An Exploratory Study of Personal Reflection and Collaboration Skills using Online Collaborative Tool in Project-Based Learning

By deepening our understanding of the use of Web 2.0 for reflective practice, knowledge co-construction and project based learning this paper aims to contribute to our understanding of collaborative learning. The paper investigates a case study of a post-graduate system development subject to increase student learning through the development of students’ personal reflection and collaboration skills. The project aims to develop key foundational knowledge and skills identified in the IS 2010 curriculum guidelines, i.e. the ability to work collaboratively. Of particular interest was the ability of student collaboration combined with personal reflective learning to lead to negotiation of meaning and co-construction of knowledge. A case study approach was used to investigate the use Web 2.0 tools of wikis and blogs to facilitate online collaborative project development. Our result shows that individual learning experience can influence contribution made to team project

Promoting Interface and Knowledge Sharing: A Joint Project between General and Special Education Preservice Teachers

This article reports the findings of a joint unit plan critique project between two preservice teacher cohorts seeking teacher certification in general education and special education respectively. The paper addressed three questions: 1) What common affordances does this joint project have for the general and special education preservice teachers? 2) What unique affordances does it have for each of the groups? 3) What do the preservice teachers learn about the use of visuals, technology, and UDL principles to create accessible math lessons for all students? The results showed that the project impacted positively on the preservice teachers by allowing them to gain deeper understanding of professional collaboration and use of technology and visual resources to differentiate instruction for all students

Activities Based on Wiki Platform for Engineering Higher Education: Students' Point of View

The fast evolution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) introduced a new generation of learners that have been adopted mobile devices and Web 2.0 technologies to get information and communicate. The Web 2.0-based tools, such as blogs, wikis, Facebook, Instagram, etc, offer huge possibilities for collaboration. In this way, the main purpose of this research was plan an activity on wiki platform for Reinforced Concrete discipline in Civil Engineering course and answer the questions: (1) How should collaboration be effectively measured on wiki platform? (2) What is the students' point of view about using wiki platform for a collaboration activity? Wikispaces Classroom platform was chosen for the project because it is a free social writing platform, suitable for collaborative learning. Furthermore it works on modern browsers, tablets, and smart phone. A total of 167 students of Civil Engineering course were monitored on Wikispaces® platform. All students’ actions were analyzed and classified as low, medium or high level of collaboration. At the end of the project 111 students answered a questionnaire and 10 students participated of an informal interview where they expressed their opinion about the platform, the activities and the relationship with online peers. A descriptive statistical analysis of the data collected from the platform and the questionnaires answered by the students was performed. The results indicated that wiki platform is an important way to develop innovative activities and tasks for the purpose of to improve skills of engineering students such as: writing communication, organization, collaboration and critical thinking

Wikis as Communities of Practice: A Case Study in Higher Education

This dissertation was an instrumental case study that explored the experiences of graduate students when using online software, more specifically, a wiki, in a graduate course. This study also concentrated on the formation of a community of practice within a course wiki. Symbolic interactionism, situated learning, and communities of practice theories guided this inquiry. Field notes, e-observations, students-created documents, a focus group interview and six individual interviews were coded, which led to categories and themes. Findings from the analysis of the data sources exposed the following five themes when exploring the experiences of graduate students with online learning: (1) wiki experiences, (2) meaningful discourse, (3) egalitarian, (4) community enagement, and (5) collaborative learning processes

Las wikis como apoyo para analizar y producir textos científico-técnicos de los estudiantes a distancia del grado en estudios ingleses

This paper describes the evolution that a subject such as Inglés para Fines Académicos y Profesionales II: Textos Científico-Técnicos (IPAII) / English for Science and Technology has experienced to improve the quality of its teaching, characterised by the promotion of collaborative work among the students and the critical reading of bibliographic references recommended during the course. Due to its nature, with no face-to-face tutorials and based on the analysis and writing of short pieces of EST texts, the teaching team devised the idea of creating a shared space in the form of a wiki so that all students had access to the same working texts. The announcement of the closure of Wikispaces in July 2018 has obliged the teaching team to think about other alternatives for collaborative work without affecting the instructions provided in the course guide. Although some of the most useful features -such as delving into the history of changes for later analysis- have been lost with the modifications carried on during the year 2017-18, others such as the debate on specific topics arisen from the analysis of the texts have been reinforced.Este artículo describe la evolución que ha experimentado una asignatura como Inglés para Fines Académicos y Profesionales II: Textos científico-técnicos (IPAII) con el fin de mejorar la calidad de su enseñanza, caracterizada por fomentar el trabajo colaborativo y la lectua crítica de las lecturas propuestas entre su estudiantes a lo largo de todo el curso. Dada la naturaleza de esta asignatura, sin tutoría presenciales y basada en el análisis y producción de textos cortos, el profesorado acordó la creación de un espacio común en forma de wiki donde de modo que todos los estudiantes pudieran acceder a los mismos textos. El anuncio de la clausura de Wikispaces en julio de 2018 obligó al equipo docente a pensar en otras posibles alternativas para continuar con el trabajo colaborativo sin interferir con las instrucciones que aparecían en la guía didáctica del curso. A pesar de que algunas de las características más interesantes de la wiki – como la de indagar en el histórico para detectar la autoría de todas las modificaciones del texto- se han perdido en el año 2017-18-, otras, como las de debatir sobre temas específicos, se han visto favorecidas, quizá por utilizar sólo un espacio en lugar de dos

