Author(s):Roger McHaney, Kansas State University
Institution(s) or Organization(s) Where EP Occured:Kansas State University
A small team at Kansas State University recently launched an e-learning and teaching exchange to enhance and support faculty development. This project was initially intended to serve the K-State community but has been broadened for use by all institutions of higher learning. This site is constructed using wiki technology, which permits access, multimedia expressiveness, remote collaboration, tracking, and reversibility of postings. Taken holistically, these attributes make a wiki approach ideal for sharing ideas and encouraging synergistic improvement of teaching practices. Articles posted on the wiki can include text, videos, images, and embedded Web applications and may be shared via RSS feeds. Other tools on the site are derived from MediaWiki and its open-source capabilities. The wiki includes an overall ontolDescription of the Effective Practice:
How this practice supports a primary pillar---access: ELATEwiki is intended to provide the means for members to post, share, enhance, and interact using a dynamic and evolving information exchange. The wiki approach facilitates rapid online communication and has already been used in a variety of ways. First, it allows expert teachers to share their knowledge in a fast and effective way. It allows these experts to correct and improve on ideas contributed by others. Second, novice teachers can use ELATEwiki to learn new techniques and explore ideas for improving their teaching. They can also contribute cutting-edge ideas and ensure new knowledge is made available to more established teachers. Third, ELATEwiki supports classroom access to material. Not only is the material on ELATEwiki available as a student resource, it can be used as a site for developing and posting student projects that are visible to the entire world. This sense of moving a project beyond the classroom and making it a valuable artifact tends to motivate performance and encourage collaboration between student team members, peers, experts outside the classroom, and teachers. And finally, ELATEwiki’s access feature ensures that meaningful and effective access will follow the student as they move from academic to professional life. ogy, templates, categories, seeded entries, input boxes, and menus that all ensure users can easily useEvidence of Effectiveness:
ELATEwiki was soft launched in March of 2009. In the first four months, the main page of the Website received over 15,000 visitors. The number of entries on ELATEwiki went from 0 to more than 150. Over 70 individuals registered as users. Currently, the wiki receives around 500 visitors a day.
Equipment necessary to implement Effective Practice:
Computer and Internet access. The project is complete and can be used by anyone at no cost.
Estimate the probable costs associated with this practice:
Learning curve time. Anyone can immediately use ELATEwiki to acquire information. Editing, contributing, and adding multimedia content will require about 1-3 hours of exploration and learning about MediaWiki and about features implemented on ELATEwiki.
Relation to other Pillars:
ELATEwiki relates well to the remaining four pillars. For instance, it promotes collaborative, active learning among students, faculty, and outside experts. A community of users is brought together using wiki technology over the Internet (Learning Effectiveness). ELATEwiki was developed with a budget of $900.00 and plenty of voluntary labor. K-State has demonstrated its institutional commitment by providing server space and donating other services (legal, hardware, software, and media coverage). Additionally, internal upper management support from the Provost’s office and distance learning administration provided visibility for the project (Cost-Effectiveness and Institutional Commitment). Faculty and student satisfaction are increasing through access to the tool and by providing a new means of interaction for the classroom setting and for exploration and research projects outside the classroom.
References, supporting documents:and join the community.
Benkler, Y. (2006/ 2007). The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Tapscott, D. & Williams, A.D. (2008). Wikinomics. New York: Penguin Group.
Useful Links:
ELATEwiki
MediaWiki.org
Wiki
Other Comments:
Shirky, C. (2008). Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations. New York: Penguin Group.
Surowiecki, J. (2004/ 2005). The Wisdom of Crowds. New York: Random House.
Source: http://www.sloanconsortium.org/node/1864
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