Case Study 3 "Wikis" Melissa Urbanski

Case Study Week 3 "Wikis" Melissa Urbanski

1) I believe that Miss Walker was right to review proper summarizing and parahrasing. Although, you could expect from a High School Student to know how to do this correct. Students in my opinion liked the project but were lazy and pretty much copied and paste text from the web. Therefore, I think it is very important as a teacher to warn students about plagarism and threaten them with an F. No one learns something if the information is stolen and most of the times not even read through (copied an entire paragraph for example). A good way to avoid plagarism is simpliy to tell students that they will have to present what they have written out. Consequently, everybody must read what they turn in and know exactly what content their work contains. If not, plagarism probably occured.
2) In my opinion wikis should not be used any earlier then in Middle School. It is important for students to learn proper handwriting before learning and improving typing skills. In middle school most of the students already know how to use the computer and access a webpage. By creating a secure website that the teacher will let the students have access to iformation can get exchanged, homework assignemnts posted and discussions lead. Students will have a appropriate age to enhance typing and computer skills which will be helpful and needed in their life ater school.
3) To make sure that every students is involved in the writing process I as a teacher would tell my kids that everybody had to add at least one paragraph about the research they have done. Under that paragraph they will have to add their name.
4) This depends on the individual I think. But in most cases I would give students a 0. They most certainly knew what they were doing. If only one or two sentences were copied it is no big deal. But if entire paragraphs and summarise were copied students were simply to lazy to do the work by themselves.
5) Students must be informed that wikis are created an modified by many different people. Not everyone of those people are educated, reliable sources. I think it is important to show students the differnces between for example "com" or "org" sites. Let them know where good information is available and on which websites they must evaluate and use their critical thinking skills.
pg.7 I would like to learn more about wikis and if they actually can improve students writing skills. I just do not see the difference between a handwritten article versus a typed article that is posted on the web. The case study says that students think more carefully about what they will write due to access to their work from peers. I disagree because I believe that a good student who is engaged and motivated to get good grades is just as encouraged to present a good handwritten report to the teacher then a printed repot on a wiki website.