Students’ experiences of wikis for a collaborative project: technology choice, evidence and change
Karen Kear, Helen Donelan, Judith Williams
The Open University, United Kingdom
In recent years there has been considerable interest in 'web 2.0' or social technologies for education (e.g. Redecker 2009). These technologies can make learning more collaborative, and attuned to students' online activities outside their studies (Mason & Rennie 2008, 5). Wikis are one such technology, enabling groups of students to develop their own web resources (West & West 2009). Based on social constructivist theories of learning, wikis should offer many benefits. Students can work together on shared documents, see each other’s progress (Hemmi, Bayn & Land 2009) and help improve each other’s work (Lundin 2008).This paper reports on use of wikis in a part-time course at the UK Open University. As part of the course, which has more than 500 students per year, students undertake a collaborative project to create a web site. In previous years the project was supported via discussion forums. Although forums are valuable for communication, they are less effective for creating shared documents (Trentin, 2009). Therefore, in 2008 a number of student groups were offered the choice between using a wiki or collaborating solely via a forum.Quantitative and qualitative data were collected via an online survey to 167 students, to which 74 students responded. The quantitative data illustrates the proportion of students using the wiki for specific tasks, and the benefits and problems encountered. The qualitative data allows these issues to be explored in greater depth, identifying themes related to students' choices, approaches and perceptions.Particularly illuminating were students' reactions to using a new tool, and the protocols they adopted. It was found that most groups used the wiki for developing content, and the forum for communication. Students valued the wiki as a central, visible area for organising and reviewing their work. However, some students were wary of editing each other’s contributions, so groups developed their own ‘norms’ for working in the wiki.By evaluating an educational use of wikis from the student perspective, this paper:* explores students' choices of technologies;* presents evidence about these choices;* considers how a change in technology affects students' experiences.Hemmi, A., S. Bayne., and R. Land. 2009. The appropriation and repurposing of social technologies in higher education. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 25: 19–30.Lundin, R.W. 2008. Teaching with wikis: toward a networked pedagogy. Computers and Composition 25: 432–448.Mason, R. and Rennie, F. 2008. E-learning and Social Networking Handbook, New York: Routledge.Redecker, C. 2009. Review of learning 2.0 practices: study on the impact of web 2.0 innovations on education and training in Europe, European Commission Joint Research Centre. http://ipts.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/pub.cfm?id=2059 (accessed 20th May, 2009)Trentin, G. 2009. Using a wiki to evaluate individual contribution to a collaborative learning project. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 25: 43–55.West, J.A., and M.L. West. 2009. Using wikis for online collaboration: the power of the read-write web, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.