Developing Online Teaching Skills

AUDACITY®

A. What is is Audacity®?

In this section you will find out what Audacity® looks like and how people use it. If you decide to use it for your class, it will be helpful to know some basics.

Audacity® is a free, open source software that enables you to record and edit audio, mix it and export it in a format that you can use in your teaching (e.g. for listening, pronunciation or production activities).

It is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), which means that you can use it for any personal, commercial or educational purpose, including installing it on as many different computers as you wish.

It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and you can download it from the net at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ 

With its user-friendly interface Audacity® enables teachers to create oral activities for face-to-face and/or online language teaching environments (i.e. pronunciation, listening comprehension and oral production activities) by:

• recording live audio
• recording Podcasts and audio clips from the Internet
• editing audio files (cut, copy, paste)
• mixing sounds together
• applying different effects on the audio file (such as changing the speed
        or pitch of a recording, removing noise, amplifying sounds
• converting old tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs
• exporting audio files in formats such as MP3, WAV, AIFF or Ogg Vorbis
   

B. Why would I want to use Audacity® for my teaching?

1.	Because it allows you to expose students to a diversity of authentic L2 audio resources.
	You can record radio programs (or the audio track of a TV program), music and songs from ITunes, Podcasts and audio clips from the Internet, authentic interactions between native speakers, etc. and easily develop listening comprehension activities using the editing tools of Audacity®.
2.
	Because it enables you to continue to use analogue resources in a digital environment.
	If you have been teaching for a while, you have probably developed a collection of interesting audio resources on tapes over the years. Audacity® allows you to digitalize all these analogue resources for easier, more flexible and more diverse uses (for instance, you can share them with your students and your colleagues more easily, edit them, etc.).
3.
	Because it allows you to develop custom pronunciation activities.
	Using the editing and the sound effects tools of Audacity® (cutting, copying, and pasting audio clips, changing the speed or pitch of a recording, removing noise, amplifying sound, adding silences), it becomes very easy to create activities specific to the pronunciation needs of one or several students, in a face-to-face or online environment.
4.
	Because it supports the development of metacognitive skills and strategies of your students.
	Students can easily listen, visualize, and compare all or very specific parts of their (or their peers’) recorded productions. They can save their oral productions to listen to them again later on and assess/monitor their progress (as part of for their student portfolio).
5.
	Because it encourages creativity.
	Teachers AND students can easily create audio and musical documents in L2.
6.
	Because it facilitates a task-based approach to learning.
	It allows students to learn the language while creating original audio resources (learning by doing).
7.
	Because it appeals to the students – this technology is part of their world.
	For instance, your students are likely to have used Audacity® to export songs and audio files in MP3, edit audio files, or mix sounds together for their mobile devices.

Just like with any other classroom material, you need to keep the pedagogical considerations in mind (e.g. learning objectives, authenticity, language focus, task-based approach, etc.). To explore these in more detail visit section D: Pedagogical considerations and sample activity.

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Using Audacity
Using Audacity

AUDIO-CONFERENCES

A. What is audio-conferencing software?

Audio-conferencing software uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to allow two or more users to have a spoken conversation online in real time. Here are four examples of audio-conferencing tools which are free and easily accessible:

• Skype
• Google Talk
• Elluminate vRoom
• FlashMeeting

The features of different audio-conferencing tools vary, such as the maximum number of participants, video capabilities, or whether the sessions are recordable. Another important consideration is whether audio transmission is via half duplex, which only allows users to speak one at a time by means of a “push-to-talk” button (i.e., similar to a walkie-talkie), or full duplex, which permits two-way simultaneous communication (i.e., like a telephone conversation). A summary of these key characteristics is provided in Table 1.

Table 1: Comparison of some features of four freely available audio-conferencing tools

Audio-conferencing tool	Maximum no. participants	Audio technology	Video capabilities?	Sessions recordable?
Skype	26	Full duplex	yes (free for up to two participants; pay version required for conference calls)	yes (by means of call recording software)
Google Talk	2	Full duplex	yes	no
Elluminate vRoom	3	Half duplex	yes	no
FlashMeeting	30	Half duplex	yes	yes (sessions automatically recorded)

Due to its widespread popularity and ease of use, in the rest of this activity we will concentrate specifically on Skype, although much of the general information is also relevant for the other audio-conferencing tools.

