Wiki Tool in Higher Education: An Australian Perspective

• Authors: Issa Tomayess , Issa Theodora , Issa Touma B.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper aims to examine the challenges of and perceptions about promoting students’ learning, communication, and interaction via the Wiki tool in the blackboard platform. Wiki intends to sustain and advance students’ professional and personal skills, the former ones including reading, writing, research, information, critical thinking, decision making, technology, digital oral presentation, drawing (i.e. concept maps), teamwork, and languages, and the latter ones including motivation, leadership, negotiation, communication, problem solving, time management, reflection, self-management, and self-appraisal. Additionally, integrating Wiki in teaching and learning will improve students’ work performance, productivity, and self-confidence, as these skills are needed for not only the current study, but also the workplace in the future. Additionally, using this tool in teaching and learning, especially in the higher education, can bring some challenges to the lecturer and students, particularly in the presentation and marking. This paper will discuss the Wiki implementation in the postgraduate unit at an Australian university. The study results confirmed that using Wiki in the postgraduate unit at an Australian university enhanced students’ personal and professional skills; in addition, students learned and absorbed the new concepts and cutting-edge-knowledge of the ITS65 unit, i.e. sustainability and Green IT.

Keywords

EN

Wiki; challenges; perceptions; skills; postgraduate unit; Australia

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
• Journal: International Journal of Research in E-learning IJREL
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 11-27

Dates

published

2017-04-10

Contributors

author

Issa Tomayess

• Curtin University in Perth

author

Issa Theodora

• Curtin University in Perth

author

Issa Touma B.

