After reading the material related to Wiki’s this week, if I were to ask you to share one theme that resonated throughout the various chapters and articles what would it be? I would bet that most of you reading this will agree the theme most often presented, when discussing the benefits of wiki use in adult education, would be collaboration. In The Professor’s Guide to Taming Tecnology (2011), Pooneh Lari states that one of the most powerful aspects of wiki use in adult education is the collaborative and community-building power they foster. Lari goes on to reference Clancey (1995) defining a community of practice as any group of people who work together to accomplish some activity which usually involes collaboration between individuals with different experiences (p. 124). The benifets for adult learners is also emphasied by Lipponen (2002) who believes the use of wiki’s in group work and collaboration assists in sharing knowledge and increases knowledge expertise among the community of practice (p. 125). West & West (2009) state that wiki’s are designed to help groups collaborate, share and build online content, and are esspecially useful for distance learners who are seperated by time and distance.
I do not believe anyone can argue with the views of these authors as it relates to the intent, or capability, of wiki’s as a technology tool designed to deliver upon each of these goals related to adult education. I found the journal article by Hazari, et. al. (2009) very useful in providing some valid conclusions related to the pedagological value of wikis. What stood out to me was the section on the theoretical foundation of the study, and in particular the Engagement Theory, since it is most specific to technology based teaching and learning (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999). The authors go on to say that the wiki addressess all of the components of the theory by providing an opportunity for involving cognative processes for problem solving in a group environment that encourages shared ideas, dialog, interaction, decision-making and presentation (p. 189).
It’s easy to see that the wiki is a technology tool that is well suited to meet the challenge of fostering collaboration, interaction, community building and so forth. But what if the learner does not use the tool to it’s fullest? What if their particular learning style is simply not suited for collaborative learning? The more I read this week the more I thought that an Independent Learner, one who prefers to work alone, who was forced to always work collaboratively within a group, might simply lose motivation. This is just one challenge instructors face when designing activities that may rely too heavily on one particular technology. I went back to the text from the Teaching Online in Adult Education course, by Tina Stavredes (2011) and re-read the section in Chapter 2 related to the social styles of adult learners. Anthony Gersha and Sheryl Riechmann developed the Gersha-Riechmann Student Learning Styles Scale in 1996 to describe how learners interact with the instructor, other learners and the learning environment (p. 17). I don’t really want to get too deep into this topic, I simply wanted to point out that one of the major flaws of using wiki’s may simply be that it does not fit the learning style of many online learners.
If you choose to write a reply to this post, I would ask one favor. Please go to the Learning Style Survey and take a quick survey to determine your learning style. Let me know what your learning style was and offer your insights on who well your style fits the use of wikis in learning activities.
Thanks!
Gary
Clancey, W.J. (1995). A tutorial on situated learning. In J. Self (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Computers and Education (Taiwan)(AACE) (pp. 49-70). Charlottsville, VA.
Hazari, S., North, A., Moreland, D. (2009). Investigating pedagogical value of wiki technology. Journal of information systems education. 20(2). 187-198.
Kearsley, G., & Schneiderman, B. (1999), Engagement Theory: A Framework For Technology Based Teaching And Learning.
King, K. & Cox, T. (2011). The Professor’s Guide to Taming Technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
West, J. and West, M. (2009). Using Wikis for Online Collaboration: The Power of the Read-Write Web. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Stavredes, T. (2011), Effective Online Teaching: Foundations and Strategies for Student Success. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.
Gary:
ReplyDeleteI liked taking the survey, thanks for sharing that!! I was high in the categories of Independent, Collaborative, Dependent, and Participant. I was moderate in avoidant and competitive. Looking back at my program, especially being in a doctoral program, I think these all make sense to me. I needed to be in class and have ties to the university and the professors, but I also know that only I can do the work and finish a dissertation. That takes a balance! My personality when it comes to school is a planner and I don’t particularly care for professors that “drop in” assignments at the last minute. I love going to class, but I have enjoyed most of my online courses as well. I have only taken three classes that were totally online. The rest of my online have had some come to campus or meet in an audio/visual platform. I have done many projects in GoogleDocs, which I just learned this week was a wiki!! I have not had any trouble completing the assignments, but what I do not particularly care for is the times people choose to work on things. Luckily, most of the groups I have been in have started early and finished in enough time to finalize the project before the due date, but I have had a few instances where some people have just waited until almost the end to work on their part. What is your style? How do you relate your courses and degree with this survey?
Annie
Annie,
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to take the survey and I am glad that you felt it was worthwhile. It sounds like you and I scored pretty closely on it. I was actually surprised that my Independent and Collaborative scores were as close as they were, but independent did narrowly win out. I was expecting a little further spread. This course is about my 15th fully online course in the past 4 years. I really love the aspect of interation in discussion boards and now with the Blog. My experience with wikis is strickly confined to my Masters degree here at KSU (the last 4 courses) and I've had good experiences with those activities and I've also had less than positive experiences. Probably the best collaborative experiece was a Wiki that Kayla and I put together during the Intro to Adult Education course. I think it was far easier to work with just one other person than a larger group.