As we shall see, Skype sessions can be easily recorded using call recording software, thus enabling teachers and students to replay the conversations once the original speaking session has ended.

B. Why would I want to use audio-conferencing in my classroom?

One of the most obvious reasons for using audio conferencing in your classes is for a tandem speaking exchange to allow your learners to come into contact with native speakers of the language they are learning. If the native speakers are also learning the language of your students, the benefits for both groups could be reciprocal, with approximately half the time devoted to the language your students are learning and the other half to the language the others are studying. If you are interested in setting up such an exchange, the following sites are excellent sources of information:

The International Tandem Network

• The eTwinning Project

Tandem exchanges, however, are not the only possible use for audio-conferencing. Students in the same class can also be asked to do pair or small group speaking tasks online outside of class as homework in order to practise their oral skills in the language they are learning. Whether used for tandem exchanges or between students in the same class, students can record Skype conferences using CallBurner (see next section) and send the file to their teacher for feedback and/or assessment. As part of the activity, students could be asked to listen to their recordings and reflect on their performance.

Please note: CallBurner is compatible ONLY with Windows 7, XP, Vista or 2000. Recorders available for other operating systems are:

Mac: Ecamm Call Recorder. The demo version is free for the first seven days. After that time a license must be purchased.

Linux: Skype Call Recorder. This is an open source application available completely free of charge.

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Using Audio-conferencing
Using Audio-conferencing

BLOGS

A. What is a blog?

A blog is a type of website. The word is a contraction of web + log. Blogs enable users to post regular entries (or blog posts) and these can include news, comments, descriptions of events, photos or videos. In a blog, entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order, with the most recent at the top. There are many free blog services, and blogs are very easy to use and have a clean, professional look that makes them very attractive to use. To blog is also a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

B. Why would I want to use blogs and blogging in my teaching?

The regular practice of reading and writing is very useful in learning a language, particularly in distance learning, independent study and blended teaching contexts. Blogs are a useful tool to use in your teaching, both a source of reading material and as a way to structure writing activities and peer reviewing.

For language teachers, blogs “can fulfill many of the needs identified for the effective teaching of writing.” Indeed, a blog provides “a genuine audience, is authentically communicative, process driven, peer reviewed, provides a disinhibiting context and offers a completely new form with unchartered creative potential” (Ward, 2004: 3).

In particular, you might want to use blogs and blogging in your teaching:

For reading:

Blogs are an excellent source of up to date reading material: encourage your students to find a blog they really enjoy and subscribe to it.

To disseminate student generated content:

A blog can be a window into your classroom. You can encourage your students to post their work there (especially if you use the blog for a particular project): students often get an immense sense of satisfaction from having their work “published”, and blogging is indeed a form of publishing.

For sustained, regular writing:

Blogging regularly has been shown to have a positive impact on learners’ writing fluency and to increase their motivation to write for a broad audience.

For discussion and peer review:

Blogs offer students an opportunity to interact with peers and to learn from each other. Because they enable readers to post comments to blog postings, they offer a forum for discussion.

 

To increase opportunities for interaction outside the classroom:

Students can comment on each others’ blog posts outside the classroom. This contributes to creating a sense of community, and takes learning and peer interaction outside the confines of the classroom.

For reflection and evaluation:

Blogs are often used as a tool for reflection. For instance, students can have a personal blog that they use as a journal of their learning experience. This has been used quite successfully for students spending a period of time abroad (e.g. during an Erasmus study visit).

As a portfolio:

Because they can include photos and videos, and links to other sites, as well as “regular” text postings, blogs are an easy way to get students to produce a multimedia portfolio, documenting their work during a course or a work placement, for instance. 

As with any other tools,  you need to keep the pedagogical considerations in mind when thinking about how you would use blogs and blogging in your context. To find out more about these pedagogical considerations, you can go to section D.

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Using blogs
Using blogs

FORUMS

A. What is is a forum?

In this section you will find out what online forums are and what they consist of.
 
