Fawali- FBlin's Blog

Semester 2 wikiers

fawali — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:14:53 +0000

I strated the new wiki (foundation2-12) with my new group this semester just yesterday 08-03-2010. I got stuck not knowing how to show all the pages on the list :$ and how to hide the students’ pages from the main page. Prof helped me in and now I won’t forget to do them. I did forget because I didn’t try the last time we changed that last semester.

The students like the idea and enjoyed creating their voki yesterday. Some added more parts but complained that they vanished once they tried saving it. This is the same problme I had last term. I urged them to save stuff quickly not to face the same thing again.

I will not push them to do things but will let them enjoy using it instead of cramming them HW..I feel I will eventually drag them there

I adding the lesson as in the previous wiki to compare how things will go with these in comparison to the previous wikiers.

10-03-2010 Second session

Yesterday I had the students in the lab again to do their pre-writing test and I got them to write what they think of the wiki so far. Looking at what they wrote..most of them are enjoying it except for one who thinks it is hard to use! They are all ICT students so this should grow as their baby for the rest of the semester.

Two were frustrated to lose everything because either the machine or the network didn’t allow them to save their stuff..they eventually wrote everything again and were calm Technology FABULOUS!!

I could see they they didn’t want to log out and frankly speaking I was clicking to see the chnages in the discussion every minute Just to see what they think of the whole thing.

How things are with the wikiers

fawali — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:28:14 +0000

It has been a busy time of the year. My wikiers are a bit and maybe more than a bit passive about participating in the wiki at this time because of allof the assignments and a big report that they are submitting this week to 3 tutors- I am one of them.

I have asked them to do two writings that would help them for Sunday’s Summative Writing Test but only half of them did- most of the girls participated but not the boys- maybe one. A very bright students- Ala’a is behind schedule in a number of writings which very shocking for me and I had to have a word with him in addition to the others to finish up what they have been doing. They are not taking it seriously any more. I believe it is stress more than anything else.

I think I should stop it right here for them not to feel obliged to do it. I would love them to have good comfy memories of it so that they would try it again in future

I told them I will be checking it Thursday and that they will need to see my feedback about each and make the changes neccessary.

How am I doing in all of this and what am I doing?

I have started correcting their wikis and sending them feedback.

I will start downloading them when the assessments are over. Over-loaded with corrections.

I have just received the books and I started reading the green one about theories of Vygotsky.. I find inetersting so far. I am eager to start the real writing and get this done soon.

Thursday 10th, 2009 Wikiers

fawali — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:50:13 +0000

Just a recap on the fairy tale: One of them said ‘I enjoy writing with the others but I feel I want to write the fairy tale alone. So I made him write his own and participate in another one with his peer.

Today’s session was an inspirational one!

I uploaded Al Pacino’s inspirational speech to his team but it was so huge so I had to put the link instead. I played it in class but the voice was dead so each one of them played in on his/her machine over and over again! They liked what he was saying and the spirit he created in them. I asked them to discuss the problems and solutions in an essay individually as some of them asked to write alone in the previous essay- the fairy tale.

I have noticed that most of them if not all type their essays in word and then copy-paste it in the wiki. I asked one of them for the reason of that and he said because I can check my spelling!

Another thing I have noticed is that they use google translate to translate their ideas from Arabic to English. They close the google window when I pass by!! Feeling guilty but can’t help it! I told them as a class that I would love to see the way they write without using google..just put your ideas down the way they come out. No need to translate! They didn’t listen but ket on doing that. I don’t blame them. They want to be perfect

One of them is not as enthusiastic as the others all the time. She is the one who caused her peers to be late in 2 of the previous essays. She is looking into the comments in FACEBOOK! I had to say this aloud to draw her attention: You must write this now and finish it in 2 hours before you leave then you can change it from home! She then opened a word document and started writing after nagging that she wishes to do it at home.

Most of them prefer writing the essays from home but participating in the discussions in class. I noticed that when they just discuss in class, they start talking in English at first then they convert into Arabic! It is hard to stop them once they start so I would rather have them focused in a writing and add new discussions at home!

