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Wikis in T175 and T209

Wikis in Technology courses Karen Kear COLMSCT a nd Department of Communication & Systems, MCT Faculty. Centre for Open Learning of Mathematics, Science, Computing and Technology (COLMSCT) Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Wikis in T175 and T209. T175 Networked Living

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Wikis in T175 and T209

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  1. Wikis in Technology coursesKaren KearCOLMSCTandDepartment of Communication & Systems, MCT Faculty Centre for Open Learning of Mathematics, Science, Computing and Technology (COLMSCT)Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

  2. Wikis in T175 and T209 • T175 Networked Living • Level 1 30-point course • In 2007 wiki offered for online tutorials • T209 Information & Communication Technologies • Level 2 60-point course • In 2008 wiki offered for group project • Feedback from students via online questionnaires • response rates around 45%

  3. Wikis for online tutorials in T175 • Online tutorials in Blocks 3 and 4 • Block 3 – peer review activity • Block 4 - website evaluation • Tutorial activities contributed to assessment • Normally run in FirstClass tutor group forum • Wiki offered to 9 tutor groups • uptake 85% for Block 3 • uptake 56% for Block 4

  4. T175 students’ views on the wiki

  5. What students said about it • Good idea: • “It was good fun to edit other people’s work and contribute to a group produced document.” • Usability problems: • “… it’s not an easy system to use” • Social discomfort: • “I felt it was too open allowing anyone to modify it without my knowledge” • Collaborative working: • “… easy to collaborate jointly on documents which has always been a bit of a logistical nightmare.”

  6. Conclusions from T175 • Students enjoyed the wiki, but many preferred FirstClass • Students were concerned about: • usability and functionality • access and privacy • issues of editing others’ work

  7. Wikis for group projects in T209 • Module 4: group project to create a web resource • Topics around the theme of ‘Cyborgs’ • FirstClass forum for each group • HTML template available • Wiki offered to 12 tutor groups • 84% uptake

  8. T209 students’ views: usability • 84% said it took very little time to learn • “Have not used wikis but found it easy to use and did not really need much time to be able to use it.” • 93% said it was very or fairly easy to use • “It was generally easy to use, apart from formatting layout sometimes.” • 57% said it had all the features needed • “Would like alternative fonts and character sizes and the option to use colour.”

  9. Collaboration via the wiki • 97% said it was useful or very useful for collaboration • “I thought that the wiki was ideal for group work as we could see as a group what work was done and what needed to be done.” • 70% said members contributed equally or fairly equally • “There seemed in our group to be two main people joining in and two others occasionally and one rarely but I don’t think this was down to the wiki. I think whichever method we had it would have been the same.” • 14% felt uncomfortable that group members could edit each others’ contributions • “As this was a TMA and I did not know the other members this was a concern for me. We agreed early in the process that amendments of others’ work would not be allowed.”

  10. Using wikis with forums • 54% used the wiki for contributing material and the forum for discussion • “The wiki and the forum are both important and useful to the tasks, the wiki is best for creating an actual collaborative document and the forum is good for the discussion supporting and surrounding the topic.” • 97% said it was useful to have both tools available • “These tools have different uses, so we use each tool for what it was good at.” • Some groups also used FirstClass live chat • “Let’s not forget the chat facility too - a very useful tool for troubleshooting or immediate problems.”

  11. Summary of findings from T209 • The wiki is a valuable tool for group projects • It works well when used with: • a group forum • a live chat tool • Groups need to decide how to use the tools together • agree ground-rules for collaborative writing • Conclusion: • good tools can help with online group work • but they can’t make it easy

  12. Conclusions from T175 and T209 • VLE wiki has vastly improved in usability • but image handling and text formatting are still tricky • The wiki is a good tool for group projects • supports collaborative writing well • complements forums rather than replacing them • Learning activities need to be redesigned • don’t just ‘translate’ an activity from a forum to a wiki • use each tool for what it does well

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