Students’ Intentions to Use Wikis in Higher Education

Although wikis have gained considerable attention in higher education, students are often reluctant to use wikis in formal learning processes. Unlike company employees, students are not often rewarded for their participation in wiki-based assignments. Therefore, students seem to be opportunistic and decide to adopt wikis if they fit their current situation and preferences. This paper adapts the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour to examine the situation in higher education classrooms. To better understand students’ decision to use wikis, we introduced an intrinsic and extrinsic motivation construct. A survey was conducted with 133 first semester students to test the proposed model. The results provide support for the importance of an intrinsic and extrinsic motivation construct to explain influence on students’ wiki use

Wikis in higher education

For many years universities communicated generic graduate attributes (e.g. global citizenship) their students have acquired after studying. Graduate attributes are skills and competencies that are relevant for both employability and other aspects of life (Barrie, 2004). Over the past years and due to the Bologna Process, the focus on competencies has also found its way into universities' curricula. As a consequence, curricula were adapted in order to convey students both in-depth knowledge of a particular area as well as generic competences (Bologna Working Group on Qualifications Framework, 2005, Appendix 8). For example, students with a Master's degree should be able to “communicate their conclusions, and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these, to specialist and non-specialist audiences clearly and unambiguously” (p. 196). This shift has been supported by the demand of the labour market for students that have achieved social and personal competencies, in addition to in-depth knowledge (Heidenreich, 2011). On course level, this placed emphasis on collaborative learning, which had led to “greater autonomy for the learner, but also to greater emphasis on active learning, with creation, communication and participation” (Downes, 2005). The shift to collaborative learning has been supported by existing learning theories and models (Brown et al., 1989; Lave and Wenger, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978), which could explain the educational advantages. For example, collaborative learning has proved to promote critical thinking and communications skills (Johnson and Johnson, 1994; Laal and Ghodsi, 2012). As Haythornthwaite (2006) advocates: “collaborative learning holds the promise of active construction of knowledge, enhanced problem articulation, and benefits exploring and sharing information and knowledge gained from peer-to-peer communication” (p. 10). The term collaboration defies clear definition (Dillenbourg, 1999). In this article, cooperation is seen as the division of labour in tasks, which allows group members to work independently, whereas collaboration needs continuous synchronisation and coordination of labour (Dillenbourg et al., 1996; Haythornthwaite, 2006). Therefore, cooperation allows students to subdivide task assignments, work relatively independent, and to piece the results together to one final product. In contrast, collaboration is seen as a synchronous and coordinated effort of all students to accomplish their task assignment resulting in a final product where “no single hand is visible” (Haythornthwaite, 2006, p. 12). Due to the debate about digital natives (Prensky, 2001) and “students' heavy use of technology” in private life (Luo, 2010, p. 32), teachers have started to explore possible applications of modern technology in teaching and learning. Especially wikis have become popular and gained reasonable attention in higher education. Wikis have been used to support collaborative learning (e.g. Cress and Kimmerle, 2008), collaborative writing (e.g. Naismith et al., 2011), and student engagement (e.g. Neumann and Hood, 2009). A wiki is a “freely expandable collection of interlinked Web ‘pages’, a hypertext system for storing and modifying information - a database, where each page is easily editable by any user” (Leuf and Cunningham, 2001, p. 14; italics in original). Thereby, wikis enable the collaborative construction of knowledge (Alexander, 2006). With the intention to take advantage of the benefits connected with collaborative learning, this doctoral thesis focuses on the facilitation of collaboration in wikis to leverage collaborative learning. The doctoral thesis was founded on a constructivist understanding of reality. The research is associated with three different research areas: adoption of IT, computer-supported collaborative learning, and learning analytics. After reviewing existing literature, three focal points were identified that correspond to the research gaps in these research areas: factors influencing students' use of wikis, assessment of collaborative learning, and monitoring of collaboration. The aims of this doctoral thesis were (1) to investigate students' intentions to adopt and barriers to use wikis in higher education, (2) to develop and evaluate a method for assessing computer-supported collaborative learning, and (3) to map educational objectives onto learning-related data in order to establish indicators for collaboration. Based on the research aims, four studies were carried out. Each study raised unique research questions that has been addressed by different methods. Thereby, this doctoral thesis presents findings covering the complete process of the use of wikis to support collaboration and thus provides a holistic view on the use of wikis in higher education.:Introduction Theoretical foundation Research areas and focal points Research aims and questions Methods Findings Conclusions References Essay 1: Factors influencing wiki collaboration in higher education Essay 2: Students' intentions to use wikis in higher education Essay 3: Facilitating collaboration in wikis Essay 4: Using fsQCA to identify indicators for wiki collaboratio

