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A paper presented at the 4th Plymouth e-Learning Conference, April 2009
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Steve WheelerUniversity of Plymouth, UK
www2.plymouth.ac.uk/distancelearning
Wiki Blog Mashup: Aggregating social software to promote
interactive learning
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Web 2.0 in education
• ‘architecture of participation’ (O’Reilly, 2004)• participative online learning (Downes, 2005)• user generated content & ‘wisdom of crowds’• ‘folksonomies’ through social tagging• sharing and collaboration• wikis, blogs, social networking, etc
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From previous wiki studies...• Wikis contribute toward community building (Fuchs-
Kittowski & Kohler, 2005) • Wiki content creation forms community (Ma & Yuen,
2008)• wikis are best used over a period of time (Wheeler,
2009)• students use wikis in the classroom but rarely
outside (Wheeler, et al, 2008)• students want some structure – wikis can be
daunting (Wheeler, et al, 2007a)• wiki activities scaffold learning and encourage
collaborative writing (Wheeler, et al, 2007b)
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From previous blog studies...• Good for peer support and peer learning (Hall &
Davison, 2007)• Used to generate work based electronic portfolios
(Chuang, 2008)• Promote regular reflection (Xie & Sharma, 2005) and
knowledge management (O’Donnell, 2006).• Encourage deep and continuous learning through
regular reflection and knowledge management (O’Donnell, 2006)
• Should have pedagogical purpose and outcomes (Kop, 2007)
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Space integration
Community spacePersonal space
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Wiki blog integration
Reflective spaceCollaborative space
Blog Wiki
Community spacePersonal space
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Wiki blog integration
Reflective spaceCollaborative space
Blog Wiki
Negotiation of meaningCo-construction of knowledge
Community spacePersonal space
Proximal Development Professional ID
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Wiki blog integration
Who I am What I know
Blog Wiki
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ReflectionSelf expression
(Brescia & Miller, 2006)
Creative writingCritical thinking
Meta cognitive processesSocio cognitive processes
(Gleaves et al, 2007)
Sharing/exchangingEditing/modifying(Tu et al, 2008)
The Study
• 34 students in 2 groups• Used blogs and wikis for one complete
academic term• Post module anonymous online questionnaire
(using Survey Monkey)• 15 completed returns
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What did you use the wiki for? What did you use the blog for?
I used the wiki to access resources people had posted and to see what
people were discussing
I used the blog when I had something that was on my mind that I wanted to
get off my chest, just personal thoughts of what I was feeling and
thinking at that particular time.
Wiki was used to post comments, ask and answer
questions, look up resources. Blog as my personal ravings.
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What do you think are the best uses of blogs in education?
I think blogs are difficult because the content should be of a high standard in order to make them have a worthwhile education
relevance, meaning less advanced students will either create blogs and waste the time of the users, or not and escape the possibility of
it benefiting their learning. I think the best way is for one persons blog to be able to dynamically link to other peoples' so that if a user lacks educational content they can play on the strengths of others',
creating a shared community of blogs.
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For the gathering of current opinions on different topics. Current affairs blogs could be good for researching opinions and first hand experiences. However, I do
think that there are many useless blogs available, which are not useful for factual learning purposes.
What do you think are the best uses for wikis in education?
Community spaces with 'friends' added and separated discussion areas for
different topics. The wet paint wiki was functional, fun and really fostered a
community spirit for our class.
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great resource for students to share research and provide mutual support to each other when they only spend limited time together in the classroom.
I found that the wiki allowed us to have a lot of discussion within the group which led to a greater bond between us, whereas the student portal is never used to discuss things and is mainly only used for e-mailing people.
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I used the wiki to keep up to date with postings from my fellow students. However, I feel that it was very under used and that tempered my enthusiasm. I had wanted to use it as a method for keeping in touch with others thoughts, ideas and progress with the module, but the majority of students did not really engage and that was disappointing. I had had similar hopes for the blog and was slow to start, then enjoyed what I read on others blogs and tried to devote a bit more time to it. Unfortunately I didn't have much time to explore its potential and as my colleagues didn't really get going with it I lost interest.
Any other comments
What was learnt...• wiki activities scaffold learning and encourage
collaborative working and a community ethos (Wheeler, et al, 2007b)
• blogs used for reflection but student doubted their worth outside individual learning
• need for a critical mass of users for success (Hodgkinson-Williams et al, 2008) especially in the ‘space overlap’
• students like to discuss but are reluctant to create their own content (Wheeler, 2009)
• student resent extra work – wikis and blogs should be integrated directly into curricula (ibid)
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Steve WheelerFaculty of Education, University of Plymouth, UK
www2.plymouth.ac.uk/distancelearninghttp://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com
Thank You
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