NOSTT/Projects/Workshop Report
Introduction
This wikieducator workshop (21-22 July, 2008) was the first in a series of seven wiki workshops held for teachers during the July-August vacation period, 2008. It was facilitated by Mrs. Elia Grant-Fraser (Mauritius VUSSC bootcamper, 2006) and Courseware Manager at the Distance Education Unit / NOSTT. It was held at St. Francois Girls' College in Belmont and it followed the WikiEducator Newbie tutorials course outline. Participants came from secondary schools throughout the country and were as follows:
- Shreematie Mahabir
- Lynda Ramsook
- Simone Johnson
- Michelle Blackwell
- Sucheta Beharry
- Melisha Morgan
- Asha Watson
- Rosanna Poon-Kumar
- Nicki-Riis Lezama
- Lisa Lezama
- Jeneil Jem Lawrence-Tardieu
- Gerard Cropper
- Carla McKenzie
- Tricia Jollie-Celestine
- Nicolette Plowden
- Lauren Marcano
- Yngrid Rivas-Martineaux
- Yola Lewis
- Cecelia Mass Viur
- Michelle Stoute-Lopez
- Wendy Wilson
- Carol Cook
- Shiraz Mohammed
- Carl Noel
The workshop, entitled Collaborative Open Content Development introduced teachers to the process of collaborative content development and a collaborative content development tool called WikiEducator. Teachers worked in teams to plan, develop, review and publish open content (lesson plans) in chosen subject areas and grade levels.
Training Objectives
- to explain the concept of Open Content
- to explain the purspose and benefits of wikis
- to engage participants in the process of collaborative courseware development using the Derek Keats model
- to introduce participants to the key features of WikiEducator
- to establish learning communities that can work on content development even upon completion of the workshop
- to enable participants to be certified at the WikiBuddy level
- to widen the circle of WikiEducator ambassadors
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the workshop, participants were able to:
- explain the benefits of wikis
- explain how wikis can be used in the classroom
- create an account and log in to WikiEducator
- edit and format text
- create new pages and links
- upload images and media
- use elements of collaborative editing
- communicate in wikieducator
- create structured content using pedagogical templates
Areas of Focus
- Orientation to NOSTT
- About Web 2.0 technologies
- The concept of free and open content
- Open content licenses
- What is a wiki?
- Types and examples of wikis
- Wikis in education
- Introduction to WikiEducator
- Creating an account in WikiEducator
- Editing Basics
- Basic Text Formatting
- Creating new Pages and Links
- Inserting images and other media
- Collaborative editing
- Talk pages and other useful features
- Pedagogical wiki templates
- Thinking about structure
- About becoming WikiEducator ambassadors