In the end of the first hour, I could see that they all stopped and started saying : we are stuck! No more ideas! One of them suggested discussing it in the same page so I added two discussions to talk about the problems and solutions for all.

I am giving them prizes for:

The best and most well- organised personal page

The most active wikiers in the discussions
The most active wikiers in the essays
The wikier whose writing has improved the most

the prizes are books!

I forgot my camera at home to record today’s session

One of the students notified me that the Personal pages are gone from the list! I tried several things to bring it back to the list but failed, please help?

My Bloggers!

fawali — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:33:17 +0000

I have to say this: IT IS RAINING! hehehehehe..This happens rarely here!

Today I had another session with my bloggers!

They are writing about hacking and guess what? They are really enjoying the videos and articles about hacking. My wiki group did NOT like the topic and demanded changing the ICT topics!!

One of the boggers just said: This is the first time I know there are types of hackers!!I can hear them talking in Arabic emplaining the types! Some are laughing watching the youtube videos!

They asked the same question the wikiers asked about the writing prompt. Is it the problems that hacking causes that they should discuss or the problems that led people to hack?!!!

This group is exactly like the other in one thing: prefering to discuss things orally and communication with each other instead of writing to each other. These people are more task-focused than my wiki group who are all over the place arguing, discussing and writing!!

A couple of them ask me for the translation of some words from Arabic to English and they seem to answer each other and provide the words for each other. They think in Arabic and transfer that to English.

It is so QUIET now! All I can hear is the keyboard!! They feel relaxed knowing that the type of writing is the one they will get in the final exam so they are continuously practising to get used to the way they should write in the final exam. They are also happy that their homework is virtual which they can refer to any time anywhere and submit it when they wish in the coming week!

I am enjoying observing them I know that I will laugh later when I read my comments hehehehehehe

Thursday 24th Wiki

fawali — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:30:54 +0000

I asked students prior to our wiki session this week for their preferences to be with certain people and they all refused to choose a favorite!!! I was shocked! I insisted that they choose who they wish to work with and they also insisted that I choose the people. One of them said it doesn’t matter who I work with we. I like the whole group and another said that if he chose someone, he might hurt another one for not choosing him or her! They are caring students and they look after each other all the time. They are 13 people who go to the same classes all over the week so they feel like a family now To sum this up, I had to choose the groups for them again and I am going to stick to these groups in lesson 7 for the coming lessons.

One of the students had swine flu and did not post anything so far. All he did was create the personal page. His peer in lesson 5 had to write the whole thing. I was not aware of the fact that he is not coming back. His peer in lesson 6 faced the same thing but asked me to shift him to another group and so I did.They created a presentation today with regard to the course book. They had to divide the tasks and then get back again and create the presentations. They will on their personal pages by tomorrow They are proud of what they are accomplishing

It is Eid time so missed the first three days of the week. We have two lab hours today. I checked the wiki during EID and I found that two students made a big delay in the addition of their parts to lesson 5. I wrote them a general disappointmet note in the wiki and will talk to them today. I hate it when this happens.

Other students have been discussing general topics in their personal pages which made me happy

Last week they asked if it is possible for you to comment on their posts. They want to know you I told you are reading what they are writing and that I will organise a skype meeting for them to meet you one day

Today’s session was stormy. I had to be hard on a couple to ensure they don’t delay others. They talked A LOT today. They just prefer speaking to each other (face-to-face) then they can write about it! They enjoyed the discussions of the movie going out but had several discussions ALOUD in class!!

I noticed that they are using the wiki to upload their course related projects

The students expressed their preference in writing about general life-related topics instead of ICT topics. They just said they limit our thinking and there isn’t much to talk about so I decided to let them write a fairy tale with once upon a time just for change then I will revert to the problem solution essays again as I have to maintain the outcomes of the course.

I didn’t enjoy today’s session…at lot of instruction had to be made for Sunday’s assessments, they are just back from a holiday, the delay thing ruined my mood and theirs, they had to present their presentations (course-related).

I will make sure we have more fun next week. I have prizes for the best personal pages and most active members so far so I guess it will boost some feelings in the air.

