Students Learning (and Teaching) the Universe through Wiki-style Pages

As a way to encourage students to integrate information from a variety of sources, students in one of Douglas Northrup [1]'s (LSA's history and Near Eastern studies department) courses create a set of wiki-style pages as the primary, semester-long assignment. Students collaborate to construct, revise, peer-review, and then interlink web modules that are hosted on the Exhibit Museum of Natural History's webpage.

Each group’s module aims to teach an unspecified public audience online how their discipline “works”, including:

how it approaches evidence
what kinds of sources it uses
what questions it asks
what is at stake in the answers

Academic Area:

Arts and Humanities

Discipline:

History and Near Eastern Studies

Course Type:

Lecture

Faculty Name:

Douglas Northrup

Pedagogical Goal:

Facilitating collaborative authorship, editing, or peer review

Promoting student reflection and critical thinking

Increasing engagement and/or interactivity

Technology Tool:

Wiki

Technology Type:

Online Writing and Discussion

Faculty Using Technology [2]

Promoting Excellence & Innovation in Teaching & Learning at U-M

Founded in 1962, the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) at the University of Michigan was the first teaching center in the country. CRLT partners with U-M faculty, graduate students, and administrators to promote a university culture that values and rewards teaching, respects and supports individual differences among learners, and encourages the creation of learning environments in which diverse students can learn and excel.

Resources and Links

Links:
[1] http://www.lsa.umich.edu/history/people/faculty/ci.northropdouglas_ci.detail
[2] http://www.crlt.umich.edu/category/tags/faculty-using-technology