I have finally figured out how MOODLE Wiki works and managed to set up the first ever collaborative groupwork activity in the technical sense of the word.
Here are a few interesting observations. I’ll try to organize them into two groups: PROBLEMS-SOLUTIONS and INSIGHTS/TIPS.
TIP 1: It is very important to tell the students that although anyone in the group has access to their group wiki at any time, it is still not possible to edit its content using two or more computers simultaneously. It is something that many students find both annoying and difficult to grasp and account for.
PROBLEM 1: Some students objected to doing whatever project online/using computers (the most important Estonian colloquialism every foreigner should learn first thing even before they learn to say hello or goodbye – “ma ei viitsi” (approx: I can’t be bothered) – manifested the setup of the activity)
POSSIBLE SOLUTION 1: I printed out all the questions and answer grids and gave the students a choice: now those who do not want to use computers are allowed to submit handwritten projects, and those who find groupwork stupid can go on solo. And then guess what? All the alleged technophobes (aka shirkers and/or lazybones) all of a sudden admitted that they had access to computers outside class and didn’t really mind collaborating with their classmates. Conclusion: it is important to give students a choice. After all, the point is to make them learn and not use whatever technological advance for the mere sake of the latter.
PROBLEM 2: Some students tried to spice their answers with images. It turned out that images that were linked to were not displayed properly when the work was saved, but were nevertheless visible while text was being edited.
SOLUTION 2: Having killed about half an hour, I finally figured out that it was necessary to upload desired images rather than link to them. It took another hour to create a step-by-step tutorial.
PROBLEM 3: Occasionally students object to answering questions that require specific knowledge justifying their reluctance by the fact that they are studying English and not biology, chemistry, geography, maths, etc.
SOLUTION 3: I haven’t come up with a foolproof solution to this problem yet. Sometimes it helps when I say that every educated person knows whatever it is they find too technical. Another viable proposition is to refer learners to online encyclopedias (it is important to stop them copying and pasting large chunks of text they can hardly undertand after that, though).
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