Case study of assessed wiki activity for DL Masters students in Health. Highlighted are the use of a journal for reflective learning and students' perceptions of the activity.

1. Enabling engagement:
collaborative and supportive
learning using a wiki
Paul Jinks
Jan Owens
School of Clinical Dentistry
Dentistr

2. The course and learners
• Health promotion
• First wholly online run of an existing face to face
module
• All assessment methods had been used in face to
face course
• 27 students
• Learners in different locations, with different
professional and cultural backgrounds
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3. Studying online
Problems:
• Isolation
• Lack of sense of community
• Boredom
• Time management
• Understanding the course design and activities
• Technical ability
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4. What is a wiki?
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5. Wikis for education
• Provide a tool for Inquiry Based Learning
• Learning based around collaboration and
communication
• Overcome isolation through group work
• Produce artifacts of real use and relevance
• Make good use of the online environment
• Develop digital skills
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6. Why wikis for Health Promotion?
Appropriate to the domain and topic area:
• Health Promotion practitioners likely to work in
geographically distributed groups
• Produce reports on particular health issues for
particular contexts
• Develops skills that can be transferred into real life
situations; collaborative/team working, critical
thinking, awareness of and respect for diversity
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7. Assessing the wiki
• Wiki was a substantial piece of work, spanning most of
the semester, should be assessed.
• Group assessment problematic: unequal contributions
• Monitored contributions using MOLE wiki tool.
Students were informed
• Reflective Journal enabled students to develop
metacognitive reflection and evidence contributions
• Clear rubric was provided
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8. Assessment rubric
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9. Empty slide
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10. Instructions for students
• The activity was signposted in the online timetable
and the handbook
• Students randomly allocated to groups of 5-6
• Each group given a wiki and discussion board
• Students encouraged to discuss and organise the
task, and exchange emails
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12. Instructions
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13. Guidance on group work
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14. Guidance on using the Wiki
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15. What happened initially
• Some groups spent a long time choosing a
country and health problem
• Others discussed how to go about the
task, dividing it up, timetabling, filesharing...
• Most groups did very little work on the
actual wiki in the first few weeks
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16. Talking about the task
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17. Milestones
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18. The Wikis
• Formative feedback given in wiki comments on
the page
• Completed on time
• To a higher standard generally than on the face to
face course
• Appropriate word count
• Discussions continued within the wiki for some
groups (one averaged 4.5 comments per page)
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19. Technical Problems
Students had technical problems with the
wikis:
• Reordering pages
• Deleting pages
• Formatting pages
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20. The Journals: Starting comments
•
“Until the scope of the joint Wiki work is outlined I'll be feeling a bit of
trepidation about this: like most people I work better when I know what I'm
up against. Likewise there are a number of uncertainties around the
prospect of joint online working. I have used net-based Wiki-type working
before a little, I am more familiar with collaboration via email and face-toface. I suspect once we're under way I'll be too busy to concern myself with
my initial trepidation.”
•
“This is my first time using WiKi and it is a bit challenging to navigate, it is
only now that I figured out where to do the journal entry. I have introduced
myself on group discussion board and everyone seem very eager and
pumped to complete this challenge. We have chosen a team captain and a
deadline of May 31 for us to complete our assignment and take some time
before submitting it. I have suggested we have weekly Skype calls first to
assign sections to each member and then keep each other updated and
moving on our parts.”
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21. The Journals: Mid-way comments
•
“ Today we are all to post in our drop box account what we each plan to do. The
following is my suggested contribution. I have asked for their feedback as to whether
or not I need to expand on this. The plan is to be skyping this weekend or Monday at
the latest. ”
•
“This week we uploaded our wiki pages for group review and editing. I created the
page on WHO standards and health promotion in X. I also uploaded a bunch of facts
about X which I wanted to use for something, or a facts page. Since we are creating
an intro page I think I will use these facts on the intro page. The group is
communicating well, our next goal is to have everything up and edited by Friday. I
think we are all working hard on this project…”
•
“It is so overwhelming to learn of new emerging thoughts with regard to the concept
of sexual health in XY. After a tremendous survey of the journal articles it is
interesting to learn of new issues regarding sexual health. I am really liking the wiki so
far, I am just worried with my inconsistence, I don’t seem to find potential time to
read much of the journal articles , nevertheless I am improving day by day. I used to
think of group work as boring but my mind set is gradually changing and it is
becoming more interesting.”
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22. The Journals: End comments
•
“Overall this has been a difficult exercise: it’s a challenge in itself, and is made
more complex by the at-a-distance communication. I feel that we could have
gone further in adopting a more critical approach.”
•
“The whole experience has made a difference in how I read documents. It is no
longer just about reading but also questioning what has been written and trying
to find other points before making a judgement. The group experience has
been good as it has been challenging.”
•
“The wiki itself is something I have never done before. I was nervous at first,
but it really worked out nicely. Each member had their own page and we could
see all the work each other was completing. This was much easier then trying
to write one paper together as I have done in the past. The wiki allows us room
to be creative, and present information on different pages. I enjoy the online
aspect of the group work quite a bit.”
•
“Its been a long journey, and we have finally finished our task. It is
overwhelming to note the beauty of working in a group. I never realised groups
could be that helpful.”
•
“I have enjoyed the experience and learnt a lot. Most importantly I have learnt
that you can work as a team with three strangers from three continents that
you will not meet and pull off a good piece of work.”
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23. Student evaluation
Evaluation on the module was positive.
Comments relating to the wiki on standard feedback
form:
• “Collaboration on the wiki was not perfect, at least not for
my own group”
• “There should be a brief video introduction to wikis and
how students can collaborate well to produce very good
wiki works”
• “I disliked the group-work as it wasn't very cohesive”
• “The more we interact the more we learn and understand
many issues”
• “The module was incredibly thought provoking and really
goes beyond your typical health promotion courses”
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24. Next time
• Put students into groups earlier
• allow students more time to get to know each
other; give them some ‘warm up’ exercises
• become familiar with the tools and environments
• Use Google Docs or Google Sites.
• Suggest milestones for the activity from the outset to
give students an idea of where they should be
• Have a video tutorial on approaching the task
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25. Reading
Conole, G., & Alevizou, P. (2010). A literature review of the use of Web
2.0 tools in Higher Education. Open University.
Anderson, T. (2008). The Theory and Practice of Online Learning.
Athabasca University Press.
Capdeferro, N., & Romero, M. (2012). Are Online Learners Frustrated
with Collaborative Learning Experiences? International Review of
Research in Open and Distance Learning, 13(2), 1–19.
Cole, M. (2009). Using Wiki technology to support student engagement:
Lessons from the trenches. Computers & Education, 52(1), 141–146.
doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2008.07.003
Elgort, I., Smith, A., & Toland, J. (2008). Is wiki an effective platform for
group course work. Australasian Journal of Educational …, 24(2), 1–19.
Retrieved from http://ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet24/elgort.html
Laru, J., Näykki, P., & Järvelä, S. (2012). Supporting small-group learning
using multiple Web 2.0 tools: A case study in the higher education
context. The Internet and Higher Education, 15(1), 29–38.
doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2011.08.004
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