Student Wiki Pages: e-learning strategy for collaborative student notes

Conference: The Media Education Summit

Dates: 6-7 September 2011

Abstract:

This paper will discuss the use of wiki tools as part the e-learning strategy in a first year BA (Hons) Communication and Media unit at Bournemouth University. The pedagogical aim is to assess students’ ability to work effectively in a computer-mediated environment by applying interpersonal communication skills taught in the unit, whilst fostering a professional engagement with the unit’s theoretical foundation and facilitating student-centred learning.

Each of the seminar groups has a dedicated wiki section on the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), which enables students to collaborate on writing notes from the weekly lectures and set readings. Students contribute to a joint text where each person’s changes are tracked, whilst comments associated with the page are used to discuss lecture topics and editing strategies. Students are required to contribute to 8/10 lecture weeks, and are individually assessed on proportion of text written, number of edits, accuracy, detail and self-reflexivity of final entries.

The Student Wiki Pages is an educational strategy that encourages students to develop active learning, media literacy and scholarship at the start of their degree programmes, providing a solid underpinning for their future studies. Collaboratively producing a wiki means students have to be self-reflexive and critically evaluate their own notes from lectures and set readings on a weekly basis (for cognitive view of knowledge building, see Cress and Kimmerlee, 2008).

Drawing on evidence from 2010/2011, the paper will demonstrate how the Student Wiki Pages helped inspire students’ commitment to learning by:

1. Ensuring good attendance at lectures and professional attitude to learning; 2. Inspiring student understanding of scholarly literature and engagement in lectures; 3. Facilitating electronic peer support and discussion groups; 4. Improving engagement with scholarly literature in both summative assessment components; 5. Increasing grade average for students taking unit.

Practical complexities of assessing collaborative learning (see also Trentin, 2008, Wheeler et al, 2008, and Cole, 2009) will be evaluated, together with a discussion on how to manage student expectations in relation to grading and feedback.

Whilst part of a wiki assessment can be subject specific (e.g. experimentation with computer-mediated communication), this is not integral to the broader pedagogical benefits of using wiki tools for student-centred learning (see also Xiao and Lucking, 2008). The paper will therefore conclude by suggesting how other media educators can adopt Student Wiki Pages as a part of their e-learning strategy to help enhance the overall student experience of lectures, seminars or workshops.

Source: Manual

Preferred by: Einar Thorsen