News Consumption through SNS Platforms: Extended Motivational Model

The emergence of new media technologies has redefined how people, particularly the youth, are exposed to the news. Social networking sites (SNS), in particular, have widely changed the manner in which news is consumed. SNS platforms have emerged as news sources where people engage in several activities such as sharing, commenting and discussing news with peers, acquaintances and family members. Thus, drawing on the extended version of the motivational model, this study attempts to determine contributing factors. Using a stratified random sampling procedure, this study compiles a sample from leading higher education institutions in a Sub-Saharan African country. The data are then analysed using a structural equation modelling technique with SmartPLS software and the both the validity and reliability indexes are reported. The findings suggest that students' attitude towards news consumption (ATT) via SNS platforms is influenced directly by perceived usefulness (PU), perceived enjoyment (PE) and subjective norms (SN) and indirectly by PE and SN factors. In addition, PU and PE are positively predicted by SN. Furthermore, ATT directly predicts SNS news consumption (SNC), while PU, PE and SN indirectly contribute to SNC

Student's intention to use wikis for Online Collaborative Learning (OCL)

Online Collaborative Learning (OCL) is very prominent nowadays. Even though OCL is utilized all over the globe, there are still limitations in evaluating the factors influencing intention to use tools and technologies of online collaborative learning, especially in Malaysia. This study aimed to investigate factors affecting the intention to use Wikis for OCL through the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) has been adopted in designing the theoretical framework for the study. This framework is applied to examine the significant differences between level of study related to factors affecting the intention to use Wikis namely the performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, the features of OCL and intention to use. A survey was used to collect usable data from 233 undergraduate students in a Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used as the technique for data analysis. The results show that all construct was significant predictors of intention to use Wikis. Overall, the proposed model achieves an acceptable fit and explains its variance for 66% of sample. The implications of the study‟s findings for practice and research are discussed, and avenues for future research outlined

Zur studentischen Nutzung von E-Learning- und Social Web-Anwendungen im universitären Kontext – eine explorative Analyse

Welche E-Learning- und Social Web-Anwendungen nutzen Studierende innerhalb ihres Studiums und aus welchen Gründen tun sie dies? Die folgende Masterarbeit widmet sich dieser Fragestellung. Unter der Einbeziehung des Technology-Acceptance-Models (TAM) und dem Uses-and-Gratification Ansatzes werden Nutzungsmotive aus dem Forschungsstand herausgearbeitet und empirisch getestet (Studierende der TU Dresden, n=1242). Studierende nutzen demnach Anwendungen für das Studium, die sie auch schon im alltäglichen Leben verwenden. Besonders im Bereich der Zusammenarbeit sowie zur Kontaktaufnahme zu Kommilitonen werden Anwendungen aus der Freizeit genutzt. Unverzichtbar für das Studium ist für die meisten Studierenden die Nutzung des Lernmanagementsystems, welche zumeist von Dozenten vorgeschrieben ist. Nur so ist es den Studierenden möglich, auf bestimmte Lerninhalte, die für das Bestehen des Studiums notwendig sind, zuzugreifen. Die Arbeit leistet einen Beitrag zur Beforschung des Mediennutzungsverhalten von Studierenden. Die Ergebnisse können wiederum für die Strategieentwicklung im Bereich des Einsatzes von Lehr- und Lerntechnologien in der Hochschule nützlich sein

Zur studentischen Nutzung von E-Learning- und Social Web-Anwendungen im universitären Kontext – eine explorative Analyse

Welche E-Learning- und Social Web-Anwendungen nutzen Studierende innerhalb ihres Studiums und aus welchen Gründen tun sie dies? Die folgende Masterarbeit widmet sich dieser Fragestellung. Unter der Einbeziehung des Technology-Acceptance-Models (TAM) und dem Uses-and-Gratification Ansatzes werden Nutzungsmotive aus dem Forschungsstand herausgearbeitet und empirisch getestet (Studierende der TU Dresden, n=1242). Studierende nutzen demnach Anwendungen für das Studium, die sie auch schon im alltäglichen Leben verwenden. Besonders im Bereich der Zusammenarbeit sowie zur Kontaktaufnahme zu Kommilitonen werden Anwendungen aus der Freizeit genutzt. Unverzichtbar für das Studium ist für die meisten Studierenden die Nutzung des Lernmanagementsystems, welche zumeist von Dozenten vorgeschrieben ist. Nur so ist es den Studierenden möglich, auf bestimmte Lerninhalte, die für das Bestehen des Studiums notwendig sind, zuzugreifen. Die Arbeit leistet einen Beitrag zur Beforschung des Mediennutzungsverhalten von Studierenden. Die Ergebnisse können wiederum für die Strategieentwicklung im Bereich des Einsatzes von Lehr- und Lerntechnologien in der Hochschule nützlich sein

