Digital Learning and Teaching

Collaborative creation of a course glossary in Wiki

Brief description

all participants in a lecture or seminar provide contributions to a glossary on the course topic.

Goals

  • Active involvement with the course contents and concepts
  • Expansion of active vocabulary

Tools

  • Wiki in the Stud.IP course

Procedure

On the Wiki page for your course create a list with sub-pages for letters A to Z. The Wiki page may appear like this:

-----
Seminar Lexicon
Dear Participant,
Please write your glossary contributions on the pages with the appropriate initial letters:
LeXiA, LeXiB, LeXiC, LeXiD, LeXiE, LeXiF, LeXiG, LeXiH, LeXiI, LeXiJ, LeXiK, LeXiL, LeXiM, LeXiN, LeXiO, LeXiP, LeXiQ, LeXiR, LeXiS, LeXiT, LeXiU, LeXiV, LeXiW, LeXiX, LeXiY, LeXiZ
Thank you for your contribution.
-----

At the start of the attended course ask the participants during the semester using Wiki to post at least five terms from the subject area of the course, including a brief definition/explanation. Set out the rules for this (e.g. on quoting sources, min./max. scope, own definitions and/or outside sources, max. number of definitions per term). You should also clearly outline the layout and writing in Wiki (e.g. it is not possible for two people to write on one page at once).

Author attributions and version management in Stud.IP mean that Wiki at all times shows who posted what contribution and when. If after a reasonable time there are still not enough contributions, you may need to call for them. Posting contributions should be a part of the workload and you could define it as a necessary preparation for participation in examinations. You might take a selection of the student contributions as a model for exam questions, but if you intend to do this you should announce it.

Possible variations

  • For larger courses: division into groups (if necessary use Stud.IP group administration), which then have to clarify and revise their contributions internally as a group, represented by one team leader. Risk: the group does not work together, but just shares out the work (everyone just makes one contribution).
  • Assigning individual participants/groups to specific lecture/seminar dates or topics. Advantage: covers the entire spectrum of topics. Risk: finding terms can be far more difficult for specific topics (insufficient equality of opportunity).

Documentation

The individual pages can be exported as a PDF and then combined into a document.

Literature/Links

Häfele, H. & Maier-Häfele, K. (2004): 101 e-Learning Seminarmethoden. managerSeminare Verlags GmbH, Bonn (ISBN 3-936075-07-7), Kapitel C1.1 S. 63

Notes:

A Wiki installation offered by the GWDG is recommended for comprehensive Wikis that cover the entire university http://www.gwdg.de/index.php?id=1063

This blended-learning-scenario is based upon a project realized within the „Win a Tutor“-programme at Bremen University (ZMML).