Teaching Rhetorical Criticism with a Collaborative Web Wiki

• In Event: G.I.F.T.S.: Great Ideas for Teaching Speech

Abstract

When teaching rhetorical criticism, it is important that students have a sense of time and place to put the speeches into context. Having the students build and annotate their own timeline is a wonderful way for them to get a sense of history as the key events are researched and placed into the context of related events. The class created timeline is then a class resource as students do research on the content within which a spech was given.

A Wiki is an easy to use collaborative tool that allows multiple people to create simple yet robust material on the world wide web. It requires no skills beyond simple web browsing and text editing. This session will show the Wiki created by students enrolled in a course “The Rhetoric of the 60’s,” explain how easy it is to create, and how free Wiki Space may be obtained for class use.

Author

• Steven Epstein, Suffolk County Community College, Brentwood