Students intention to use wikis in higher education

<p><strong>Contents</strong></p> <p>Included in this fileset are four files:</p> <p>(1) the survey data,</p> <p>(2) the related SmartPLS workspace,</p> <p>(3) the questionnaire (in German; see article for English items) with coding scheme and</p> <p>(4) the article.</p> <p><strong>Abstract</strong></p> <p>Although wikis have gained considerable attention in higher education, students are often reluctant to use wikis in formal learning processes. Unlike company employees, students are not often rewarded for their participation in wiki-based assignments. Therefore, students seem to be opportunistic and decide to adopt wikis if they fit their current situation and preferences. This paper adapts the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour to examine the situation in higher education classrooms. To better understand students’ decision to use wikis, we introduced an intrinsic and extrinsic motivation construct. A survey was conducted with 133 first semester students to test the proposed model. The results provide support for the importance of an intrinsic and extrinsic motivation construct to explain influence on students’ wiki use.</p> <p><strong>Note</strong></p> <p>This essay was published as Kummer, C. (2013). Students’ intentions to use wikis in higher education. In R. Alt & B. Franczyk (Eds.), <em>Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI2013)</em> (Vol. 2, pp. 1493-1508). Leipzig.</p> <p>The related dataset was published as Kummer, C. (2013). Students’ intentions to use wikis in higher education (ZA5683 data file, version 1.0.0) [Data file and questionnaire]. Köln: GESIS Data Archive. doi:10.4232/1.11514</p> <p>Additional information regarding this paper are provided in my blog - see link above.</p

Wikis in higher education

For many years universities communicated generic graduate attributes (e.g. global citizenship) their students have acquired after studying. Graduate attributes are skills and competencies that are relevant for both employability and other aspects of life (Barrie, 2004). Over the past years and due to the Bologna Process, the focus on competencies has also found its way into universities' curricula. As a consequence, curricula were adapted in order to convey students both in-depth knowledge of a particular area as well as generic competences (Bologna Working Group on Qualifications Framework, 2005, Appendix 8). For example, students with a Master's degree should be able to “communicate their conclusions, and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these, to specialist and non-specialist audiences clearly and unambiguously” (p. 196). This shift has been supported by the demand of the labour market for students that have achieved social and personal competencies, in addition to in-depth knowledge (Heidenreich, 2011). On course level, this placed emphasis on collaborative learning, which had led to “greater autonomy for the learner, but also to greater emphasis on active learning, with creation, communication and participation” (Downes, 2005). The shift to collaborative learning has been supported by existing learning theories and models (Brown et al., 1989; Lave and Wenger, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978), which could explain the educational advantages. For example, collaborative learning has proved to promote critical thinking and communications skills (Johnson and Johnson, 1994; Laal and Ghodsi, 2012). As Haythornthwaite (2006) advocates: “collaborative learning holds the promise of active construction of knowledge, enhanced problem articulation, and benefits exploring and sharing information and knowledge gained from peer-to-peer communication” (p. 10). The term collaboration defies clear definition (Dillenbourg, 1999). In this article, cooperation is seen as the division of labour in tasks, which allows group members to work independently, whereas collaboration needs continuous synchronisation and coordination of labour (Dillenbourg et al., 1996; Haythornthwaite, 2006). Therefore, cooperation allows students to subdivide task assignments, work relatively independent, and to piece the results together to one final product. In contrast, collaboration is seen as a synchronous and coordinated effort of all students to accomplish their task assignment resulting in a final product where “no single hand is visible” (Haythornthwaite, 2006, p. 12). Due to the debate about digital natives (Prensky, 2001) and “students' heavy use of technology” in private life (Luo, 2010, p. 32), teachers have started to explore possible applications of modern technology in teaching and learning. Especially wikis have become popular and gained reasonable attention in higher education. Wikis have been used to support collaborative learning (e.g. Cress and Kimmerle, 2008), collaborative writing (e.g. Naismith et al., 2011), and student engagement (e.g. Neumann and Hood, 2009). A wiki is a “freely expandable collection of interlinked Web ‘pages’, a hypertext system for storing and modifying information - a database, where each page is easily editable by any user” (Leuf and Cunningham, 2001, p. 14; italics in original). Thereby, wikis enable the collaborative construction of knowledge (Alexander, 2006). With the intention to take advantage of the benefits connected with collaborative learning, this doctoral thesis focuses on the facilitation of collaboration in wikis to leverage collaborative learning. The doctoral thesis was founded on a constructivist understanding of reality. The research is associated with three different research areas: adoption of IT, computer-supported collaborative learning, and learning analytics. After reviewing existing literature, three focal points were identified that correspond to the research gaps in these research areas: factors influencing students' use of wikis, assessment of collaborative learning, and monitoring of collaboration. The aims of this doctoral thesis were (1) to investigate students' intentions to adopt and barriers to use wikis in higher education, (2) to develop and evaluate a method for assessing computer-supported collaborative learning, and (3) to map educational objectives onto learning-related data in order to establish indicators for collaboration. Based on the research aims, four studies were carried out. Each study raised unique research questions that has been addressed by different methods. Thereby, this doctoral thesis presents findings covering the complete process of the use of wikis to support collaboration and thus provides a holistic view on the use of wikis in higher education.:Introduction Theoretical foundation Research areas and focal points Research aims and questions Methods Findings Conclusions References Essay 1: Factors influencing wiki collaboration in higher education Essay 2: Students' intentions to use wikis in higher education Essay 3: Facilitating collaboration in wikis Essay 4: Using fsQCA to identify indicators for wiki collaboratio

