Working With Wiggio

From LiteracyTentWiki

Subject: [PD 4828] Working With Wiggio
From: Nell Eckersley
Date: Wed Jul 14 13:43:33 EDT 2010

Hi all,

I'm so enjoying hearing what others have been doing and the questions we all have about using various web 2.0 tools.

I have been using Wiggio (private online community application) quite a bit for several professional development projects as well as for some NIFL work. The idea is that after a face to face session we can continue to work together via Wiggio as we can share documents, calendars and comments via Wiggio.

So far the hardest part of Wiggio seems to be joining a group and there are always a few people who have a particularly tricky time, so I've found that taking time during the face to face session to get everyone joined to the group has been most helpful.

The second hardest part is enticing people to use the Wiggio group enough that they find how it is useful to them. At first the thought of joining another online community can turn a lot of people off as they see it as a time waster or difficult to do. Using the Wiggio group as part of the face to face session helps increase the comfort level with the technology and also gives the members and opportunity to find what's useful in it for them. This all increases the amount of time people spend on Wiggio after the face to face session. If using documents I make sure to post them on the Wiggio group before the face to face session (and maybe not even have them available in hard copy at the face to face session) and I add links and more resources during the session, so the Wiggio group becomes the receptacle for all the things covered in the face to face session. Knowing that they can access all this material from home after the face to face session is over often entices even the most reticent participant to join the group and use it after the face to face session.

Groups still need support after the face to face session is over if the Wiggio group is to flourish. Setting an "assignment" to be delivered via the Wiggio group for one or two weeks after the face to face session also helps to motivate people to return to the Wiggio group. Outlining the purpose of the group during the face to face session and afterward, and making the original purpose finite with the option of continuing if folks want to, also makes working with the group less daunting.

I'm still trying out new things and it's all a discovery process as each group is different. What have others done when using Ning or Wiggio to create social networks?

Best,

Nell

-- Nell Eckersley

Literacy Assistance Center
http://www.lacnyc.org
Moderator, NIFL Technology and Distance Learning Discussion List

Subject: [PD 4831] Re: Working With Wiggio
From: Wendy Quinones
Date: Wed Jul 14 14:32:14 EDT 2010

Hi all,

I found the same thing as Nell about getting people signed on in a f2f session. I've done a number of professional development courses using Moodle, and found it's always best to get people signed up while you're all in the same room, and then to go through an introductory session so everybody gets practice using the platform as well.

I've also found that synchronous chats during an otherwise asynchronous course are great community-builders. In an 8-week course, for example, I have 3 chats, each focused on a specific topic, and without exception participants love them. They share ideas and get to know each other in ways that aren't nearly as good through discussion boards, no matter how active. I use TappedIn for the chats, because everyone who is a participant gets an emailed transcript about 10 minutes after they log off. No great ideas are lost in cyberspace.

I wish I had been nearly as successful in using tech with my students! I tried using Twitter as a vocabulary-building tool, and Wikispaces for writing and out-of-class communications, and both flopped. Partly through bad design, I'm sure; and partly because my students are older with lots of other responsibilities and not as attuned to texting and paying attention to emails; and partly because I see them only 3 hours a week and can't devote a lot of class time to this. I hope I get some better ideas here!

Wendy Quinones

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