I had three hours today instead of tomorrow 24th as I will be involved in interviews with HR. They said 3 hours in a row are tiring.

why I changed the groups

fawali — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:46:16 +0000

I divided students into high and low achievers and then paired a low achiever with a high one. I did that because I experienced pairing the low ones together last year and the outcome was not satisfactory. Thus, I paired students differently so in the first task – lesson 5- they had specific peers and then changed the peers in lesson 6 to see who they prefer to work with. I will ask them who they prefer to work with for lesson 7 and ask them to work in 3s according to who they choose to be with.

Thursday 19th November- End of week 2

fawali — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:40:53 +0000

I filmed an hour of the session today for the wikigroup and I had one collegue in observing what we are doing. She is into CMC too. I invited the head of faculty to come to my class but she is busy today so promised to pop in soon.

I could see that were quiet today. It might be the camera or the exam they have later in the day. Apparently, it is the weather- cloudy for the first time this year!!!- as they said and because it is end of the week!

They were very busy writing and they were talking to each other to see who wrote what for them to finish the topic in lesson 5 as it is done in pairs. They were moving and talking to each other to discuss things. I wish there was a chat room through the wikispaces page so that they would chat to each other online instead of moving around.

I noticed that they are using google translate to translate words from their mother tongue to English. They are facing difficulty with the lack of vocab in English. Some of them asked me for the translation and I had to explain that some words can’t be translated as they are so they have to find more appropriate words to use in English.

They are facing -and I am too- a frustrating thing in the discussions as the edit option is not available. So when we notice an error after publishing a post, we have to delete the whole thing and write it once again- in my case- but students have to write the whole thing again with the new changes- or copying it and making the changes.

I did ask them to write what they thought of using wikis (good-bad- and suggestions) in their personal pages as separate discussions for future changes and improvements.

I had a student today who could not understand the difference between the causes of a problem and the problems caused by a thing in the topics he was supposed to write with his peers in lesson 5 and 6. His peers then in both groups drew his attention to that and poor he had to write his parts for both essays again! I think it is a good practice to direct him to think properly of the writing prompt for the next task although it is a very tiring process for him!

He added his comments in the discussion about the problems of hacking in HOME and made the same mistakes so his peers talked to him in person in class to change them so he added a new post in the same discussion with the problems.

Prof..I wish to start writing the methdology chapter once again, but I need your help. I wish to get a skelton of how this chapter should be. Would it be possible to get a copy of a thesis that would be of a similar topic of mine to see how I should have it done? I would like to discuss all the case studies but I can’t see how I can split each one into all the different parts in the methdology chapter. Please advise.

Are we meeting this week?

Best wishes

Fatima

Week 2- DAY 1 IN THE LAB

fawali — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:02:54 +0000

1. Students are way too busy adding general discussions and seeing each other’s comments than doing the task assigned for the week. For them, this can be done later and we can add comments and see the reactions of our mates now! I will be more directive next week to keep them more focused or should I not?!!

2. They draw my attention continuously in class that they have added a topic intheir personal page. They are telling me indirectly that they wish to see my comments. One of them said this aloud! I thought that if I participate they will stop writing and adding more comments. I was open and told them this but they assured me that this won’t happen!

3. I find the wikispaces more practical as they have their separate pages within the main page and they can do stuff everywhere while in the blog students can’t have their personal pages within the page.

A new project with the other group

fawali — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:56:39 +0000

Hi Prof

I have started a new project with my other group. It is basically using the same lessons but getting them involved in blogger.com instead of wikispaces. I will start this session in 10 minutes! I wish to see how different they can approach the same taks using two diferent modes of technology! I am sure they will enjoy writing better through the blog. I will send you the invitation in a second!

That’s it for today!

Tomorrow will be the wikispaces class next session..I will see how things are.

Cheers

Fatima

Technical problems with wikispace

Françoise Blin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:53:33 +0000

I have added a page on the wiki and I did not have any problem.

Make sure you click on Visual Editor so that you can lay out your page the way you want. If you stay on the Text Editor, it is difficult to put the text in the right place.

I had no problem with saving the page. Perhaps the connection was not good or too many people were online at the same time? It was really fast for me…

Let me know if you have any other problems…