Week Two Wikis Project

I work at a community college in retention.  I am constantly working to find ways to assist our students to assist themselves with their success skills.  So when I went to look at wikis, I went to look at ideas that I could emulate.  I found the Marian University Teaching and Learning Tools and Tips Wiki to be an example of what I needed.  I was visually pleasing with photos of their campus, not too many words, well placed and thought out links, and an inviting text from the staff.

It provided students with free links to other online resources; although I was not impressed with that list.  I have a much longer and more in depth list that I am developing determined by the student’s topic of study or area of support need.  The institution provides four links to professional agencies with whom the instructors may connect.   They are Annenberg Learner or Learner.org for all areas of study; On the Cutting Edge for Geoscience faculty; The Teaching Professor an inspirational and informational site for all instructors; and a link to The Toolbox a teaching a learning resource for instructors which was not working.

They provided information and links to assist with underprepared students, a video on instruction from YouTube by Gen. Ruben Cubero, Dean of The Faculty, United States Air Force Academy, and a “fun stuff” page.  I could not tell if the wiki was designed for faculty or students because of the mixture of information not being clearly defined.  Although, the information was very helpful and will be useful to me in many ways.

The second wiki I viewed was Norwalk Community College’s wiki for ENG: 074 College Reading.  The page listed what students needed for class, provided course meeting times, assignment information, notes, and helpful tips for success in the class including a MLA outline and links for more information.    The instructor had placed video that supported the text, vocabulary, and other lists as support areas to the main body of the wiki.  It was not cluttered and information was well labeled and placed.  Since my institution has a course almost exactly like this, I found this wiki very informative and plan on sharing it with the instructors at my college.