BloggingEnglish 2007-2008: Final Project
Description
Your final project is going to be the collaborative editing of a wiki page. Given the large numbers of Italian students compared to the smaller number of American students, there will be 3/4 Italian students for each 1 American student (see groups below), but this doesn’t mean more work for the Americans!
Task
- Topic: Each group will choose an issue they would like to compare in the two cultures. These can either be issues we’ve focused on, e.g. organized crime, politics, immigration, or other issues, e.g. eating habits, education system, etc. It is up to each group to decide which topic interests them most.
- Language: The pages are to be bilingual. 50% in Italian, 50% in English. 25% will be written by the American student in Italian, 25% by the Italian students in Italian and 50% by the Italian students in English.
- Contents: The page should have more or less 3 sections: 1 describing the issue in America (in English), 1 describing the issue in Italy (in Italian) and a brief summary/comparison of the issue in the two countries (in both languages). The two descriptive sections should be as parallel as possible, i.e. describing the same points in the two countries.
- Length: The page should not be too long. The aim here is to be as precise and concise as possible, focusing on the main points of the issue. We recommend an average of 800-1,000 words for each student (plus titles, organizational sections, captions for pictures, etc.)
- Editing: Students in each group may edit their partners’ writing by suggesting vocabulary choices, language structures, and idioms. They may also ask their peers for suggestions about alternative ways to express facts, ideas, and opinions. All the writing and editing phases, and the authors’ names of each version will be public. This is a collective project and we encourage students’ cooperation.
- Communication: Each group will have their own wiki page. For asynchronous communication, you can use the ‘comment’ function on your page. For synchronous communication, you will have Skype.
- Goals: Each group will have to create a public, documented resource for Italian and American students about significant intercultural topics. This project will allow students to improve their communicative skills by working with native speakers, learn to work collaboratively on a common task in an intercultural setting. Overall, it should reinforce their intercultural competence.
- Assessment: The professor/s will assess the project as a whole as well as each student’s specific section and role in the project (content, organization, creativity, analytical perspective, language, cooperation). Each student will also provide a self-evaluation and will be asked to assess his/her partners’ performance.
Calendar
| Week starting 14/4 |
- Negotiate and choose an issue for the wiki pages.
- Post it below.
- Develop a work-plan (e.g. who does what, when, how to communicate, etc.).
|
| Week starting 21/4 |
- Start developing the contents of the wiki pages. By the end of the week there should be an outline of the contents and the ‘beginnings’ of the sections.
- During the Skype session, groups discuss progress.
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| Week starting 28/4 |
- Continue developing the wiki page. By the end of the week there should be a good, complete rough draft of the contents.
- During the Skype session, groups discuss progress.
|
| Week starting 5/5 |
- Provide peer feedback to each other’s pages (groups will be assigned which page to provide feedback on).
- Based on group feedback, final edit.
- Deadline: May 9 (Dickinson), May 12 (Padova).
|
Groups
Below you will find a table indicating the groups. Once you have decided on the topic for your wiki page, please add it to the last column for your group and I will create a wiki page for your group. I cannot assign the Padova-Poznan groups American peers until I know which group can Skype on Monday.
Comments on the final voting questionnaire. 
voting_comments.doc
Details of Monday lessons
Monday 14/4
- discuss project
- set up workplan, i.e. how to use del.icio.us for the project, linking blogs using RSS feeds, feed from the wiki for updates, etc.
- discuss immigration (the topic for this weeks' Skype exchange) and write questions on the wiki page.
Monday 21/4
- Sarah spent 10-15 minutes with each group discussing their project and their workplan. If you were not in class and have questions for Sarah, please contact her.
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Peer Feedback Checklist
Your feedback for your peers is a fundamental part of the editing process. These pages are written by students for students. They will be used with future students both for informative purposes and as examples of how to write effective wiki pages. Your pages may also very well be edited by future students. This wiki is also public and is already being viewed by outsiders so you have quite a wide public. Clearly the teachers will provide final feedback, but your peer feedback is a first step.
Two peer feedback pages have been provided for each wiki page (so no problems with page locks!). In the table above you can see which pages your group is to give peer feedback on and a link to the pages where you are to write your feedback. To provide peer feedback, use the following checklist. You are welcome to copy and paste the following text into the peer feedback pages or to simply provide a summary of the peer feedback taking the following points into consideration. Peer feedback is constructive criticism. This means being both supportive and pointing out what works with a page as well as effectively suggesting what could be done to improve the quality of the page.
Contents and Organization
Does it do what it’s supposed to do? This would depend on whether or not there is an Introduction. If there isn't one, should there be one? Is there a table of contents?
Is there a comparison or are there conclusions?
What do you like about it? (be specific)
Is there cohesion?
Is it relatively easy to read? If not, what could the writer do to make it easier for the reader?
Is there balance and parallelism?
Is referencing done correctly?
Are there parts that appear that they should be referenced, but are not?
Can you find any instances of plagiarism?
Are there enough links to outside sources?
Length - are the paragraphs too long? too wordy?
Structure - is there a clear structure divided into paragraphs?
Is there any use of multimedia?
Language
Are there sentence fragments or any run-on sentences?
Are the verb tenses used correctly?
Are there words that need to be checked for spelling?
Are the beginning of sentences and proper nouns capitalized?
Do sentences have appropriate ending punctuation?
Is internal punctuation (comma, colon, semicolon) used appropriately?
Are pronouns used correctly?
Is the appropriate vocabulary used?
You are encouraged to intervene directly on the pages you give peer feedback on if you see particularly evident language mistakes!
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