Collaborative Literacy: Wikified Notes

One of the things I am trying for the second time this semester, is assigning wiki contributions as part of my class. I tried this last semester with mixed results. I created a wiki and suggested topics for students to contribute on, and had the class work on it as a whole, with the expectation that all of the information on the wiki would help them with their midterms and final projects. My problem was in not providing enough structure. So, this semester I did something a bit different, had set expectations, and have been working with students to get them to contribute since the first weeks of class, rather than all at once. Again, I have had mixed results. What this boils down to is needing to find the right mix of guidelines and freedom. Enter The Salt Box and Wikified Class Notes. Jason Jones’s post covers his framing of the wiki assignment, the reasons he uses it, and the specific guidlines he gives students. ( I wish I had found this before I started my semester.) Like me Jason uses PBWiki (which I think is not the most feature rich platform, but it is free, caters to educators and is easy to use for those not familiar with wikis).