• Murdoch University , Perth

References

• 1 Adcock, P. (2013). Building collaborative networks using Wikis in education courses. In R. McBride & M. Searson (Eds.), Proceedings from Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2013 (pp. 136-137). New Orleans, Louisiana: AACE.
• 2 Ammarell, G. (2000). Network groups as teaching tools in social sciences. Teaching Sociology, 28, 153-159.
• 3 Bayliss, G. (2013). Exploring the cautionary attitude toward Wikipedia in higher education: Implications for higher education institutions. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 19(1), 36-57.
• 4 Ben-Zvi, D. (2007). Using Wiki to promote collaborative learning in statistics education. Technology Innovations in Statistics Education, 1(1), 1-18.
• 5 Biasutti, M., & EL-Deghaidy, H. (2015). Interdisciplinary project-based learning: An online Wiki experience in teacher education. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 24(3), 339-355.
• 6 Brooks, M. J. (1997). Beyond teaching and learning paradigms: Trekking into a virtual university. Teaching Sociology, 25, 1-14.
• 7 Bruns, A., & Humphreys, S. (2005). Wikis in teaching and assessment: The M/Cyclopedia project. WikiSym ’05 (pp. 25-32). San Diego, CA.
• 8 Chao, J. (2007). Student project collaboration using Wikis. Proceedings from 20th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEET ’07) (pp. 1-7). Dublin.
• 9 Chu, S. K. W., Reynolds, R. B., Tavares, N. J., Notari, M., & Lee, C. W. Y. (2017). Twenty-first century skills education in Switzerland: An example of project-based learning using Wiki in science education. In 21st century skills development through inquiry-based learning: From theory to practice (pp. 61-78). Singapore: Springer.
• 10 Cole, M. (2009). Using Wiki technology to support student engagement: Lessons from the trenches. Computers and Education, 52, 141-146.
• 11 Cowan, B. R., & Jack, M. A. (2011). Exploring the wiki user experience: The effects of training spaces on novice user usability and anxiety towards wiki editing. Interacting with Computers, 23(2), 117-128.
• 12 Cubric, M. (2007). Wiki-Based Process Framework for Blended Learning. WikiSym ’07 (pp. 11-22). Montreal.
• 13 De Arriba, R. (2016). Participation and collaborative learning in large class sizes: Wiki, can you help me? Innovations in Education and Teaching International, April 27, 1-10.
• 14 De Smet, C., Valcke, M., Schellens, T., De Wever, B., & Vanderlinde, R. (2016). A qualitative study on learning and teaching with learning paths in a learning management system. JSSE-Journal of Social Science Education, 75(1), 27-37.
• 15 Diggins, M. (2004). Teaching and learning communication skills in social work education. Social Care Institute for Excellence. Accessed 22 February 2017. Retrieved from http://www.scie.org. uk/publications/guides/guide05/.
• 16 Edwards, M. E., Cordray, S., & Dorbolo, J. (2000). Unindented Benefits of Distance Educatroin Technology for Traditional Classroom Teaching. Teaching Sociology, 28, 386-391.
• 17 Gibbons, S. (2010). Collaborating like never before: Reading and writing through a Wiki. English Journal, 99(5), 35-39.
• 18 Godwin-Jones, B. (2003). Blogs and Wikis: Environments for on-line collaboration. Language, Learning and Technology, 7, 12-16.
• 19 Guzdial, M. (1999). Teacher and student authoring on the web for shifting agency. Accessed 1 June 2013. Retrieved from http://guzdial.cc.gatech.edu/papers/aera99/default.html.
• 20 Heng, L. T., & Marimuthu, R. (2012). Let’s Wiki in class. Procedia - Social andBehavioral Sciences, 67(0), 269-274.
• 21 Holler, H., & Reisinger, P. (2008). Wiki based teaching and learning scenarios at the University of Vienna. In J. Luca & E. R. Weippl (Eds.), Procedings from World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2008 (pp. 2592-2596). Vienna: AACE.
• 22 Ireland, A. J., Atack, N. E., & Sandy, J. R. (2013). Experiences of Wiki topic teaching in postgraduate orthodontics: What do the learners think? European Journal of Dental Education, 17(1), 109-113.
• 23 Isaias, P, & Issa, T. (2014). Promoting communication skills for information systems students in Australian and Portuguese higher education: Action research study. Education and Information Technologies, 19(4), 841-861.
• 24 Issa, T. (2014). Learning, communication and interaction via Wiki: An Australian perspective. In H. Kaur & X. Tao (Eds.), ICTs and the millennium development goals: A United Nations perspective (pp. 1-17). New York: Springer.
• 25 Karasavvidis, I. (2010). Wiki uses in higher education: Exploring barriers to successful implemen- tation. Interactive Learning Environments, 18(3), 219-231.
• 26 Laughton, P. (2011). The use of Wikis as alternative to learning content management systems. The Electronic Library, 29(2), 225-235.
• 27 Lund, A., & Smordal, O. (2006). Is there a space for the teacher in Wiki? WikiSym ’06 (pp. 37-46). Odense.
• 28 Matheson, J. (2009). Benefits of using a Wiki. Accessed 15 September 2012. Retrieved from http:// wiki.customware.net/repository/display/wwyw/Benefits+of+using+a+wiki.
• 29 McDonald, R. (2007). Using the secure Wiki for teaching scientific collaborative. In T. Bastiaens & S. Carliner (Eds.), Proceedings from World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Govern- ment, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2007 (pp. 1098-1101). Quebec City: AACE.
• 30 Muscara, M., & Beercock, S. (2010). The Wiki - a virtual home base for constructivist blended learning courses. Procedia - Social andBehavioral Sciences, 2(2), 2885-2889.
• 31 Ng, E. M. (2016). Fostering pre-service teachers’ self-regulated learning through self-and peer assessment of wiki projects. Computers & Education, 98, 180-191.
• 32 Parker, K., & Chao, J. (2007). Wiki as teaching tool. Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects, 3, 57-72.
• 33 Rainey, D. (2006). Sustainable business development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• 34 Schroeder, B. (2009). Within the Wiki: Best practices for educators. AACE Journal, 17(3), 181-197.
• 35 Su, F., & Beaumont, C. (2010). Evaluating the use of a Wiki for collaborative learning. Innovations in Education and Training International, 47(4), 417-431.
• 36 Teece, D. J. (2009). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management - Organizing for innovation and growth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• 37 Tharp, T. L. (2010). “Wiki, Wiki, Wiki-what?” Assessing online collaborative writing. English Journal, 99(5), 40-46.
• 38 Trentin, G. (2008). Using a Wiki to evaluate individual contribution to a collaborative learning project. Journal of Computer AssistedLearning, 25, 43-55.
• 39 Tsinakos, A. (2006). Collaborative student modelling - A new perspective using Wiki. WSEAS Transaction on Advance in Engeineering Education, 6(3), 475-481.
• 40 Wang, L. (2016). Employing Wikibook project in a linguistics course to promote peer teaching and learning. Education and Information Technologies, 21(2), 453-470.
• 41 Witney, D., & Smallbone, T. (2011). Wiki work: Can using Wikis enhance student collaboration for group assignment tasks. Innovations in Education and Training International, 48(1), 101-110.
• 42 Worley, P. (2008). Writing skills essential in tech ed today. Tech Directions, 68(2), 17-19.
• 43 Zein, R. (2014). Explorative study on the ways of using blogs and Wikis as teaching and learning tools in mathematics. In M. Searson & M. N. Ochoa (Eds.), Proceedings fromSociety for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2014 (pp. 66-72). Jacksonville, Florida: AACE.