Teaching and Learning through Wikis in Higher Education

Abstract

Abstract-Higher education institutions (HEIs) can, like any other organisation, profit from the advantages of using web 2.0 tools, as these institutions need to balance acquisition processes with learners' participation and contributions. The use of these tools in training processes can contribute to pedagogical innovation and to developing students' learning and professional skills; thus, it must be promoted. This paper presents a case study which aims to validate the desired Wiki outcomes in a teaching and learning experience in the Information System Management classes of a Management Course in a Portuguese HEI, as well the importance of the Wiki for the regional community of management professionals. The results of the analysis of the information gathered during this pedagogical experience suggest that group process skills and behaviours regarding self-organization, integrity and openness clearly develop more (or are at least more easily perceived) than web skills, as do some editing skills.Index Terms-Wikis, pedagogical approach, group processes skills and behaviours of self-organization, integrity and openness.

Activities Based on Wiki Platform for Engineering Higher Education: Students' Point of View

“…His social-cultural learning theory originally refers to expert-novice or teacher-student interactions but it has been applied to supportive behaviors by which students can help each other in the classroom or online platform (GUERRERO, VILLAMIL, 2000;LI, ZHU, 2013;CICCONI, 2014;HADJERROUIT, 2014). Online platforms offer new opportunities to team working, for example, wiki platforms with high interactivity potential that enables users to create and edit online hypertexts easily (GOMES, SOUSA, 2013;WANG, 2014). In wiki platforms, editions and revisions can be made directly in the text and the changes can be synchronized or not.…”

“…Their conclusions attest to the fact that this resource increased students' motivation to learn English, raising student confidence and promoting socio-constructivist initiatives. According to Gomes and Sousa (2013) the development of activities on wiki platforms can contribute greatly to teamwork processes, improving self-organization, integrity and transparency. The authors used a wiki platform for online activities of the Information Systems Management course to investigate the results of using this technology in the teaching and learning process.…”

“…The wikis, one of the Web 2.0 technologies, can be used as a support tool for the teaching and learning process in order to improve 21st century skills such as critical thinking, reasoning and argumentation, information technology and communication, written communication, flexibility, adaptability, responsibility, collaboration, teamwork, cooperation, negotiation and leadership (GOMES, SOUSA, 2013;WANG, 2014;KIM, 2015).…”

Recommendations for Using Wiki in Online Group Projects in Engineering Educatio

“…His social-cultural learning theory originally refers to expert-novice or teacher-student interactions but it has been applied to supportive behaviors by which students can help each other in the classroom or online platform (Guerrero & Villamil, 2000;Li & Zhu, 2013;Cicconi, 2014;Hadjerrouit, 2014). Online platforms offer new opportunities to work in groups, such as, wiki platforms with high interactivity potential that enables users to create and edit online hypertexts easily (Gomes & Sousa, 2013;Cheuk-Hang & Wei, 2014;Wang, 2014). Editions and revisions can be made directly in the text and the changes can be synchronized or not.…”

“…Based on the survey analyses, they affirmed that wikis are a solid technology elected and recognizable for a significant part of users. Gomes and Sousa (2013) introduced some activities to Information System Management classes whose the objective was to validate the desired Wiki outcomes for teaching and learning process. They concluded that teaching and learning through wikis platforms can contributes greatly to the development of teamwork processes, self-organization, integrity, and openness.…”