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EDUC 200 Week 1 wiki //Characteristics of Online Learners and Instructors//


 * Home Page/Activity Framing**

You each have composed your own schema for what characterizes online students and instructors and what some of the driving factors are. Now, referencing those postings and working in a wiki, I want you to collaboratively create a list of what you as a class determine are the five most salient characteristics of each (online students and online instructors) with a list of associated references and resources for each of these characteristics, qualities or factors. No more than 5 names per group. Once a group has five names on it, it is "closed" to further enrollment.**  As you create this, think of summarizing for a group of colleagues at your campus or in your department who you are reporting to about this topic. What do you feel is most important for them (and you) to know about and why?
 * To sign up for your group, click into one of the groups to the left (Group a,b,c, etc.) and "sign in" (i.e. write your name on the page).

Keep in mind that with a wiki, the instructor can view all activity. This is one of the benefits of a wiki for group work. Unlike F2F group collaborations where the instructor cannot know who is actually participating outside of class, within an electronic environment, all activity can be tracked.

Here is a short article that addresses this point: How Wikis Streamline Student Collaboration Projects

Other resources on wikis include:

West, James A. and M. West (2009) //Using Wikis for Online Collaboration.// Jossey-Bass

Many course management systems (like the Blackboard that we are currently using) have embedded wiki and blog tools. Here at Saddleback we do not. The link below will take you to the Week1wiki that I created through wikispaces. Wikispaces is a free wiki tool used by many educators. The content you post will be visible to the world, but no one but those registered int he course will be able to contribute to it.


 * How to start?** //Participate.// Start with //your// lists. From that collection of 5 different perspectives, which undoubtedly will have some overlap, make suggestions for organizing into themes, for adding additional information you feel is important for others to know. Add references to the items that are already listed (links to URLs, to YouTube videos that discuss the topic further, to ed stats data, etc.) We will consolidate each group's list into a class document later.

Begin by developing your group lists by clicking into your designated group page (Group A through I) on the left-hand panel above.

Check out the wikispaces video tutorials on adding files or images to your wiki page (and other functions).


 * Do not forget to click SAVE once you've added content!**