Wiki Wiki

So, I'm one of the hall directors that is presenting with Ben Williams at the NACADA Region VII conference here in New Orleans. I went to a session two blocks ago that I thought was a really interesting idea and wanted to share it with everyone here on the blog. The concept is this: advisor's from the University of Arkansas were having issues with its website being buried too deep in the main website. Students wanted easier access to getting files they needed for their appointments they had with their advisor's, some wanted easier access to to just general information about advising. The two presenters found that the easiest way to get this information to the students was by creating a very simple, user-friendly wiki. I'm sure most of you who are reading this post have heard of, and ventured to, Wikipedia. We all know that one of the major pitfalls that students run into with Wikipedia is that anyone can edit the information, causing both them and their professors a great deal of grief.

The presenters found a format and wiki-creation program that they liked and went through the steps to build one that was easy and convenient for the students to utilize, provided limited editing rights, and was easy enough to build with little to no knowledge on web design. The student reaction has been amazing! The ease of access, which is still FERPA compliant by the way, to the different files that they can get has been greatly appreciated by all parties involved. This has in no way eliminated the need for students to still come in and meet with their advisors, just allowed the students to be more prepared for their meetings.

Below is the URL to U of Ark.'s wiki. Enjoy!

http://sharepoint.uark.edu/sites/EDUC/BOYER (works better in Firefox)