3.+Related+research

= ** Related Research ** =

Larson, Lotta, et al. "Technology Instruction Fixing the Disconnect." //Principal Leadership// 10.4 (2009): 54-58. //Education Research Complete//. EBSCO. Web. 13 Feb. 2010.
 * Authors argue that the gap between what students experience at school and what they experience in their regular lives--with regards to technology use--is a serious problem for the health and effectiveness of education. It is suggested that "current vision statements" must be revisited by all stakeholders with an aim to increase the overall relevance of students' school experiences, and that schools and teachers must receive more technology support, professional development, and an increase in the overall "awareness" that students' current and future lives are changing rapidly.
 * This article would suggest that wikis might be a valuable tool in schools, but that large-scale change in the way that schools and teachers view and use technology--and the support available--is likely necessary before web 2.0 tools can regularly be used effectively.

Larusson, Johann, and Richard Alterman. "Wikis to support the “collaborative” part of collaborative learning." //International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning// 4.4 (2009): 371-402. //Education Research Complete//. EBSCO. Web. 13 Feb. 2010.
 * Larusson and Alterman report on research that involved two case studies: one a "tightly coupled collaborative activity" and a "tightly coupled team design project." In both case studies, it was found that wikis have the potential to provide a "sufficiently rich intersubjective space that adequately supports the students’ collaborative work." The authors do go on, however, to note that the use of wikis does not //guarantee// that students will either learn or collaborate.
 * This article goes much further in depth than Grant's article in reviewing and analyzing two case studies. The particular wikis reviewed in this article both used a feature known as the "WikiDesign Platform" that allows for further customization beyond what a regular wiki offers--this feature provides some assistance in the important area of framing and guiding student work, making it more likely to experience successful collaboration in using a wiki.

Lin, Hong, and Kathleen D. Kelsey. "Building a Networked Environment in Wikis: The Evolving Phases of Collaborative Learning in a Wikibook Project." //Journal of Educational Computing Research// 40.2 (2009): 145-169. //Education Research Complete//. EBSCO. Web. 13 Feb. 2010.
 * Hong and Kelsey explore the possible benefits of "wiki work" and discover that, without careful design and implementation in the classroom, wikis do not hold much value in the classroom. They go on to note that collaborative learning and writing with the early use of wikis was "the exceptional rather than the norm" in their studies.
 * This article nicely supports one of our big final thoughts in regards to Grant's article: much thought and organization must be put into place up front by the teacher before wikis can be successfully used in the classroom--a wiki is not, in itself, a tool that automatically paves the way for full and immediate student ownership of content-building and seamless collaboration.

Lund, Andreas and Ole Smordal. "[|Is There a Space for the Teacher in a Wiki?]" //International Symposium on Wikis//. Odense, Denmark: 2006.
 * Andreas and Smordal review a case study in a Norwegian secondary school that used a wiki in two different class projects. Their findings uncover some interesting ideas: the role of the teacher in a classroom wiki needs to be aided by the further design of wikis themselves in regards to the access afforded by the teacher in his or role within wiki use; the collective nature of knowledge construction within a wiki "represents a fundamental shift from the institutional and socio-historical practices that traditionally have served to foster individual knowledge construction"--that is, students (and teachers) find themselves struggling to know //how// to function in the collaborative environment of a wiki; and, for teachers, the "complexity of the learning environment" greatly increases.
 * This article reflects some of the same finding that Grant acknowledges in her article: the way in which students collaborate in wikis may be challenging or feel "foreign," the role of the teacher differs greatly from the traditional classroom, and yet the teacher must still be highly involved. Just //how// and in which ways teachers and librarians should be involved is open to further research.

Schroeder, Barbara. "Within the Wiki: Best Practices for Educators." //AACE Journal// 17.3 (2009): 181-197. //ERIC//. EBSCO. Web. 13 Feb. 2010.
 * Schroeder acknowledges the increasing emphasis on collaboration and technology use in higher education, and goes on to explain best practice methods discovered by three Boise State University faculty members as they experimented with using wikis in the classroom. Important best practices discovered include "provide clear and explicit course expectations," "assign meaningful, authentic activities," and "model examples of collaborative activities." Schroeder goes as far as to ask the question, "[One day], will wikis be as common as PowerPoint?"
 * This article provides findings that would assist the case study participants and teachers discussed in Grant's article: while a wiki can be a great tool in the classroom, teachers must still focus on commonly-taught, transferable pedagogical cornerstones such as providing clear expectations and modeling positive examples of skills before expecting students to perform them.