Online forums or Message/Bulletin Boards are meeting sites for discussion by people using the Internet. Their main aim is to promote interaction and communication via questions, answers and discussion (publicly visible messages: ‘posts’ from participants) on a particular topic. Thousands of online forums exist related to a huge variety of contexts: academic, professional, political, media, sport, health, social networking etc.

Forums in educational contexts can be used by students as social meeting places, a contemporary version of the Forum Romanum (7 BC; see Figure 1 above).

However, forums are used most frequently in relation to topics or information posted by the teacher as part of the course students are doing. For language learners, forums are especially useful for developing different types of asynchronous written skills. These can be developed through completion of a task set by the teacher and/or via discussion in a whole class forum or in smaller forums for groups of students working alone who then report back to the main class forum.

Forums usually consist of the following:

• Users/members who post messages (‘posts’) there.

• A moderator/teacher who manages/moderates the discussion and can edit or delete messages posted by participants.

• Lists of messages, each including the subject title, the name of the sender and the date sent.

• Threads: a collection of posts related to a particular topic, usually displayed from oldest to most recent.

• Written, audio or video files attached to participants’ messages (‘attachments’)

• Separate folders to store or archive messages.

• FAQs (frequently asked questions).

• An administrator responsible for technical aspects of the forum.

In many cases, academic institutions set up online forums for teachers, who then integrate these into their own courses. You will need to check if your institution is able to do this for you. If not, students will need to be directed to a forum set up in Moodle by the teacher (see Part B for more details), or a similar open-source learning web application, where a forum can be created as part of the course being offered.

B. Why would I want to use forums in my teaching?

1.	Forums are a quick and easy way for teachers to pass on information and receive queries from groups of students regarding things like course schedules, work assignments, exams etc.
	Posting this information on a class forum ensures that all students have access to the same information e.g. about assignments, submission deadlines etc.
2.
	Forums help develop writing and communicative interactive skills among students.
	Students can draft, rewrite, and easily compare the original with subsequent versions. They can also see their peers’ work and be encouraged to comment on it and compare it with their own work.
3.
	They are flexible tools which can be used at different stages of a learning task
	See section E: Practical suggestions for an example.
4.
	They can be used for whole class discussions or for students to work independently in small groups, moderated (or not) by the teacher.
	Creating mini-forums for groups of students to work together to reach a common point of view for example, develops skills of collaboration and interaction.
5.
	They allow students time to reflect on and plan their posts and responses.
	Students have time to revise their work before submitting it, referring to grammar reference materials for example and using the Spell-Checker. This can lead to improved, autonomous learning.
6.
	They are a way of ‘levelling out’ the participation of the more or less dominant members of a group
	Shy students unwilling to participate actively in a face to face discussion can frequently feel encouraged to participate in an online forum discussion where they do not need to fight to get the teacher’s or fellow student’s attention.
7.
	They provide a semi-permanent record of what was said and by whom. This can be useful in providing back up evidence, for example, if students wish to review their own work later on.

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Using forums
Using forums

MOODLE

A. What is Moodle?

Here is how Moodle is described on the Moodle website: “Moodle is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites.” (http://moodle.org/)

In other words, it is an application which allows you to create online activities for your students, store materials for them, manage your student’s grades, etc. Essentially, Moodle is a tool which enables you to create a website environment for your class.
 
Importantly, although the application itself is free, in order to work it needs to be installed on a web server. Therefore, you will need your school to agree to put Moodle on their web server, and you will need a technician’s help for this.

B. Why would I want to use Moodle in my classroom?

1.	Because it appeals to the students – usually it’s part of their world.
2.	Because it is adaptable enough to be used with all ages of students (from primary education to adult education and training) and all learner types (audio, visual, learning by doing).
3.	Because it is flexible: it allows you to use it in any way you feel comfortable with.
4.	Because Virtual Learning Environments, such as Moodle, are easy, free, and relatively safe to use.
5.	Because it is a relatively simple way of bringing (authentic) material into the classroom.
6.	Because it is based on pedagogical principles (specifically social constructionism; cf. http://docs.moodle.org/en/Philosophy)
7.	Because it allows your students to learn creatively and learn from their peers.
8.	Because this is a place which allows you to bring together in a single site various online tools that you already use (or would like to use).
9.	Because it is available in different languages

To find out more what Moodle looks like and what you can do with it, go to section C: A guide through some basic features of Moodle.

