Jan+Von+Handorf+Article

ARTICLE DUE DATE Dec. 1, 2013

Write an article for publication that would tell the story of your project so that others could replicate what you did in their own parish or setting.

**Project Contact** Jan VonHandorf, Associate Director Athenaeum of Ohio Lay Pastoral Ministry Program Cincinnati, Ohio (w) 513-231-1200 (c) 859-250-7509 jvonhandorf@zoomtown.com

**Article Title** Archdiocese 101: An Online Introduction to the Ministries and Services of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Using Wiki Classrooms in Ministry In fall 2011 the administrative faculty of the Athenaeum of Ohio’s Lay Pastoral Ministry Program (LPMP) developed Archdiocese 101: An Online Introduction to the Ministries and Services of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati (AD101), an online course designed to introduce incoming adult lay students to the history, structure, leadership, and resources of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and the Athenaeum of Ohio. The course opens with a brief welcome and introduction, followed by a pre-test to assess incoming student knowledge and familiarity with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Four instructional modules follow introducing students to the services and resources available through the Archdiocese, the USCCB, and the Athenaeum of Ohio, the graduate school of theology for the archdiocese. Students complete an online assignment for each module. Assignment questions encourage students to incorporate new learning into service to their Church, families, social and work environments. Students continue the conversation with course participants and LPMP administrative faculty through asynchronous posting of comments, questions, and replies. Student participation concludes by completing the online post-test. On average, student test scores increased 100% following completion of AD101. Student course evaluations are overwhelmingly positive. In fall 2013 AD101 was reconfigured using Wiki Classroom, a free online platform for educators offered by Wikispaces.com that accommodates up to 100 student accounts. The reconfiguration provided an opportunity to incorporate free Web 2.0 tools into the course design. The Wiki Classroom platform offers a variety of options to customize course and project pages, facilitate group work and student postings, and encourage discussion. Wiki Classroom editor facilitates easy incorporation of photographs (selected from creative commons collections such as Pics4Learning; flickrCC; Fotopedia; search.creativecommons.org); graphics ([|Wordle], [|ImageChef], [|Tagxedo]), original videos ([|animoto.com]), and tests ([|Survey Monkey]) into course pages. To address privacy issues associated with using an online platform for course instruction, the AD101 wiki was marked “Private” with student participation by invitation only using instructor-assigned student passwords. Students may or may not be required to provide email addresses depending on which option the course creator chooses. Using the “Wikispaces Classroom” platform to host a course online: (1) addresses the stability issues of hosting an online class onsite by moving course content onto the cloud; (2) gives course creators access to free online training videos, tutorials, and the “Help” feature when addressing specific programming issues; (3) provides course creators with opportunities to incorporate Web 2.0 tools into course materials to enhance student learning; and (4) introduces students to examples of ways Web 2.0 tools can be incorporated into adult ministerial formation and education initiatives. The new AD101 wiki classroom
 * is user friendly;
 * engages students in peer-to-peer discussions sharing experiences and new insights; and
 * prepares students to begin academic studies and pastoral formation for ministry.

Thinking about new ways to engage your students in active learning that are fun, creative, interesting, and easy to develop? Next time, consider using Wiki Classroom!