BLENDED LEARNING UNIT A Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (Part of the University of...
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BLENDED LEARNING UNIT A Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (Part of the University of Hertfordshire Learning and Teaching Institute) Conclusions
BLENDED LEARNING UNIT A Centre for Excellence in Teaching and
Learning (Part of the University of Hertfordshire Learning and
Teaching Institute) Conclusions Wikis offer a practical way of
measuring group contribution and group functioning. Their
visibility affords easier measurement with individual
accountability. This in turn augments the students perception of
the equity of the assessment of group work, enhancing participation
and collaboration in a group setting. Wikis provide a virtual space
for students to come together and learn from each other. Students
appreciate the transparency that a wiki offers in terms of being
able to see the work of others and the associated feedback on that
work. Wikis are an excellent tool to develop the skill of
collaborative writing. Graduates in their work place will benefit
from this (transferable) skill increasingly, especially when
working within geographically distributed teams and projects. There
are many less obvious benefits from getting students to use wikis,
for example, being more confident in addressing new technology and
developing skills for employability. In order to get the most out
of using wikis as a form of collaborative learning, it is essential
that the tutor continually interacts on the wiki site to clarify
areas of confusion and direct student learning. A cross school
pilot project to establish good practices for collaborative
learning through the use of wikis Marija Cubric, Maria Banks, Jane
Fletcher, John Hobson, Sheilla Luz, Karen Robins, Business School,
University of Hertfordshire Introduction This pilot project builds
on the work implemented by Cubric (2007) on using wikis as a
platform for blended learning. It examines in more detail how wikis
can be used: as a tool to support teaching large student groups,
diverse subjects, different study levels and distributed locations.
Two trials were set up in the University of Hertfordshire Business
School during Jan 2007 Jan 2008. They included two postgraduate and
eight undergraduate modules from five different disciplines
(marketing, accounting, economics, management sciences and
information systems), with cohort numbers ranging from 21 to 182
students (UK and overseas-based). The module tutors assumed
different roles, such as: passive facilitator, active facilitator,
or active reviewer. In the modules where students wiki work was
assessed (6/10 modules) the assessment and feedback were based
either on group-work (3/10 modules) or individual
contributions(3/10 modules). Evaluation of the collected data
confirms, unsurprisingly, that students engage more with assessed
activities. More importantly however, it indicates a strong
correlation between student engagement and the quality and
frequency of tutors feedback. Needs to ensure parity and
transparency of the group work to provide an additional way for
students to engage with the module and for lecturers to formatively
assess learning to encourage students to develop a learning
community, which could accommodate the needs of part-time and
full-time students to encourage the students to take a more active
role in their learning to foster the students learning autonomy to
help students with the exam revisions to encourage students to read
more widely and share their reading and learning with others to
support distance learning and initiate class discussions to
diversify assessment yo increase students employability Impact*
(*Students quotes below are un-edited) "I think that the wikis made
group work fairer because our tutor was able to assess how much
work each member had done" "it showed me a new way to work within
groups and that although it was group work, we can all contribute
without all having to be present at the same time" I think it is a
good way to be able to share work with people on the same module.
Its useful to see the work done by other students as we are all
learning the same subject and can learn from one another. Wikis are
useful to gather all relevant information for the course in one
place. The wiki assignments have allowed me to research to topic in
question much more thoroughly and in a greater depth than simply
revising for an exam. Strongly suggest all modules had a similar
set up. Figure 3 Usability, Tutor support, Student satisfaction and
Learning benefits across six (assessed) modules Figure 1 Learning
activities supported by wikis, ordered according to levels in
Blooms (1956) taxonomy Literature reviews Peer reviews Evaluation
Coursework developmentSynthesis Topic Analysis Exam Revisions
Analysis Practical tasks Examples Comprehension and Application
Glossary Bibliography Knowledge Interested in a workshop or want to
get more details? Email
[email protected]@herts.ac.uk
