Wikis: Enhancing learning in International Tourism

Development Mandy Talbot

School of Management and Business Aberystwyth University

Teaching intervention cycle

Identify an issue

Plan an interventio

n

ImplementReview

Revise

Tourism Development Module

1. Course Aim: To address the conceptual and practical nature of tourism development and develops students’ transferable skills

2. Coursework Task : Students work in small groups to identify and evaluate tourism development strategies in given tourist destinations and compare these to approaches being taken elsewhere

3. Course Approach: Student centred

4. Method: Classroom presentations 5. Assessment: 50% Coursework &

50% exam

FijiNew ZealandGreeceZanzibar ThailandDubai (UAE)MaldivesBhutanGalapagosNepalEgypt

The Issues: Lack of cohesiveness of student presentations: segmented Limited interaction/ discussion from students with each

others’ presentations

The Result: Lost the opportunity to engage with each others’ work

The Possible Reasons: Limited time to assimilate information andto interact with each others’ work Shyness /Dominant individuals Lack of preparation / not sharing thoughts

The issues

Wikis are collaboratively created websites that

enable visitors to the site to question and comment on content

Intervention aims: To improve the cohesiveness of student group work To provide students more opportunity to engage with

each others’ presentations To improve the quality of students work To develop new IT skills To complement presentations

The Intervention method: Wikis to host student presentations

Stage Teacher’s role Student’s role1) Setting up the wiki project(1 week)

•Wiki IT training (e-learning team)•Example Wikis•Wiki Guidelines•Assignment info

2) Developing the wiki pages within student groups(4 weeks)

•Site monitoring- Teachers make suggestions

•Wiki development - Students collaborate in groups

3) Student interaction between groups(7 weeks)

•Moderate wiki sites and class discussions

•Wiki interaction•Presentations & discussion•Wiki development

4) Wiki -site closure

Assessment 25% wiki 25% presentation

•Exam revision – wikis = a resource

1) The history of international tourism development

2) Current pattern of tourism 3) The economic significance of

tourism - an analysis of various statistics

4) Governance of tourism : institutional frameworks within which tourism development takes place

5) Problems associated with tourism

Analyse THREE specific problems and show how the destination are addressing them.

6) Give your assessment, of the future prospects for the development of tourism

7) Reference list

Example wiki: New Zealand

Sharing content and ideas: Economic information Made by Charlie on 3/7/2012 at 3:38 PM, GMT Hey Nikolas, I found a good PDF for this category for you! I

will send it to you on Skype when you come online!

IT Skills support: Uploading pictures Made by Lucy on 3/23/2012 at 1:53 PM, GMT. I have a graph I would like to put in, I have tried inserting it

the way we have been told though no success. Made by Jane on 3/23/2012 at 3:10 PM, GMT. Hey save the picture to your own documents on your

computer. Then on the wiki toolbar, there is an icon saying edit image, click on that to download the picture

Stage 2: Student group wiki development

Stage 2: Student group wiki development Organising content: National Park Made by Hannah on 3/26/2012 at 9:39 PM, BST Hey Helena - Should we make the National Park one special

subject as there is so much to it? Made by Helena on 3/27/2012 at 8:42 PM, BST We could do that, but do we need that much information about

the National Park when the focus is supposed to be on tourism?

Encouraging further wiki site developmentEconomic Contribution Made by Joanna on 3/27/2012 at 9:57 PM, BST I'm surprised at the low contribution that oil and natural gas

contributes to Dubai's economy. Are there any older figures to compare this to in order to determine if there is a shift to other money generating sectors such as tourism?

A good start: Galapagos Made by Amanda Talbot on 3/28/2012 at 12:44 PM, BST. A good start! Re: Between 2010 and 2011 over U.S. $ 21

million was collected through visitor taxes: What is this income used for ? Is it used effectively?

  Re: A good start Made by Helen on 4/3/2012 at 5:53 PM, BST. Yes over 21 Million $ was collected 2010 - 2011, but only 8

Million $ were used for the National Park and 1 Million $ for the Marine Reserve. The National Park income goes to the State: Ecuador, that redistributes it. You will find a diagram of this shortly in the economics section. Also tourism has exploded recently and the National Park is struggling to manage this - there are problems such as rubbish.

Stage 2: Teacher moderating

Visitor Numbers: New Zealand In the graph showing visitor arrivals, there was a

significant increase in numbers from 2001 -2004 and a slow down between 2007 - 2009. Why is this and what is the impact?

