Three years ago a class and I jointly wrote a system development manual for any charter school which would provide would be powerful instruction, fully responsive to the learning needs of all individuals, including those with disabilities. [We didn't take it to a polished conclusion; however, even in its 2nd draft shape, it was obvious to the group that they had jointly designed a school in which they felt, contrary to the average school, a vast majority would grow and work. No small claim, that! ] .

All of these graduate students were deeply moved by the real world orientation of the assignment and made significant investment in their research, on and off the web. I must also admit that several were confused and anxious; their concern was with the large and nebulous nature of the learning tasks (Next time, I think I can get better at helping the next group to understand the tasks and to feel more comfortable with their own performance expectations).

All of that having been said, I would say the next incarnation of such efforts for me could well be in the form of a wiki. The chance to work from both face-to- face and from home while seeing their work in the context of "teacher support and training" document would, or so it seems to me, energize and focus and coordinate their joint learning efforts.

Thus, I was excited to read Educational Wikis by David Carter-Tod.

"Wikis are the closest thing I've seen to true collaboration...and once again, it is a simple, effective tool. I currently have a zwiki in pilot stage, that will eventually be used as the basis for creating a college-wide FAQ for staff"

[ via Serious Instructional Technology and
elearnspaceblog]

Take a look at the zwiki site here here