Wiki Blog Mashup:
Aggregating social software to promote
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2009
interactive learning
Steve Wheeler
University of Plymouth, UK
www2.plymouth.ac.uk/distancelearning

Web 2.0 in education
• ‘architecture of participation’ (O’Reilly, 2004)
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2009
• participative online learning (Downes, 2005)
• user generated content & ‘wisdom of crowds’
• ‘folksonomies’ through social tagging
• sharing and collaboration
• wikis, blogs, social networking, etc

From previous wiki studies...
• Wikis contribute toward community building (Fuchs-
Kittowski & Kohler, 2005)
• Wiki content creation forms community (Ma & Yuen,
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2009
2008)
• wikis are best used over a period of time (Wheeler,
2009)
• students use wikis in the classroom but rarely
outside (Wheeler, et al, 2008)
• students want some structure – wikis can be
daunting (Wheeler, et al, 2007a)
• wiki activities scaffold learning and encourage
collaborative writing (Wheeler, et al, 2007b)

From previous blog studies...
• Good for peer support and peer learning (Hall &
Davison, 2007)
• Used to generate work based electronic portfolios
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2009
(Chuang, 2008)
• Promote regular reflection (Xie & Sharma, 2005) and
knowledge management (O’Donnell, 2006).
• Encourage deep and continuous learning through
regular reflection and knowledge management
(O’Donnell, 2006)
• Should have pedagogical purpose and outcomes
(Kop, 2007)

Space integration
Personal space Community space
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2009

Wiki blog integration
Personal space Community space
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2009
Blog Wiki
Reflective space
Collaborative space

Wiki blog integration
Proximal Development
Professional ID
Personal space Community space
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Blog Wiki
Reflective space
Collaborative space
Negotiation of meaning
Co-construction of knowledge

Wiki blog integration
Creative writing
Critical thinking
Meta cognitive processes
Socio cognitive processes
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2009
(Gleaves et al, 2007)
Blog Wiki
Who I am What I know
Sharing/exchanging
Reflection
Editing/modifying
Self expression
(Tu et al, 2008)
(Brescia & Miller, 2006)

The Study
• 34 students in 2 groups
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2009
• Used blogs and wikis for one complete
academic term
• Post module anonymous online questionnaire
(using Survey Monkey)
• 15 completed returns

What did you use the wiki for? What did you use the
blog for?
I used the wiki to access resources
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2009
Wiki was used to post people had posted and to see what
comments, ask and answer people were discussing
questions, look up resources.
Blog as my personal ravings. I used the blog when I had something
that was on my mind that I wanted to
get off my chest, just personal
thoughts of what I was feeling and
thinking at that particular time.

What do you think are the best uses of blogs in
education?
I think blogs are difficult because the content should be of a high
standard in order to make them have a worthwhile education
relevance, meaning less advanced students will either create blogs
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2009
and waste the time of the users, or not and escape the possibility of
it benefiting their learning. I think the best way is for one persons
blog to be able to dynamically link to other peoples' so that if a user
lacks educational content they can play on the strengths of others',
creating a shared community of blogs.
For the gathering of current opinions on different topics.
Current affairs blogs could be good for researching
opinions and first hand experiences. However, I do
think that there are many useless blogs available,
which are not useful for factual learning purposes.

What do you think are the best uses for wikis in
education?
Community spaces with 'friends' added
and separated discussion areas for
This has the potential to be a
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2009
different topics. The wet paint wiki was
great resource for students to
functional, fun and really fostered a
share research and provide
community spirit for our class.
mutual support to each other
when they only spend limited
time together in the classroom.
I found that the wiki allowed us to have
a lot of discussion within the group
which led to a greater bond between
us, whereas the student portal is never
used to discuss things and is mainly
only used for e-mailing people.

Any other comments
I used the wiki to keep up to date with postings from my
fellow students. However, I feel that it was very under used
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2009
and that tempered my enthusiasm. I had wanted to use it
as a method for keeping in touch with others thoughts,
ideas and progress with the module, but the majority of
students did not really engage and that was disappointing.
I had had similar hopes for the blog and was slow to start,
then enjoyed what I read on others blogs and tried to
devote a bit more time to it. Unfortunately I didn't have
much time to explore its potential and as my colleagues
didn't really get going with it I lost interest.

What was learnt...
• wiki activities scaffold learning and encourage
collaborative working and a community ethos
(Wheeler, et al, 2007b)
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2008
• blogs used for reflection but student doubted their
worth outside individual learning
• need for a critical mass of users for success
(Hodgkinson-Williams et al, 2008) especially in the
‘space overlap’
• students like to discuss but are reluctant to create
their own content (Wheeler, 2009)
• student resent extra work – wikis and blogs should
be integrated directly into curricula (ibid)

Thank You
© Steve Wheeler, University of Plymouth, 2008
Steve Wheeler
Faculty of Education, University of Plymouth, UK
swheeler@plymouth.ac.uk
www2.plymouth.ac.uk/distancelearning
http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com