Wikis in higher education

For many years universities communicated generic graduate attributes (e.g. global citizenship) their students have acquired after studying. Graduate attributes are skills and competencies that are relevant for both employability and other aspects of life (Barrie, 2004). Over the past years and due to the Bologna Process, the focus on competencies has also found its way into universities' curricula. As a consequence, curricula were adapted in order to convey students both in-depth knowledge of a particular area as well as generic competences (Bologna Working Group on Qualifications Framework, 2005, Appendix 8). For example, students with a Master's degree should be able to “communicate their conclusions, and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these, to specialist and non-specialist audiences clearly and unambiguously” (p. 196). This shift has been supported by the demand of the labour market for students that have achieved social and personal competencies, in addition to in-depth knowledge (Heidenreich, 2011). On course level, this placed emphasis on collaborative learning, which had led to “greater autonomy for the learner, but also to greater emphasis on active learning, with creation, communication and participation” (Downes, 2005). The shift to collaborative learning has been supported by existing learning theories and models (Brown et al., 1989; Lave and Wenger, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978), which could explain the educational advantages. For example, collaborative learning has proved to promote critical thinking and communications skills (Johnson and Johnson, 1994; Laal and Ghodsi, 2012). As Haythornthwaite (2006) advocates: “collaborative learning holds the promise of active construction of knowledge, enhanced problem articulation, and benefits exploring and sharing information and knowledge gained from peer-to-peer communication” (p. 10). The term collaboration defies clear definition (Dillenbourg, 1999). In this article, cooperation is seen as the division of labour in tasks, which allows group members to work independently, whereas collaboration needs continuous synchronisation and coordination of labour (Dillenbourg et al., 1996; Haythornthwaite, 2006). Therefore, cooperation allows students to subdivide task assignments, work relatively independent, and to piece the results together to one final product. In contrast, collaboration is seen as a synchronous and coordinated effort of all students to accomplish their task assignment resulting in a final product where “no single hand is visible” (Haythornthwaite, 2006, p. 12). Due to the debate about digital natives (Prensky, 2001) and “students' heavy use of technology” in private life (Luo, 2010, p. 32), teachers have started to explore possible applications of modern technology in teaching and learning. Especially wikis have become popular and gained reasonable attention in higher education. Wikis have been used to support collaborative learning (e.g. Cress and Kimmerle, 2008), collaborative writing (e.g. Naismith et al., 2011), and student engagement (e.g. Neumann and Hood, 2009). A wiki is a “freely expandable collection of interlinked Web ‘pages’, a hypertext system for storing and modifying information - a database, where each page is easily editable by any user” (Leuf and Cunningham, 2001, p. 14; italics in original). Thereby, wikis enable the collaborative construction of knowledge (Alexander, 2006). With the intention to take advantage of the benefits connected with collaborative learning, this doctoral thesis focuses on the facilitation of collaboration in wikis to leverage collaborative learning. The doctoral thesis was founded on a constructivist understanding of reality. The research is associated with three different research areas: adoption of IT, computer-supported collaborative learning, and learning analytics. After reviewing existing literature, three focal points were identified that correspond to the research gaps in these research areas: factors influencing students' use of wikis, assessment of collaborative learning, and monitoring of collaboration. The aims of this doctoral thesis were (1) to investigate students' intentions to adopt and barriers to use wikis in higher education, (2) to develop and evaluate a method for assessing computer-supported collaborative learning, and (3) to map educational objectives onto learning-related data in order to establish indicators for collaboration. Based on the research aims, four studies were carried out. Each study raised unique research questions that has been addressed by different methods. Thereby, this doctoral thesis presents findings covering the complete process of the use of wikis to support collaboration and thus provides a holistic view on the use of wikis in higher education.:Introduction Theoretical foundation Research areas and focal points Research aims and questions Methods Findings Conclusions References Essay 1: Factors influencing wiki collaboration in higher education Essay 2: Students' intentions to use wikis in higher education Essay 3: Facilitating collaboration in wikis Essay 4: Using fsQCA to identify indicators for wiki collaboratio