Investigating Pedagogical Value of Wiki Technology

This exploratory study investigates the potential of Wiki technology as a tool for teaching and learning. Wikis are a component of Web 2.0 technology tools that provide collaborative features and active learning opportunities in a web-based environment. This research study sought to empirically determine the pedagogical value of using Wiki technology in university courses. An instrument comprised of four constructs: Learning/Pedagogy, Motivation, Group Interaction, and Technology was developed and tested using reliability and validity as being capable of assessing student perceptions of value of Wiki technology. Hypotheses were tested to determine if factors such as age, gender, work experience, and web development experience influence students’ satisfaction with Wiki technology. Best practices for using Wikis in the classroom, student concerns, and lessons learned by the researchers when implementing Wikis for instruction are discussed in this study. The authors hope that understanding the use of Wiki technology will provide practitioners and researchers an opportunity to develop pedagogically effective Wiki learning environments

Use of Wikis in Second/Foreign Language Classes: A Literature Review

Wikis, as emerging Web 2.0 tools, have been increasingly implemented in language classrooms. To explore the current state of research and inform future studies, this article reviews the past research on the use of wikis in second/foreign language classes. Using Google Scholar and the ERIC database, the researcher examines twenty-one empirical studies published in fourteen peer-reviewed journals from 2008 to 2011. Specifically, the researcher takes a holistic review of this body of literature, including theoretical frameworks, research goals, contexts and participants, tasks and wiki applications, and research methods and instruments. The researcher identifies four main research themes investigated in the current body of literature: collaborative writing process, writing product, perceptions of wiki-based collaborative writing, and effects of tasks. Each of the four themes is sub-categorized into different research strands, and the synthesized findings regarding these strands are further discussed. In addition, the researcher indicates pedagogical implications, identifies the research gaps, and addresses potential research directions for wiki use in second/foreign language classes

Social media in collaborative learning in higher education : a qualitative case study of teachers’ and students’ views

In this study, it was investigated how social media are used in collaborative learning in higher education and also how it can be better used in teaching and learning according to the students and teachers. The research questions of this study were: 1) How social media are used in collaborative learning by the teachers and students in higher education for educational purposes? 2) How could social media be used in collaborative learning process in higher education, according to the students and teachers? Qualitative interviews were conducted to collect the data from ten students and five teachers from the different faculties of University of Lapland and Lapland University of Applied Sciences. In conclusion it was found that, social media were not much used in collaboration with teachers by the students of both institutions. In case of teachers, it was found that all of them were using social media in their collaborative ways of teaching design and they have found social media as useful tool to deliver their teaching. Most of the students and all the teachers found social media to be useful in their teaching and learning. But there were also some challenges faced and areas of improvements identified by them. Thus the higher educational institutions should understand the importance of using social media in teaching and learning and take initiatives to overcome the current challenges identified by the students and teachers

The effect of interactivity in an online course on behavior change and self-efficacy among health care professionals

Continuing Medical Education (CME) interventions continue to be an important factor in the lifelong learning of health care professionals. Online interventions have become increasingly popular since the inception of the Internet. Many CME courses (traditional and online) are evaluated solely on the knowledge gained and participant reactions. However, this study focused on the instructional design of an online CME course and how the design affected the self-efficacy of the learner and the amount of knowledge transferred to the professionals’ practice. Specifically, this study answered the following research questions: 1) How can one design online instruction that will foster a change in health care professionals’ behavior from the course and into medical practice? 2) How can one design online instruction that will increase health care professionals’ self-efficacy with the presented content? The researcher designed two online CME courses regarding the clinical diagnosis of Lyme disease. One course incorporated very few interactive, instructional elements, while the second course incorporated audio, video, and interactive elements. The researcher collected data using both quantitative and qualitative methods via pre-tests, post-tests, a final survey given to participants three weeks after completing the online course, and four interviews. The findings indicated that the knowledge, self-efficacy, and behavior did improve for the majority of participants. However, interactive, instructional elements were not found to be the sole reason for the increase of knowledge, self-efficacy, and change in behavior. The present study did confirm that the instructional design of online courses was important. These results suggest that future CME designers should continue to investigate elements within online courses to see which elements are found to be the most valuable for learners’ gain in knowledge, self-efficacy, and a change in behavior