Gary
Gary,
DeleteWay to dig deeper and consider how group wikis might not fit everyone's learning style! They certainly are a unique platform to use for teams, but might not be very effective if it is one of the only platforms used and used frequently. I agree with you that so far it seems much easier just working with a partner than multiple team members. You just have to work harder with everyone's styles instead of just one person's. I am not a very expressive/extroverted person so I often keep my thoughts and opinions limited in a group setting, although online has been a little easier. If I let myself be shut down from sharing ideas, then my influence on the project could easily become overshadowed.
As Holly mentions, it is probably best to blend different platforms into the curriculum so each learning style can be addressed. I don't think its a bad idea to push people outside of their comfort zone every once and awhile. We learn that way, too!
Gary:
ReplyDeleteYou bring up an excellent point, and one that I did not read in any of the other blogs, about considering how use of wikis does or does not line up with differing learning styles. I do think this is a issue that any teacher who is employing technology in their classrooms must consider. As you state, Wikis are ideal for a collaborative learning, but not necessarily an independent or competitive one. For this reason, I think teachers need to blend their use of technologies (blogs, wikis, discussion board) to hopefully meet the needs of all of their students and their learning styles. Similarly, I think instructors should be considering which technologies work best for different learning orientations. Houle (1961) introduced the idea of three distinct learner orientations: Goal, Activity, and Learning oriented. As these students have very different objectives to attending classes, different technological tools will better meet their needs. For example, a Wiki may be ideal for a activity or learning oriented student, while a blog may better suit a goal oriented one.
What do you think?
Holly
P.S.
I liked your addition of the survey in the blog. My results showed me moderate in all categories. I did notice that I was saying "it depends" a lot in my mind when taking the survey - on the subject, the teacher, the course content, my reason for taking it, etc. That may explain my middle-of-the-road results.
Houle, C. O. (1961). The Inquiring Mind: A Study of the Adult Who Continues to Learn. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Thanks for the comments! I agree, as educators we will definitely need to blend the learning activities using technology to fit the various styles of the students we have. It's simply not a one size fits all area. I've been thinking a good bit about wiki's and blogs and many times authors provide a wiki vs. blog section to try and help guide which technology works the best for a particular student or activity. I'm glad you mentioned the Goal, Activity and Learning oriented learners, since I think the example you gave hits the point right on the head.
DeleteAs for the results of your survey, I really tried to go to one end of the scale or the other, even then I didn't see a real definitive style emerge. However, I will say that collaborative is my lowest score and this does fit me. I tend to prefer "going it alone".
Gary
Hi Gary,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog this week and getting an idea about your views on the pros and cons of wikis. I also noted that the theme this week regarding wikis was the idea of promoting collaboration. I definitely think that when working with students in the online environment this is a great addition when wanting to develop a group project. As West and West (2009) noted, this is one reason why the use of wikis could be more beneficial for certain projects versus other options such as blogs or threaded discussions.
In reflecting on the wiki project we are all currently working on I also thought of a couple of other added benefits. For one thing, I believe that using wikis can help group members to utilize their individual talents. In our first group meeting we discussed our strengths and weaknesses related to this assignment and used that to assign roles or duties to each group member. Having students work in group and developing wikis can help each student "shine". Some students may be better at writing or research while others may be able to better handle the technical aspects.
Reference:
West, J.A, & West, M.L. (2009). Using wikis for online collaboration:
The power of the read-write web. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Amanda,
DeleteI really like the approach your group took in determining the individual assignments for its members. I think that was a really smart way to approach the project. So often we simply get wrapped around an idea of dividing the work "equally" that we miss out on an opportunity to use an individual’s particular strength. I am really interested to hear how your group progresses through the project, I hope you will come back and share that insight here.
Gary
Gary,
ReplyDeleteYour article was personal and professional, which I really enjoyed. While thinking about the points you made, I realized that I am a person that would prefer individual work over a collaborative effort. Yet, I have never had any trouble with wikis. This is why: Through my experience, there is the ability for a planning stage on the wiki to happen. After a small collaborative planning effort, the meat of the content for the wiki will have to be assembled individually. Later, once all the content is entered onto the wiki, there seems to be a process to organize it. Therefore, it can be beneficial if there are people, like myself, that do not enjoy a collaborative effort as much as individual work. I do believe that it takes acknowledgement of personal preferences early in the wiki build to recognize and exploit individual preferences of group members.
I liked the idea of including the survey. Unfortunately, due to the security on my computer, I could not access the URL you provided. I will try it on another computer later, but this is also another point about technology being accessible for all. Like our VALE meetings we have had, there can sometimes be issues arise that hold students back from focusing on education, like trying to master the technology.
Jacob,
DeleteThanks for the comments and you really got me thinking about my past wiki experiences here at KSU. One was an entirely individual effort, and then after everything was complete it was "opened" to the rest of the class to review and comment on. Another was just one other person and I and that worked out very well. We were able to get together and hash out the work plan and a schedule and then, as you have mentioned, it essentially becomes an individual effort. The other one was a project with four other people and my feeling is that even the short collaborative session is difficult the more people you have on the team. Since I am an independent learner, my preference is to be given an assignment and then I go complete it. Just working out the details of the project, and who will do what, can often bog down the project team. For me personally it is simply outside of my comfort zone.
Hopefully you'll be able to take the survey. Let me know how it works out.
Gary