Fine Art Wiki: reflections on using the read/write web to develop information literacy skills in first year Fine Art students. Poulton
1. Fine Art Wiki:
Reflections on using the read/write
web to develop information literacy
skills in first year Fine Art students
Amanda Poulton
Academic Team Manager
(Learning and Skills Development)
De Montfort University
apoulton@dmu.ac.uk
3. Background
• Library teaching input for number of years
in the Fine Art curriculum
• Variable feedback led to concerns by
Faculty and Library that teaching was not
effective
• Meeting with Head of Studies to establish
student profile and needs
4. Background
• Incorrect assumption that students in Art and
Design:
– Are unfamiliar with academic sources
– Have additional learning needs
– Are unused to producing written work
• Head of Studies revealed that Fine Art students:
– Have the highest average A level points at the
university
– Are highly motivated, confident and effective learners
5. Programme re-development
• Appropriate level content
• Aligned to needs of the programme
• Greater level of peer interaction and
engagement
• Integrate formative feedback
• More robust evaluation
6. Wiki task
• Wiki task set to provide practical
application of skills:
– Focussed on summer project set by the
Faculty to ensure relevance
– Enabled peer interaction and discussion
– Formative assessment took place in final
session
– Feedback provided on developing
information literacy skills
7. Links to the literature:
Group interaction
Students retention rates for group
interactivity rises to 70% and 80% for
doing real-life tasks compared to 10%
for reading
Glassner as quoted by Biggs and Tang (2007)
8. Links to the Literature:
Feedback
‘the most powerful enhancement to
learning is feedback during learning’
(p.97)
Biggs and Tang (2007)
9. Links to the Literature:
Peer learning
‘A high degree of learner activity’ (p.17)
and peer interaction are critical factors
in encouraging a deep approach to
learning.
Biggs as quoted by Toohey (1999)
10. Links to the Literature:
Deep vs surface learning
Surface approach to learning
– Focus on discrete elements without integration
Deep approach to learning
– Vigorous interaction with content
– Relate concepts to everyday experience
Entwhistle (1981) and Marton and Säljö (1976) as cited
by Savin-Baden and Major (2004, p.26)
11. Evaluation
• Confidence/skills in finding range of
information
• Confidence/skills in evaluating Internet
sources
• Wiki task helped understand how the
skills could be applied
• Enjoyed working on the wiki task
12. Evaluation
• Confidence/skills in finding range of
information – 97% agreed/strongly agreed
• Confidence/skills in evaluating Internet
sources – 94% agreed/strongly agreed
• Wiki task helped understand how the skills
could be applied – 92% agreed/strongly
agreed
• Enjoyed working on the wiki task – 83%
agreed/strongly agreed
13. Evaluation
Most interesting/useful:
Hearing what other
people had to say
and seeing their
different approaches
Communicating
within a group to
find information
resources
Finding useful
information about
the artist and
working in a group
Having the tools to
research
collaboratively as
well as individuals
14. Strengths of wiki task
• Provided context and application
• Provided focus for the session
• Facilitated peer interaction and learning
• Opportunity to provide formative
feedback
• Introduced students to wikis as a
research tool
15. Challenges of wiki task
• Patchy attendance by some group members
• Need to ensure only one group member edited
wiki page at one time
• Technically challenging to review other groups’
wiki pages
• Some students did not understand importance
of selecting and referencing (not just copying
and pasting)
• More in depth teaching needed for referencing
16. References
• BIGGS, J. and TANG, C. (2007) Teaching for quality learning at
university: what the student does, 3rd ed. Maidenhead: Society
for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press.
• SAVIN-BADEN, M. and MAJOR, C. (2004) Foundations of
Problem-based learning. Maidenhead: Society for Research into
Higher Education & Open University Press.
• TOOHEY, S. (1999) Designing courses for Higher Education.
Buckingham: The Society for Research into Higher Education &
Open University Press.