WikiEducator Update

In answer to the above question, created on Wordle, I certainly have! If you read on, you will find out why I have been staying up quite late recently.


I finished my WikiEducator L4C29 online course last week and I am now reviewing my notes from the excellent tutorials. I started off a bit hesitantly and I had a few doubts whether I would be ok with something new, but with the help and expert guidance of my tutors and moral support from my co-participants, I was able to work through the schedule and learn a lot of new things such as the special syntax which is a part of a wiki and templates for worksheets. I found out about Liquid Threads. I participated in a live WizIQ workshop and saw and heard my tutors and I actually said something "live". I felt a bit shy about doing this, I don't know why! I took part in discussions, commented on other participants User pages, made friends, read lots of interesting things written by the participants and generally tried to collaborate and share the learning process. I still have lots to learn and practise but it has been great fun and the support has been excellent. I am interested in doing the next Learning4Content -30th Online Workshop starting here in order to brush up my existing skills. I highly recommend the course. It has opened up a new dimension of learning and sharing for me and one which I would like to investigate further.


I was able to master Apprentice Level 1 after 2-3 hours, then I progressed to Apprentice Level 2, and finally I was thrilled when I achieved the status of WikiBuddy in my last week. I have a lot of reviewing to do now as it was quite a lot of information to take in. As an exchange for the free workshop I had to sign a contract which promised to share a worksheet or lesson plan with WikiEducator. I thereby got down to creating some tips for teaching idioms using Web 2.0 tools and set about creating entirely new activities to add to the free open resources for WikiEducator.

As I will be adding this to my User Page as a feedback to the course, I would like to present what I came up with in order to create the new worksheet. It was a fantastic opportunity to use my imagination and I had to work under pressure as I wanted to have most of the worksheet prepared within the course parameters.

Again, I worked very hard during the 10 days but I really enjoyed the challenge of being with people who all shared the same aspirations and objectives as me. All the participants were committed educators from around the world. My eyes opened up to a whole new universe of experts in technology, wiki masters, professors at leading universities, e-tutors, Heads of IT departments, writers, Web 2.0 specialists from around the globe. The huge talent and resources that lies within the WikiEducator community is absolutely astounding. Everyone has a common goal: to share, remix and reuse some content freely within an open educational context.

I created the following examples of idioms using freely available Web 2.0 tools such as www.pimpampum.net, www.fodey.com, www.xtranormal.com and www.makebeliefscomix.com. These tools can all be used in a variety of ways to teach all kinds of subjects. Your imagination is your key to open up a whole world of exciting possibilities!

My Bookr Idioms


My Newspaper Idioms


My Xtranormal Idioms



My Comix Idioms



If you would like to learn more about WikiEducator and build up your wiki skills, please click here for a link to the information and registration page for the next workshop, which begins on September 21st for 10 days. I am sure you will enjoy it!

WikiEducator - Spreading the Word

Lightening struck last night and with it came some form of illumination for me and my studies. I am half way through my excellent WikiEducator Content4Learning workshop and I am now the very proud owner of a Level 1 Wiki Apprentice badge. I have conscientiously worked my way through the various tasks on how to format the wiki and have been practising the use of bold, italics, headings, lists, "piped" internal links and external links, in my specially created "Sandbox" which is found on my WE User page. This sandbox is a place where you can do rough copies of your work in progress. It is very good to have something like this because you can practise to your heart's content and can edit and delete as often as you wish. I am doing the course at my own pace and I feel it is going well. I am constantly amazed at what the other participants have achieved in their lives and it is an excellent learning environment for me. It is challenging and at first I did have doubts, but hopefully I am overcoming those inner fears. Read my previous posting on becoming a student again here.

My Level 1 WikiApprentice Badge


Reasons for doing the course
I am doing this course because I want to learn more about "Open Education Resources" (OERs) and also, I would like to have a working knowledge of WikiEducator and what it entails. The idea of sharing knowledge openly and in a mutually respectful "open" community is a very exciting prospect for the future course development of education throughout the world. Below is an extract from the WikiEducator home page.

The WikiEducator is an evolving community intended for the collaborative:

• planning of education projects linked with the development of free content;
• development of free content on Wikieducator for e-learning;
• work on building open education resources (OERs) on how to create OERs.
• networking on funding proposals developed as free content.

Another good reason for doing this course is that it creates an avenue for my Continuing Personal Development (CPD). Feel free to join me in my PLN ! (Personal Learning Network)

Working in Collaboration
The team of facilitators, Wayne Mackintosh, Patricia Schlicht and Nellie Deutsch are very skilled in their respective fields and are experts at conducting online workshops such as this one. They are also efficient, helpful and very supportive. They are prompt in answering any questions from the participants. There are approximately 170 participants from all over the world. They come from India , New Zealand, Usa, Canada, Kenya, Brazil, Peru to name just a few countries. There is only 1 participant from England and there are 4 from Italy (myself included). During the course, I hope to communicate with as many participants as possible and build relationships for the future.

Becoming a WikiEducator Ambassador?
I would like to tell the world via this blog about WikiEducator, as the concept is a truly awesome one. If you don't know about WikiEducator, have a look through the links on this page and you can register for an upcoming course by looking at the information here.

WikiEducator: Just Try It! Our Community will Support you by Nellie Deutsch

Get your own Virtual Classroom

I hope to take part in the online WizIq Virtual Classroom event on Monday 31st August. I believe it's at 7am Rome time so I will need to set my alarm. If you are awake then, come and join me and find out what WikiEducator is all about!