classroomobservations

3 Classes of Forensic Science were involved in a project to learn about wikis and the use of wikis to complete a class project. Students were shown a powerpoint presentation about wikis and watched a short video about the use of Wikis.

The wikispaces.com website provided ad-free spaces and student accounts for all 70 forensic science students.

Students were taken to the computer lab and introduced to the wiki site over the computer while also watching over the media projector. Students were given a day to "play" with the features of the wiki, to change passwords, upload image icons and use the discussion feature.

Students were then divided into groups to complete a forensic project on Firearms and Ammunition utilizing their group's wikispace and powerpoint. Student pages were monitored. The project culminated before Thanksgiving with an assessment of their use of wiki technology rather than a project grade for the powerpoint.

__Findings and Reflections__:

There was a problem with groups of students editing their group's wikipage during the same class period. Several of the edits and revisions were lost by students accessing the wikispace too soon after another student finished editing the space.

Several students were not able to focus on the project; but rather, carried on dialogue over the Discussion feature of the site. Some students fell right into the use of a wiki to collaborate and some students were too confused by the technology and unwilling to learn on their own.

Overall, I found this a very successful introductory activity. In my next use of a Wiki, I will address the problems with simultaneous group editing and student focus by assigning jobs to students within groups and taking points off individual grades for students who post unnecessarily to the Discussion section. Average student grade for the assessment was a 78.

I was very impressed with the Customer Service at Wikispaces.com. I would like a site that offered more control over the "look" of the site. I am very happy with wikispaces.com.