Collaborative learning with a wiki: Differences in perceived usefulness in two contexts of use

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential of a wiki (FlexWiki) to support collaborative authoring of web resources in authentic coursework by two different sets of education students at different stages of their professional development. Research questions included: (1) how the selected wiki could be blended with curriculum activities and existing technologies to complete collaborative tasks; (2) student and tutor expectations concerning collaborative learning and whether these expectations were met; (3) the barriers and enablers of using the wiki and perceptions of the task-technology fit. Key findings included that tutors and students were able to use the wiki to complete tasks; tutors and students were positive about learning outcomes but collaboration was not as co-constructive as hoped for; there were tensions between expectations of collaboration and assessment practices that affected how students collaborated; differences between participants in their group interaction, degree of co-presence and familiarity with technology led to differences in perceptions of usefulness and actual wiki use; and version-tracking data from the wiki proved unreliable on its own for gaining insights into actual collaborative processes. These findings suggest the importance of considering detailed local contexts of use when deciding to adopt new tools for supporting collaboration.

Evaluating types of students' interactions in a wiki-based collaborative learning project

“…Some researchers indicate that wikis support collaborative learning (Elgort, Smith, & Toland, 2008;Snodgrass, 2011), reduce free riding in group activities and encourage a more equal contribution by group members (Zorko, 2009). In contrast, other researchers argue that wiki collaboration is not effective (Judd, Kennedy, & Cropper, 2010;Naismith, Lee, & Pilkington, 2011), that students may tend to only read the information to which they contributed or wish to take individual credit for their own work in a group (Wheeler, Yeomans, & Wheeler, 2008;Snodgrass, 2011), and that students may experience confusion and uncertainty about online tasks (Snodgrass, 2011). This ambiguity of the effectiveness of wiki collaboration is the motivation for the study, while the interaction process is the focus of the present research.…”

“…It sheds light on prior findings by Judd et al (2010) and Naismith et al (2011) of ineffective collaboration in wikis by investigating a balance between student-student vs studentcontent collaboration in three clusters with different online activity levels.…”

“…As suggested by the prior literature (Zorko, 2009;Naismith et al, 2011) it was decided to extend the analysis of online server logs to include offline interaction investigation. The second stage of the research involved interviews with students.…”

“…Activities that individuals undertake in collaborative learning are not individual-learning activities, but are group interactions, e.g., negotiation and sharing (Stahl, Koschmann, & Suthers, 2006). Learning that occurs through collaboration is believed to encourage deeper engagement with the learning content through situated action and interaction (Naismith et al, 2011). The quality of the collaborative learning is directly affected by the quality of the collaborative process that includes individual contribution levels and interactions within the group (Trentin, 2009).…”

Aportaciones de la formación blended learning al desarrollo profesional docente

“…La discusión y la colaboración estimula el crecimiento profesional docente (Plešec y Pečar, 2016). A este respecto, no podemos dudar que el aprendizaje colaborativo se ajusta a todos (Laurillard, 2016) si bien se precisa cuidar el diseño de las actividades que lo fomenten para evitar la tendencia a adoptar un enfoque más cooperativo que de colaboración en su desarrollo (Naismith, Lee y Pilkington, 2011). Además se ha de tomar conciencia de que se puede requerir de inducción en el uso de la tecnología, por ejemplo la wiki, y de ayuda acerca de cómo usarla de manera productiva (Robertson, 2008).…”