OID On Teaching online seminar is March 6 The Office of Instructional Development will offer the On Teaching Online Seminar “Wikis in the Classroom: Faculty and Student Perspectives,” from 1 to 2 p.m. Friday, March 6. For better or worse, wikis have challenged traditional notions of authorship, editing, and publishing, making the construction of knowledge more transparent and open. Most of us have used wikis to access information online (Wikipedia anyone?), and are familiar with their collaborative nature which allows anyone with access to contribute to and modify the content and text. In that they allow students to construct and share knowledge in a collaborative environment, wikis can also provide a powerful means of enhancing learning. Dana Harsell (political science and public administration) explored the possibility of using wikis for student assignments in a Teaching with Technology Workshop sponsored by OID and CILT. He then decided to utilize this technology in both his introductory level course (POLS116: State and Local Government) and an upper division course (POLS 390: Executive Leadership and Management). In this session of On Teaching, Dr. Harsell will share insights he has gained about what works well and what doesn’t when wikis are integrated into the classroom. Several students who took these courses will also give us their perspective on working in the collaborative online environment wikis create. If you have thought about using wikis and wonder how they work and what sort of student learning outcomes and assignments are well suited to them, come online and join our discussion. And if you are now using wikis in your classroom or online course and would like to share some of your experiences, we hope you will take part too. This interactive discussion will be conducted via WIMBA (and a tutorial for its use is available through Blackboard). Participants will join the discussion remotely via computer and will need a USB headset to do so. To be fully interactive (with video) a USB webcam is recommended. Please RSVP to jana_hollands@und.nodak.edu by Thursday, March 5, to register. You will receive information about logging in to the seminar. -- Anne Kelsch, Director of Instructional Development, OID, anne_kelsch@und.nodak.edu, 7-4233