Just like with any other tool that you use in your classroom, you need to keep the pedagogical considerations in mind (e.g. learning objectives, authenticity, etc.). To explore these in more detail visit section D. Pedagogical considerations.

To find out about the necessary technical support, go to section E. Organizational issues.

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Moodle
Moodle

PODCASTS

A. What is a podcast?

If you’ve never listened to a podcast before, try it out! Here’s a link to a podcast for beginners’ Spanish from a well-known provider. Just click on the link below, which will open a new window, and then click on the triangular play button:  http://radiolingua.com/2010/10/lesson-01-one-minute-lam-spanish/

A podcast is a series of regularly-updated audio or video files that can be played on a number of devices (either portable, such as mp3 players or mobile phones, but also static, such as desktop computers) and are distributed over the internet via a subscription service.

B. Why would I want to use podcasts in my teaching?

You can use podcasting to find interesting and up to date resources for your classes, to encourage learners to listen to audio materials on topics they are interested in, and you can even make your own podcasts, or ask your class to make some.

For instance, to see what there is available in English, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts and find a podcast on a topic you are interested in. If you want, you can subscribe to it.

In the last few years portable media players and podcasting have become very popular. Some researchers were quick to identify the potential uses and benefits of podcasting for language learning:

Podcasting can support principles advocated by several theories of learning, such as the use of authentic materials, informal and lifelong learning, the use of learning objects for the provision of learning materials and just in time teaching (Rosell-Aguilar, 2007).

Podcasting also fits with mobile learning, which takes place “when the learner is not at a fixed, predetermined location, or when the learner ‘takes advantage of the learning opportunities offered by mobile technologies’” (Kukulska-Hulme, 2005, p. 1).

Podcasting offers many potential benefits: for instance, the materials are delivered in a format that is portable, convenient and easy to use, and easy to access. The user can control the pace at which the information is delivered to them – using the pause button, for example. The format is also motivating and attractive: short, often professionally made resources on a whole range of topics. And they are free!

Some researchers also mention the potential to allow contact time with students in the classroom to focus on interaction, shifting preparatory work to outside times and locations (Blaisdell, 2006) as well as integrating in-class and out-of-class activities and materials (Thorne & Payne, 2005). For example, students can be asked to watch or listen to material as preparation work for discussion during a class, allowing the instructor to make the most of their contact time with students. The delivery medium, format, portability, and the fact that the materials can be subscribed to and do not have to be sourced from a library make this quite a different proposition to reading a chapter or article as homework.

One of the ways you can use podcasts is by uploading them to environments such as VLEs or your school or college website. You can use podcasts together with other tools, such as forums (see the DOTS Forum activity or visit http://moodle.dots.ecml.at/), to enable students to listen to a piece of audio at their own pace, and then to respond to it and comment on it with other learners using a forum, for instance, or you can ask them to write a collaborative piece about it in a wiki (see the DOTS wiki activity or visit http://moodle.dots.ecml.at/).

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Using podcasts
Using podcasts

SURVEY-MONKEY

A. What is SurveyMonkey?

In this section you will find out what SurveyMonkey looks like and how people use it. If you decide to use it in class, it may be helpful to know some basics.

SurveyMonkey is a tool that allows users to create their own surveys using question format templates. The basic version of SurveyMonkey is free; an enhanced version is also available at a cost.
(http://www.surveymonkey.com/)

SurveyMonkey offers self-guided tutorials. You can also watch the YouTube video created by ‘Cool Teachers’ Chris Haskell and Barbara Schroeder which takes you through the steps of setting up a survey and analyzing it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytk0tVT_0A8). Or you can use Section C of this activity as a first starting point.

B. Why would I want to use SurveyMonkey in my classroom?

• Because you can use it in face-to-face and online teaching and learning environments.

• You can create a survey and discuss the results either in your face-to-face class or in a synchronous or asynchronous environment.

