Source: Melinda Sinn, 785-532-5888, sinnpio@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Jared Betts, 785-532-2529, betts290@k-state.edu

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009

K-STATE WINS SLOAN CONSORTIUM AWARD FOR ELATEWIKI

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University will receive the 2009 Sloan Consortium Effective Practice Award for ELATEwiki, a collaborative Web site that allows students and faculty to post messages and interact through a dynamic information exchange.

The award will be presented Oct. 29 at the 15th annual International Sloan Consortium in Orlando, Fla. It is the first time K-State has received an award from the consortium, which advocates the integration of online education into the mainstream of higher education and helps entities improve effectiveness by assessing the affordability, quality and satisfaction of online education.

"We are especially pleased and honored to receive this award from the Sloan Consortium that does so much to promote and enhance the quality of online education," said Dave Stewart, assistant dean for the Division of Continuing Education at K-State. "ELATEwiki has become a very creative resource for dialogue and idea exchange among faculty and students, and it is very deserving of this recognition," Stewart said.

The ELATEwiki Web site is constructed using wiki technology, which permits access, multimedia expressiveness, remote collaboration, tracking and reversibility of postings.

Roger McHaney, a university distinguished teaching scholar and professor and interim head of the department of management at K-State, serves as the wiki keeper for ELATEwiki.

"ELATEwiki was originally intended to enhance and support faculty development and student learning at K-State. However, the project was broadened for use by all institutions of higher learning," McHaney said.

ELATEwiki is used for sharing ideas and encouraging synergistic improvement of teaching practices. Articles posted on the wiki can include text, videos, images and embedded Web applications, and may be shared via RSS feeds. A community of users helps promote collaborative, active learning among students, faculty and outside experts in the field.

McHaney said the list of contributors and Web visitors continues to increase.

"As of October, the ELATEwiki main page received more than 28,000 visitors; during the first few months following its March release, the number of entries on ELATEwiki went from zero to more than 150. Nearly 100 individuals registered as contributors/users, and the wiki receives more than 400 visitors a day," McHaney said.

ELATEwiki also supports classroom access to material. Not only is the material on ELATEwiki available as a student resource, it can be used as a site for developing and posting student projects that are visible to the entire world. This sense of moving a project beyond the classroom and making it a valuable artifact tends to motivate performance and encourage collaboration between student team members, peers, experts outside the classroom and teachers, according to McHaney.

"ELATEwiki has created an open atmosphere of sharing and collegial scholarship where good teachers and students can share and exchange ideas to enhance their teaching and learning," he said.

More information about ELATEwiki and the Sloan Consortium Effective Practice Award is available at http://www.elatewiki.org

More information about K-State's award-winning distance education programs is available at the K-State Division of Continuing Education Web site at http://www.dce.k-state.edu or by contacting informationdce@k-state.edu.