Since the breakthrough of Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia, in 2001, everybody talks about wikis. A Wiki is a collection of interlinked websites that can not only be read but also easily edited by anyone. The special thing about wikis is that editing is possible without special programmes or html-knowledge. For some years wikis are being used in educational contexts in order to support writing projects and collaboration of any kind. In this seminar students autonomously work with groups of pupils from the Frida Levy Gesamtschule in Essen: they coach them and help them to produce own texts in wikis. Apart from the work at school, this seminar also covers a theoretical investigation of the wiki concept. In a workshop that will be on a Saturday at the beginning of the semester (time and date will be agreed upon within the seminar), we will look at technological aspects of wiki; such as most important features and functions and basic writing conventions. Apart from that we will also discuss didactic consequences of using wiki in the language classroom. The key question of these considerations is to what extent the characteristic features and functions of wikis match with and support the current understanding of second language learning and teaching. Students who take part in this seminar will have to write a portfolio that documents the procedure of their project and that gives a reflective critique of how wiki has been used in their lessons. |