• Because it is a relatively simple way of raising students’ interest in a topic.

• It gives you possibilities to tackle a topic in a more interactive way.

• Because it creates some input for class discussions or even assessment purposes.

• It is just a matter of finding an appropriate topic.

• Because the authenticity of the material and the communicative situation allows students to focus on both language and content.

• You can give students the chance to ask their own questions.

• Because it appeals to the students – usually it’s part of their world

• For instance, your students are likely to have filled in online questionnaires already.

• Because it facilitates a task-based approach to learning

• It allows student to learn the language while creating, carrying out and analyzing surveys (learning by doing).

 Just like with any other classroom material, you need to keep the pedagogical considerations in mind (e.g. learning objectives, authenticity, language focus, etc.). To explore these in more detail visit section D: Pedagogical considerations and sample task.

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Using Survey Monkey
Using Survey Monkey

MOODLE QUIZZES

A. What is a Moodle quiz?

In this section you will find out what Moodle quizzes look like and how people use them. If you decide to use a quiz for your teaching, it will be helpful to know some basics.

Particularly in distance learning, independent study and blended teaching contexts, the frequent self-assessment of progress is invaluable. Online quizzes are an easy and sound way of offering students a tool for self-assessment. More and more, online quizzes are also used as an integral part of course assessment.

Moodle is a free, open source software, used for course management, it can even build a whole course or series of courses online. For more information on Moodle see the DOTS activity Using the Moodle platform in class (available at: http://moodle.dots.ecml.at/).
Moodle offers various modules (“activities”) with different functionalities for online teaching and learning. One of these modules is called the “quiz module”. In the quiz module, you can write questions, provide answers and give feedback on the learner’s performance. Learners can be given various levels of support to increase  their chances of coming up with the correct answers. The quiz questions can be combined in sets to form a complete “quiz”.

Moodle quizzes are fully integrated into the Moodle VLE and can be presented as part of it. There are other quiz formats, e.g. HotPotatoes, that allow you to design and present stand-alone quizzes for your own website. The general, pedagogical principles of this activity will still be relevant for these types of quizzes, however, any technical information would need to be adapted for different applications.

The content of a Moodle quiz depends entirely on you and can be as light-hearted or as serious as you make it. Some institutions use Moodle quizzes as part of their formal assessment, and learners get marks on their performance. In other cases, the Moodle quiz is an optional activity for students to check their progress independently.

You can download Moodle from http://moodle.org/. If you are already using a Moodle VLE, you can activate the Moodle module when you are in editing mode.

B. Why would I want to use Moodle quizzes in my teaching?

1.	Because regular evaluation of progress is important in language study:
	Delivering tests on paper and correcting them takes a long time. With an online quiz you can save time and use it for other in–class activities.
2.
	Because it enables your learners to choose the time and place for checking their progress:
	All that learners need is internet access and log-in details for the Moodle workspace. They can take the quiz-test in their own time and receive feedback almost instantaneously.
3.
	Because it allows you to develop your own questions tailored to the content you are teaching:
	You can write your own questions and feedback and you can upload images or audio files. See Using Audacity for language teaching (available at: http://moodle.dots.ecml.at/) for a simple way of creating your own audio.
	You can re-assemble existing questions into new quizzes and adapt them if necessary.
4.	Because you can check your learners’ progress at a glance:
	You can set the Moodle quizzes so that a summary of results for all your students is visible to you.
5.
	Because it encourages learners to become more skilled in self-evaluation:
	You can set the Moodle quizzes so that your students can also see a summary of their results and get a sense of their own progress.
6.
	Because you can share questions with other teachers:
	Moodle is widely used, and you can export and import sets of Moodle quizzes if you want to share your resources with colleagues.
7.
	Because Moodle is built along constructivist principles and encourages students’ exploratory learning.
	For the theoretical basis, see:

As with any other teaching material, you need to keep the pedagogical considerations in mind when creating a useful quiz for your learners. To find out more about these pedagogical considerations, please refer to section D.

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Using Moodle Quizzes
Using Moodle Quizzes

YOUTUBE

A. What is YouTube?

In this section you can find out about what YouTube looks like and how people use it. If you decide to use it in class, it may be helpful to know some basics.

