Wikimaps for student support on placements

School / department: School of Arts and Humanities

Programme: BA (Hons) Modern Languages

Contact: Chris Reynolds and Phillip Pierce

Level of study: Year-abroad, Year Three.

Activity: A wiki / google map mash-up that provides information about placement locations to outgoing students.

Background
All students completing a BA (Hons) Modern Languages are able to spend their third year overseas using the languages they are studying. The year is structured around the innovative Placement Diploma in Language Study Abroad. This allows students to:

• work and learn in their chosen languages
• develop their communication skills in those languages
• enhance their cultural understanding of that country
• increase knowledge of their own culture through comparison with life in other countries
• widen their own language learning skills and techniques and develop important personal life skills.

There are three placement options:

• a university study placement
• a British Council English language teaching assistantship
• a work placement.

The wikimap
The Wikimap is a student support tool, developed by Modern Languages that helps prepare students to make informed decisions about their year abroad placement choices. It has proved to be a valuable resource in ensuring that our students are provided with the most relevant, up to date information about the possible destinations for their year abroad.

It takes two applications – google maps and wikis – and mashes them together in order to provide a tool that allows students to share information effectively concerning a certain destination and in relation to clearly established categories. Each possible destination has an icon which, when clicked, opens a wiki that provides useful information for anyone considering undertaking a placement there.

As part of their year abroad assessment, students are asked to contribute a minimum number of words to each category in the wiki. The categories include; recommended classes, accommodation, travel, social life, useful contacts, and an information point.

Benefits to staff: the information supports outgoing students, it is up to date and students add to the resource.

Benefits to students: students who are about to go on placement use wikimaps written by their peers when planning their placements. Once on placement students create their own wikimap on which they are assessed.

Feedback: Students have reacted very positively to the wikimap, so much so that it is now a central part of the organisation and preparation for the year abroad. For an indication of how much it is used, please follow the link to view the wikimaps.

Feedback from colleagues from across the university has also been extremely positive and Chris and Phillip have been asked to help set up wikimaps in international relations, global studies, education, science and technology and marketing.

Considerations: The Modern Languages wikimaps are now in their third year of activity. Having proven the benefits of the tool within modern languages, the aim is to see it rolled out across the University to all Schools and programmes that propose placements both abroad and at home.

Further information: Contact Chris Reynolds

• The Modern Languages wikimaps can be viewed via the following link.
• A wiki has been created to document the process of rolling out the wikimaps to other Schools and programmes across the University.