.
Regards,
Magnus
Yes, just by cutting and pasting a class list into a wiki page then setting the links by adding brackets around each name [Roland Gesthuizen]. Takes me a few min to do or being a wiki, you can ask a student to do it for you.
Only one page got vandalised so I got the vandal to redeem themselves by working on a class code of wiki practice. Admit it was easier as we are working from a computer lab.
I have two sample wiki's we made .. any easy way to export to view or share?
Hi!
I'd much appreciate to have a look at your samples. If you can export, I guess I can import into my Moodle. Or have a look as guest?
Magnus
I'd much appreciate to have a look at your samples. If you can export, I guess I can import into my Moodle. Or have a look as guest?
Magnus
Hmm, I tried creating a course backup file and removing the user info with no luck. Sadly, this also strips out the wiki that was constructed by the users.
Must be another way around this problem so that Wiki;s can be shared between courses and schools.