Wiki's for my Classes

Wiki’s for my Classes

I’m doing this a little bit backwards, in that I am writing this blog before I create the wiki(s). The other day I decided to give my American History class a one-period online research assignment. I took the students to the computer lab and passed out four different research questions among the 16 students:

• Describe the physical attributes of the Spanish Galleon: size, weight, number of guns, masts, quarters for crew, etc. How was food prepared? Where did people sleep? How did they go to the bathroom? How did they keep clean?

• Describe the physical attributes of the Mayflower: size, weight, guns, masts, quarters for crew, quarters for passengers. How was food prepared? Where did people sleep? How did they go to the bathroom? How did they keep clean?

• Research the history of Roanoke Colony. Why did people decide to settle in that location? What happened there.

• What instruments did people use to navigate the oceans in the 1500’s and 1600’s and exactly how did those instruments work?

As I observed the students in the computer lab I realized, for one thing, how limited their research skills were. A number of them were frustrated with their results. What a great wiki project! And experiment.

It will be interesting to see if the students get involved and dive into the project. It will also be interesting to see how built out the wiki’s become given the individual research the students have already done.

Perhaps I’m being overly ambitious at this point – not having created a wiki yet – but I would like to create one for my fine art class. The other day, during a break, a few of the students and I began to talk about tattoo designs that we were thinking about getting. I think that a great project would be having the students design fantasy tattoos for themselves. Then using Photoshop, the students can size the design and see what they would look like on different parts of their bodies. And this whole process can be posted on the wiki.