Re: Visitor numbers Made by Katy on 4/27/2012 at 10:48 PM, BST. Increased number in visitor arrivals in 2001-2004 was caused by

improving air -links to NZ, And the slow-down noted in 2007-2009 was caused by the world's economic break down – this difficult financial situation discouraged tourists from expensive long-haul travels.

 Re: Visitor numbers Made by Lucy on 4/27/2012 at 5:49 PM, BST. Increased numbers may also have been due to the Rugby World

Cup (which i have explained in the economic section), It would have increased visitor numbers significantly and boosted tourism business incomes such as accommodation

Stage 3: Student Interaction

How do you think tourism development in Bhutan compares to Nepal? Although similar size and product they have developed very differently?

Reply by Hannah on 4/25/2012 at 9:20 PM, BST: The uncontrolled, environmentally and culturally damaging

tourism the Royal Governing body of Bhutan (RGOB) saw in Nepal has meant that Bhutan has chosen a different approach to tourism in order to preserve their "rich heritage and vibrant culture“ which is essential as this is a key reason for visits to Bhutan (Brunet et al, 2001) .

In Nepal environmental degradation from large numbers of tourists

is well-documented e.g. Large scale deforestation for fuel wood (Gurung 2008). As forestry is a key sector of the economy in Bhutan, they ensure tourism’s usage does not cause such severe impacts. Bhutan's economy has been growing slowly and the country prides itself in its "restrictive tourism policy " (Seeland, 2000) which enables growth and development at a steady manageable rate.

 

Effectiveness assessed through:

Student feedback on the wikis Assessment of interaction: wikis & in class Student coursework results Wiki monitoring tools: site visits 40 – 200+

Assessing the impact of the Wikis

1. The ability to interact with other groups work:x5 ‘commenting on other people’s work’ ‘seeing what others had done’

2. The wikis provided an easy way to manage the groups work: x 6‘ It’s easy to check and update group work’

3. IT skills development: ‘x6 Learnt how to structure a web page’

4. Doing research about new countries: x4 ‘encouraged me to do wider research

5. Other positive:x2 ‘fun’ &‘useful for exam’6. Negative: x2 Not necessary, presentation enough

Student Feedback: Open response: what was useful?

Activity yes WhyNumber of visits to other sites

16/18

Number found other site useful

16/18 Get ideas on structure and contentCompare countries, draw conclusions

Number commented on sites

9/18 Seek understandingSuggest improvements

Number didn’t comment on sites

9/18 Answer already thereNot like to, no time, forgot

Number found comments useful

9/18 Encouraged improvement and extension of workSome questions not useful as answers in the text

Student feedback: interaction

Overall Student feed back

Statement Strongly agree

Somewhat agree

Total agree

No opinion

Somewhat disagree

Strongly disagree

Total

a) Looking at other wikis improved the standard of MY work

6% 66% 72% 12% 6% 100% 18

b) The wiki exercise improved my group work skills

24% 41% 65% 29% 6% 100

c) Looking at other wikis improved the standard of our group work

59% 59% 29% 12% 100

d) The wiki exercise improved my technology skills

12% 59% 72% 18% 12% 100

Date Average Individual Score

Course work breakdown

2011 55% 50% presentation

2012 60% 25% presentation: 59.8%25% wiki: 60.3%

Student coursework results

Result span 50-76%

Review: Did the wiki intervention meet its aims?

Aims Achieved: Evidence 1. To improve the

cohesiveness of students’ group work

• The wikis provided a collaborative work space for students

2. To increase the amount of student interaction with each others’ work

• The wikis provided more opportunity for interaction

• Students took advantage of this

3. To improve the quality of students work

• 72% say yes• Average student coursework

scores 5% increase 4.To improve transferable skills

•How to create wikis, •Improved group work skills 65%

Student feedback: Wiki software: a more user friendly wiki package Wiki training: inductions in IT lab and instructions Timing: start the project earlier = more opportunity for

interaction

Teacher feedback: Agree an amount of content before sites go live Give students an idea of number of sites to interact

with Set tasks for students for greater interaction

Revising the activity

1. Providing students with a meaningful, real world or relevant task that will encourage them to engage with each other’s sites

2. Equipping students with the relevant cognitive and technical skills to complete the task

3. Pitching the activity at the correct level4. Engaging students in establishing the ground

rules for working in groups and interacting with each others work

Some final thoughts on creating a student centred wiki exercise

Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Holubec, E. (2008) Cooperation in the classroom, Edina: Interaction Book Company

Richardson, W. (2006) Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web-tools for the Classroom, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press

West and West (2009) Using Wikis for Online Collaboration, San Francisco, Wiley

REFERENCES