Wiki as a Collaborative Learning Tool in a Language Arts Methods Class

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine how contributing to a class wiki affected the learning of preservice teachers enrolled in a language arts methods class. Participants included 37 preservice teachers enrolled in three sections of a field-based language arts methods class during two semesters. Data collection included online observations of the development of the wiki pages, students’ reflections periodically posted in Web CT, final reflections, e-mail correspondence, interview transcripts, and researcher notes. Students’ reflections indicate that contributing to the class wiki led to a deeper processing of the course content and was personally beneficial to the students in spite of persistent technology challenges.

[1]  Jung Won Hur,et al.  Teacher Participation in Online Communities , 2009 .

[2]  Shannon G. Washburn,et al.  Teaching Students to Think: PRactical Applications of Bloom's Taxonomy , 2001 .

[3]  R. Mayer.  Rote Versus Meaningful Learning , 2002 .

[4]  Marlene Scardamalia,et al.  Design Principles for Distributed Knowledge Building Processes , 1998 .

[5]  Preston Parker,et al.  Copyright and Collaborative Spaces: Open Licensing and Wikis , 2008 .

[6]  Angela Thomas,et al.  Community, culture, and citizenship in cyberspace , 2008 .

[7]  A. Strauss,et al.  The Discovery of Grounded Theory , 1967 .

[8]  Don Tapscott,et al.  Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything , 2006 .

[9]  D. Hung,et al.  Situated Cognition, Vygotskian Thought and Learning from the Communities of Practice Perspective: Implications for the Design of Web-Based E-Learning , 2001 .

[10]  R. Bogdan.  Qualitative research for education : an introduction to theory and methods / by Robert C. Bogdan and Sari Knopp Biklen , 1997 .

[11]  A Berlin,et al.  Teaching and learning in the community , 2003 .

[12]  Robin Farabaugh,et al.  ‘The Isle is Full of Noises’: Using Wiki Software to Establish a Discourse Community in a Shakespeare Classroom , 2007 .

[13]  P. David Pearson.  Standards for the English Language Arts: A Policy Perspective1 , 1993 .

[14]  Steve Wheeler,et al.  The good, the bad and the wiki: Evaluating student-generated content for collaborative learning , 2008, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[15]  Kevin R. Parker,et al.  Wiki as a Teaching Tool , 2007 .

[16]  Mary Bold,et al.  Use of Wikis in Graduate Course Work , 2006 .

[17]  Päivi Tynjälä,et al.  Traditional studying for examination versus constructivist learning tasks: Do learning outcomes differ? , 1998 .

[18]  Sharan B. Merriam,et al.  Case Study Research in Education : A Qualitative Approach , 1991 .

[19]  Jane Mitchell,et al.  On-Line Writing: A Link to Learning in a Teacher Education Program. , 2003 .

[20]  Willard Richardson,et al.  Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms , 2006 .

[21]  B. Wassell,et al.  Fostering Critical Engagement in Preservice Teachers: Incorporating Weblogs Into Multicultural Education , 2008 .

[22]  Don E. Descy.  The Wiki: True Web Democracy , 2006 .

[23]  Rebecca Luce-Kapler,et al.  Radical Change and Wikis: Teaching New Literacies , 2007 .

[24]  E. Erikson.  Childhood and Society , 1965 .

[25]  Jeff Belle.  Broken Links and Broken Laws: Copyright Confusion Online. , 2003 .

[26]  Els Kuiper,et al.  The Web as a source of information for students in K-12 education , 2008 .

[27]  Mary Engstrom,et al.  Collaborative learning the wiki way , 2005 .

[28]  David H. Jonassen,et al.  Information Equals Knowledge, Searching Equals Learning, and Hyperlinking Is Good Instruction , 2001 .

[29]  Geofrey Sheehy,et al.  The Wiki as Knowledge Repository: Using a Wiki in a Community of Practice to Strengthen K-12 Education , 2008 .

[30]  D. Caulley.  Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theories and methods , 2007 .

[31]  Marc Robinson.  Wikis in Education: Social Construction as Learning , 2006 .

[32]  David H. Jonassen,et al.  Computers as mindtools for engaging learners in critical thinking , 1998 .

[33]  G. Wells.  Dialogic Inquiry: Towards a Socio-cultural Practice and Theory of Education , 1999 .

[34]  A. Collins,et al.  Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning , 1989 .

[35]  A. Deacon,et al.  Weathering wikis: Net-based learning meets political science in a South African university , 2007 .

[36]  Jerry W. Willis.  Technology, Reading and Language Arts , 1996 .

[37]  Michael Blumfield.  Learning to Share. , 1997 .

[38]  Parker J. Palmer.  Teaching & Learning in Community , 1997 .

[39]  Kevin Oliver,et al.  Leveraging Web 2.0 in the Redesign of a Graduate-Level Technology Integration Course , 2007 .

[40]  G. Wells,et al.  "Dialogic Inquiry. Towards a Sociocultural Practice and Theory of Education", Gordon Wells, Cambridge 1999 : [recenzja] / Marta Marchow. , 2001 .