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Research Paper Sharing Wiki
by Aaron Fuller, Theresa Hafeli, and Alice Kedves = = = "'I DON'T CARE DO UR OWN PAGE!' A Case Study of Using Wikis for Collaborative Work in a UK Secondary School" =

by Lyndsay Grant
=Summary of Grant's article =

**GETTIN' WIKI WITH IT**

Lindsay Grant, in her article "'I DON'T CARE DO UR OWN PAGE!': A Case Study of Using Wikis for Collaborative Work in a UK Secondary School," believes that wikis can be "heralded as supporting more collaborative and democratic teaching and learning practices" (105). In order to do so, as teachers work towards implementing wikis into their practice, they must resolve "tensions between views of learning and knowledge creation as collaborative and learner-driven" (106). If a teacher believes that he or she is the sole source of information and that students are a vessel in which to pour knowledge, collaborative learning will not fit into his or her practice. Teachers must see the "value of collaborative learning" (106) and peer editing/feedback in order for wikis to be a useful tool.

Essentially, a wiki represents the "collective knowledge of a large group" that, hopefully, "can be greater than that of an individual" (106). In the use of wikis, "a group takes responsibility for creating its own content" (106), and in this way "wikis support a collective work" (106). In just the same way that students would show their group work on a poster in the past, a wiki can be viewed as essentially a digital poster. A benefit to this digital format is that a teacher can track each student's contributions using the "history" tab.

**KEEPING ON THE SOCIAL SIDE OF LIFE (AND LEARNING)**

Throughout most of our pre-service teacher education, many of us we were inundated with notions of how "socio-cultural and social constructivist theories...emphasize the social and collaborative nature of learning" (106), yet many teachers still do not believe that learning is an entirely social process. Wikis, then, offer a tool that can help facilitate a more collaborative, social approach to learning. When effectively used, "learners take responsibility for their own learning goals, identifying the problems and gaps in their understanding of a subject and deciding how to solve these problems" (107). Wikis can represent students' "collective cognition" (107). Teachers can track how their students "reach insights through the process of working together" (107). Ideally, the end result will represent something "that neither could have made alone, and that cannot be ascribed to any one contribution" (107).

Grant suggests that wikis give students "public audiences" (107) and she believes that students don't have "a voice unless someone listens" (107).

Grant describes the perfect scenario involving using a wiki in school: "In editing another's work, students have to reflect on the quality of that work and whether and how it could be improved, meaning they have to develop their own ideas in response to the ideas presented by previous contributors. Conversely, when a students' own work is edited, they can consider the changes as feedback on their content and quality of their work and so mutually engage in the development and presentation of ideas" (108). = =
 * (NOT) SO HAPPY TOGETHER**

Grant seemed surprised with student "actions and attitudes towards editing others' work" (109) and noted that "very few edited material on others' pages" (109).

In this study, students believed they should "Focus on [their own] work and on [their] own page rather than edit someone else's" (110). Since collaborative editing was not part of their experience, perhaps they believed it was considered cheating to edit, or giving a one up to the other person. They definitely did not have a collaborative culture, and were in fact anti-cooperative: the students felt that someone editing their work "stepped outside the boundaries" (111) and they had "trespassed on someone else's territory" (110).

Grant laments how students did not "take responsibility for their learning goals, did not review each others' work, did not identify gaps in their knowledge of a topic or find ways of making their different topics relate to each other." (112). Grant believes that because the students "did not set themselves, or perceive, a clear learning goal" they demonstrated only "shallow constructivism" (112). We believe the lack of both direction and prior collaborative practice in the classroom might have played parts in preventing the students from benefiting from the technology.

**Conclusions **
Teachers need to debate "the value of a more collaborative approach to learning and ways to organize education [to be] more conducive to collaborative practices" (113). Grant notes that "Learners have to learn how to participate and collaborate, and teachers need to play a role in facilitating this process" (113). We cannot assume that students have these skills. As a profession, we need to look at the specific skills teachers need to "explicitly encourage": "If teachers really do want to encourage students to be independent, responsible for their own learning, and collaborate with one another, then teachers themselves will have a significant role to play in modeling and facilitating these practices" (113, 114).

Grant admits, as we have also noticed, that "there is no direct causal link between technologies introduced to the classroom and the practices that follow, and the participatory promise of Web 2.0 does not itself ensure collaborative learning" (115). While web 2.0 tools may include lots of neat gadgets and gizmos, the skills around how to properly use them in an educational context need to be taught, and most of the skills themselves do not rely on Web 2.0 technology. Perhaps illuminating this concept with reluctant teachers would encourage them to find newer ways for students to demonstrate learning.

We know that students want to use technology and are more engaged in the classroom when they do use it. We know that their futures are very likely to involve the use of technological applications, so as educators we need to integrate Web 2.0 tools into schools--along with teaching the skills necessary to experience success with wikis and other web 2.0 tools.

=Grant's article: connections to classrooms, class discussions, and other related articles and media =

**Some quick research was done by Alice! **
As a team, working on our wiki, we wondered about the process itself. We wondered if the author's statements assumed 100% participation by all students, and the same level of effort from all. To what extent does this strategy allow slackers to get away with doing little?

