Wiki_Ning

=How do you make all of these resources accessible to your students?= ....Use a Wiki!: It's the Simplest online data base that could possibly work.

What's a wiki?
Hawaiian for "quickly, quickly", a wiki is a website, a collection of hypertexts or an online resource where individuals can add, edit or delete content. This means that you can cater to your students' linguistic and cognitive needs by:


 * adding audio, video and text with interactive activities
 * different learning styles
 * need to work on different skill areas
 * updating with new material
 * material is relevant to changing social and linguistic needs
 * allowing students to add their own material
 * gives students a sense of ownership
 * allows them to contribute to the social group

How do I choose the right wiki?
There are a range of different wikis available today. Check out WikiMatrix and let them help you decide on the best wiki for your class.
 * Click on WikiMatrix >
 * Choose from the list of wikis listed.
 * Compare their features and then choose the one for you.

=Examples of wikis.= Here are examples of the ways in which wikis are being used in our English courses. >> > >
 * **As a space for students to practice vocabulary from special lists**.
 * Vocabulary USB practice is a wiki created for students taking the First year Reading course. It has a number of pages with different interactive vocabulary exercises created with software from Word Learner and Quia.It also has video produced by the Language Department which shows students how to use the Leitner Manual computer for learning vocabulary. New exercises are added to the wiki over time.
 * Click here to browse the vocabulary page. Vocabulary USB
 * **As a space for students to get additional reading, reading strategies and vocabulary practice.**
 * The students who are in the parallel stream have usually failed the regular reading programme. These students are at a lower proficiency level than the other students and need a lot more additional contact hours with reading material. They also need to work on specific reading skills. This wiki is used as part of the parallel programme but is not compulsory. Students are encouraged to work with the material during lab hours and at home. The wiki is divided into three parts:
 * ** Reading skills review **- with tutorials made using Google documents: ppp and uploaded to the wiki
 * ** Reading section with activities ** - The texts are taken from online news sites or educational sites and exercises created by Quia
 * ** Vocabulary review ** - vocabulary learning is an important part of the course and students are tested regularly. This section gives them practice with the words to be tested. A number of different exercises were created using Quia.
 * Click here to go to see an example of a lesson in English Parallel
 * **As a space for students to get additional information on topics related to their reading course**.
 * The third reading course requires students to analyse information from a number of different sources. This wiki was put together to give students access to information not only as text but in audio and video format as well. Again, students were encouraged to use the wiki (an additional 5 points could be obtained for completing all of the units), but it was not compulsory. Information for this wiki was divided into four themes (The Universie, Evolution, Computers and AI and
 * Ecology). Input material from educational sites such as PBS, BBC Science and natureand Becoming Human as well as video material from You tubewere used and materials created. Students were sometimes required to use Classtools for creating online graphic organisers.


 * Click here to visit content taken from English for International trade


 * Click here to see a lesson in English Parallel 03


 * ** As a space for students to get additional grammar and listening comprehension practice. **

This wiki was created as a resource for students taking a two-term general English course before going on to ESP courses in their area of study. This wiki is divided into three parts, a: Students also had other activities linked to the topic of the unit in the course book they were using. Students also used a social network: NING
 * Grammar review section with links to other sites. On a few occasions we created ppp using Google documents to review some grammatical points
 * Listening section with input material taken from Randall's ESL Listening Lab, English Listening Online and You tube and exercises adapted or created.
 * A tutorial reading module created using another wiki. Reading Skills review
 * Click here to visit the English TSU course

=What's NING?=

NING is a social network that we created for students to be able to share their work and customise their study area. Besides their language activities, students upload their own pictures that also document their lives in the university and the country. Ning also allows for Forum discussion, blogs and for students to communicate with their peers and teachers through Chat and internal mail.
 * Check out our Ning group here: etsu

Edmodo is a learning mangement platform which allows both teachers and students to share work and communicate through messages. Both teachers and students can keep a record of the learning process through grade books and events.
 * EDMODO **



Check Edmodo here: Edmodo