Resource

Wiki

Author: ATU Galway

What is it?

A wiki (Wikipedia) is an online writing space that multiple contributors can share and edit. A student or group of students can use it to create and collaborate on a resource on a particular topic.

Advantages & Challenges

Advantages

Challenges

Advantages

Challenges

Tips for Use

Wikis can be used as a collaborative research writing assessment. Students could work together to research a topic and then develop a wiki page with their findings.
Another way wikis could be used for assessment is to do weekly posts either individually or as a group. The posts could involve students summarising or reflecting on lecture or reading materials.
The following is a list of tips to help you when designing this form of assessment:

Use open-ended tasks/topics that allow for multiple perspectives and problems to be researched and discussed.
Be sure to structure the assessment and give clear guidelines.
Provide students with examples of wikis that have been developed.
When using this form of assessment as a group-based assessment, ensure that you consider students role and participation in the assessment. You could get students to identify their role in the group and/or identify and discuss their contribution.
Develop a clear grading rubric for this assessment.

Resources

Trinity College Dublin (TCD):Centre for Academic Practice, Trinity Teaching & Learning – Trinity College Dublin (tcd.ie)
University of New South Wales (UNSW): Assessing with Wikis | UNSW Teaching Staff Gateway
University of Connecticut: Collaborative Writing Resources | Writing Center (uconn.edu)
Eddy, P., and Lawrence, A., (2013) Wikis as Platforms for Authentic Assessment. Innovative Higher Education. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/235397015.pdf

Sample Rubrics

University of Wisconsin – Stout: Wiki Rubric (uwstout.edu)

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