collaborative knowledge construction with wikis

Collaborative knowledge construction with wikis

michael rowedepartment of physiotherapyuniversity of the western cape

“lecture; a process by which the notes of a teacher become the notes of a student without passing through the minds of either” (o'donnell, 1997)

changing nature of education

a modern lecture theatre is the one place on earth a student from two centuries ago would feel at home (tapscott, 2009)

improved understanding of how students learn has prompted a shift in thinking among educators (siemens, 2008)

a fundamental redesign that transforms the structure of, and approach to, teaching and learning (Garrison & Vaughan, 2005)

evolve, adapt or desist (swail, 2002)

analog → digitaltethered → mobile

isolated → connectedgeneric → personal

consumption → creationclosed → open

higher education everything else

wiley, 2009

a history of complaining...

“Students today can’t prepare bark to calculate their problems. What will they do when their slate is dropped and it breaks? They will be unable to write!” (teachers conference, 1703)

“Students today depend upon paper too much. They can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of paper?” (principal’s association, 1815)

“Students today depend too much upon ink. They don’t know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never replace the pencil” (national association of teachers, 1907)

“Ball point pens will be the ruin of education in our country. Students use these devices and then throw them away. The American virtues of thrift and frugality are being discarded” (federal teacher, 1950)

digital tools are not just about a new format

connect

share

search

remix

link to

link from

technology in education

technology = knowledge, and use of tools and crafts

“because the nature of technology used by a society influences what the society is and becomes, individuals who do not become technologically literate will be left behind” (Johnson & Johnson, 2004)

what is “social”?

of the top 20 sites in the world, 9 are social networks (alexa.com)

“social constructivism” suggests that learning is interactive, social, contextual and reflective (pritchard, 2007)

social media is... a collection of technologies (Mason & Rennie, 2008)

an enabler of social reform (Boyd, 2006)

about having an enaged conversation in a public space

why “social” matters

distribution and consumption merge and are bi-directional

creates new ways of interacting with each other

enables group formation relatively easily

control is distributed among the many

facilitates collective action

wesch (2009)

Wesch, 2009

wiki wiki what?

collaboration

the assigment

groups of students collaborated on relevant physiotherapy topics, using a wiki

peer review and discussion

mediawiki was installed on a private server

users created

providing support

screencast video

presentation in class

several channels of communication

additional online help within the wiki

handout provided with detailed instructions

method → survey

46 south african undergraduate physiotherapy students

mixed method survey

ethical considerations

results →

the final product... 8 articles on physiotherapy-related topics generally accurate generally well-structured generally well-referenced

what were your initial reactions?

“Frustrated and worried as groupwork is generally difficult and in a new medium, even more so”

“Not very excited, because I am not interested in such technology”

“Not happy, because of the fact that I don't have internet at home and it was difficult to go to the internet cafe”

how did you feel knowing that your work was visible to the world?

“I felt proud, because the whole world would be able to see my work”

“A little scared and unsure. Also felt proud sometimes”

“Not really bothered because my name wasn't on it”

“I felt like I had to make sure I know my facts”

“Vulnerable and scared..I felt intimidated”

“Empowered and challenged. It definitely required more of me”

what did you think of the peer review process?

“Insight and views from more people makes one think more...”

“..it helps in a way and we can learn from each other”

“It made me try even harder to put in work of a high standard...”

“they maybe saw a mistake or suggestion that I did not think of...”

“I didn't read any of their remarks...”

how did you communicate with each other?

“Attempted meetings, but mainly Facebook messages”

“Poorly. Mostly through email which didn't help that much”

“Just by talking to them on campus”

“I didn't see them but communicated through email and Mxit”

“Not very well. We never actually communicated”

what was your biggest challenge?

“Lack of group participation...”

“Group discussion and working as a group...”

“Understanding how group members think and trying to work out what they were saying”

“Checking that work submitted by others was of good quality”

“Not plagiarising”

“Finding the time and resources to spend online”

challenges for me

poor digital literacy

access to the internet

support is time consuming to set up

expensive for those without internet at home

groupwork is more of a problem than technology

things to remember

students will use the communication tools they're familiar with, even if yours are “better”

communities are more difficult to build than websites

social media is... important not about technology

thank you

url | mrowe.co.za/blogtwitter | michael_roweemail | mrowe@uwc.ac.za