As a result of this question, Alice started a class wiki project. She noted that students who usually like to ride on the coat tails of other students were suddenly in a precarious position of accountability. She immediately showed them the history tab of the wiki, and some eyes grew huge. We wondered: to what extent is the information in Grant's article idealistic? Alice's brief experience with class wiki projects did show that the keen students will still be the engines that make the project run, setting direction, using collaborative skills, organizing and prompting, but in the end the final product did show even contribution. Interestingly, the keeners used their collaboration skills to push the weaker students, and the history tab gave the accountability push they needed and do not usually get. Alice warned her students, telling them about the results of this article, and that they needed to draw from their collaboration skills. They also had clear criteria for what it should contain, but not what it would look like. It is surprising how Grant's wiki project results were so different from this typical, low-income group of Canadian students.

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===**Comments by current LIBE 477 students from discussions on Vista and from student blogs that relate to the article: ** ===

**Vista Discussion, Week 5 by Patrice Mauriks:**
As you point out Aaron, it is now so quick and easy to publish and/or access information online, while checking, authenticating, and legitimizing this information is much more time consuming. Will Richardson addresses this in his book, //Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms//. On page 37, he writes: ..getting a handle on the reliability of Web content in general and blog content specifically takes time, much more than you or your students are used to. He goes on to describe specific steps in the assessment process. This definitely underscores the importance of the teacher/TL as "guide". What I wonder is how many users, so used to "quick fix" access to information, would be prepared to undertake the arduous task of verifying its reliability. I think Gorman makes some excellent points.

**[|kathyeportfolio] writes on her blog:**
In the article, Meridith Farkas writes ”Wikis are an ideal tool for harvesting the collective intelligence. Wiki is web based, easy to set up, and allows people with little tech-savvy to add information.” This quote fits the conference committee to a tea. We want to be able to collect and share information with each other, plus some of our members do not feel comfortable using computers or technology. A Wiki allows people to collaboratively develop a Web site with no Web programming knowledge. Any member of the community can add to or edit the work of others”. This is exactly what we need!!!! Eventually, all the members of the Conference Committee will be added. Hopefully, we will arrive at a time when we can do some “…collaborative editing of a document or the creation of a knowledge base.” The people who are on the BCATML executive and the Conference Committee will not be there forever and perhaps this Wiki will be able to help future executives and committees.

**[|Kendra’s blog]**
…it just seems that in a lot of classrooms, students are very unmotivated to write. Oatman highlights how Wiki's can improve students' writing by giving them a purpose and an 'authentic audience.' I think that Wiki's would be a great tool to incorporate into a writer's workshop program (at any grade). It is inspiring to hear that in some places, teachers are gathering together to learn and share their knowledge / best practices on technology-enhanced learning.

**[|Ivana's blog]**
I have created a //wiki page ...// [|//http://booksaregreat.pbworks.com/EB-Library//] and am hoping my students will contribute to it. I have a bit of "tweaking" to do but am pretty excited about it! We have a website but it might be an idea to also have a wiki page where the teachers can add information ... a cooperative approach.

**Anita's Blog**
Self Reflection on Wikis

I am without a doubt convinced that wikis have a place in the schools and the libraries. They are convenient and easy and engaging. The students love them and are hooked when they are using them. I agree that we cannot hold back on what is new. Denying or refusing to use the tools does not serve the best interest of the students.

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**from Wesley Fryer in his [|"Get Wiki with it"] podcast:** =====


 * "This podcast is a recording of my presentation at the EncycloMedia 2008 conference in Oklahoma City on September 18, 2008. The session description was: This presentation focuses on helping teachers and students utilize WIKIS to effectively collaborate and learn."

**from []:**

 * "However, the technology here is merely secondary: what is more important is teaching people how this technology changes the social sphere so that students too can be empowered to engage the polis rather than being passive users of Word Processing programs. Knowledge of how to indent paragraphs on a computer or make bullet points for a Power Point presentation is meaningless without the more important literacy of how to use these new media collaboratively to create a different kind of knowledge. Literacy in modern society means not only being able to read a variety of informational formats; it means being able to participate in their creation, with Wikipedia serving as the marquee example."

= **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.

=**Questions for Discussion** =

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**[Find these questions posted on VISTA as well in the "Assignments: Wiki project" area]**
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**1.** Watch this short (2:50) video featuring Carol Baldwin, author of //Teaching the Story//: Wikis in the Classroom. As you do so, keep in mind the following, and post a brief response to the question: Carol Baldwin offers some practical ideas for using wikis in a writing class. What further practical idea--or variation on her ideas--can you think of for using wikis in the classroom or library? (This might be a general idea, an idea specific to your subject area, an idea specific to libraries, etc.). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**3.** What two or three principles regarding collaboration and peer editing would you want to establish before your students begin using wikis?
 * 2.** What are you doing as a teacher to teach or model collaboration/sharing in your classroom?

=**<span style="color: #000080; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: center;">Further video resources to explore **=

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<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**Youtube search results for "wikis in the classroom."** =====

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<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**Youtube search results for "wikis in education."** =====