Wikipedia says: “YouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos, and view them in MPEG-4 format." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube)

In other words, it is a website where you can find all sorts of videos which people have made of themselves, others, of TV shows, etc. and have put on the web for everyone to see.

The easiest way to experience the variety of videos is to visit the website yourself. Just click on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/

If you need a guide through some of the basic features, go to section C: A guide through some basic features of YouTube.

B. Why would I want to use YouTube in my classroom?

1.	Because you can use it in face-to-face and online teaching and learning environments.
	For instance, you can find a video you like and show it to your class using your computer and an LCD projector or a DVD player and a TV.
2.
	Because it is a relatively simple way of bringing authentic audiovisual material into the classroom.
	It is just a matter of finding an appropriate video, making one yourself, or having your students make one.
3.
	Because the authenticity of the material and communicative situations presented on YouTube videos allow to work on both language and culture.
	For instance, you may find a video of a real-life situation in the target culture (e.g. a video of someone riding in a London taxi cab and talking to the driver).
4.
	Because it appeals to the students – usually it’s part of their world.
	For instance, your students may already be sharing or watching videos using YouTube – you just have to capitalize on that!
5.
	Because it gives you more possibilities – it appeals to different learner types (audio, visual, learning by doing).
6.	Because it allows students and teachers to bring material to the class – shared responsibility.
7.	Because it facilitates a task-based approach to learning: allows student to learn the language while creating documents and audiovisual material that they can put on YouTube.

Just like with any other classroom material, you need to keep the pedagogical considerations in mind (e.g. learning objectives, authenticity, speech rate, etc.). To explore these in more detail visit section D: Pedagogical criteria: issues to consider when selecting a YouTube video suitable for your L2 class.

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Using YouTube
Using YouTube

WIKIS

A. What is a wiki?

“Wiki wiki” is Hawaiian and means “very quick”.

If Wikipedia is the only wiki you know, you might want to find out more before starting to use wikis in your language teaching. You can love or loathe the basic idea behind Wikipedia – that a community of people can generate more knowledge more quickly than any commercial publisher – but wiki-technology has a lot more to offer for language teachers and learners.

Wikis are simple webpages with only two functionalities, namely reading and editing. They can be written and updated very quickly using text editing. The skills users need to write and update a wiki are comparable to simple text production using word processing software, e.g. Word. Wikis also allow the import of images and other media files into the webpage. Because the wiki is so simple, wikipages can be edited within seconds and made available to the next user. This makes them ideal collaborative writing and reading spaces on the web.

B. Why would I want to use wikis in my teaching?

Wikis fit in well with the practice of constructivist teaching and learning. Basically, if you believe that students learn better by actively participating in the learning process, generating their own “theories” about how language works, and practising language in collaboration with peers, then wikis are a tool you cannot neglect.
Wikis support this kind of collaborative learning as they allow users to develop their own rough version of a text (or theory) which can then be updated and edited by others. Writing becomes a collaborative process, and every contributor becomes at once a critic of other entries, an author or co-author and a reader. Checking, correcting and up-dating the wiki entries can be a potentially valuable way of learning to write in a foreign language, with help and support from peers (rather than solely from the teacher), and also with a ready audience.

A few good reasons for using wikis in language teaching:

1.	They are quick and simple to use and allow collaboration, independently of time and space, via easily accessible online spaces.
2.	They offer authentic writing practice.
3.	They allow students to be actively engaged in reading and writing: correcting, editing, and up-dating.
4.	They teach students the skills of collaboration alongside language skills.
5.	They present the student writers with a ready audience and critics.
6.	They are flexible enough to incorporate multi-media content (without clogging up your email).
7.	They can potentially be shared with a wider audience and made public (but see F).
8.	Most students will already know at least one wiki (“Wikipedia”).
9.	Wikis can help students become better organised because they can store their work in folders.

In addition, wikis can also support teachers in their classroom management.

Of course, wikis are more suitable for some tasks and pedagogies than for others. To find out more about suitable tasks, go to section D.

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Using Wikis
Using Wikis