Comments

Copyright of IADIS 2009, used here by permission of the publishers. This is a reprint of a paper published in the Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference e-Society in 2009 by IADIS. Clive Buckley, Angela Hastings and Richard Mottershead presented this paper at the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) International Conference in Barcelona on 23rd -28th February 2009. The IADIS website can be accessed at http://www.iadis.org and details of the conference can be found at http://www.esociety-conf.org/

Abstract

Web 2.0 technologies, such as wiki pages, have the potential to facilitate the formation of on-line communities of learning, especially useful when participants in that community are geographically dispersed and living in remote areas. This paper describes the authors’ work with undergraduate health studies students tasked to work collaboratively on a problem-based learning (PBL) project in which the students use wiki pages to share ideas and resources. The study examines how different groups of students make use of the wiki facility in terms of the level and nature of contribution. Work to date suggests that students readily adapt to the on-line community and, given sufficient instruction, utilize the wiki pages to work together constructively. Evidence indicates that, provided tutors are supportive and provide encouragement, the level of wiki activity is independent of whether contributions are formally assessed or not, however, the language style adopted by students does change when their work is being assessed. When the contributions are not assessed, students adopt a very informal language, reminiscent of the language used in instant messaging and SMS texting; when the work is assessed, students revert to the more formal language of the traditional classroom

Disciplines

Curriculum and Instruction | Education | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Nursing

Recommended Citation

Buckley, C., Hastings, A., & Mottershead, R. (2009), ‘Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Build Learning Communities’. (paper presented to the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) International Conference held in Barcelona 23rd -28th February 2009). Barcelona: IADIS