Resources

Lyndsay Grant, Futurelab

The full version of this paper is available to download in pdf format - see box below. On this page you'll find the introduction and background context.

Introduction

Wikis have been heralded as one of a number of new and powerful forms of software capable of supporting a range of collaborative ventures and learning activities. This paper addresses the potential uses of wikis - online editable websites - as learning tools in schools. It places wikis in the context of current relevant literature about collaborative learning, summarising major theories of learning in communities and knowledge-building in networked groups. It also looks briefly at the trends in the wider area of 'social software', of which wikis are just one example. Using wikis in school is explored further through a short-term 'case study' in a UK secondary school. The literature and research background is used to analyse some of the emerging issues surrounding using wikis in the classroom highlighted through this case study. This paper looks both at the affordances of the technology itself and the wider context of the classroom, and offers some provisional conclusions about the potential of using wikis to support collaborative learning in schools.

Background context

There is no absolute agreed definition of a wiki, but essentially wikis are simple websites that allow their users to create and edit content. Different wiki services offer different features, although they commonly include the ability to compare previous versions of a page, discuss issues prior to making changes and track who edited what and when. Probably the most well known public wiki is Wikipedia[1], an online encyclopaedia. The principles behind the operation of Wikipedia are that the knowledge of the group is greater than that of an individual, and that those who use it are also those who create it. In this way, new entries are created when necessary and through collaborative editing an article emerges and develops, reflecting the needs of the group at that time. Different groups use wikis for a wide range of different purposes. One potential use of wikis in education is the facilitation of a group writing process where a group takes responsibility for creating their own content, learning from and collaborating with one another and building upon each others' contributions.

Changes in the developed world are leading to a move away from economies based solely on 'traditional' industries toward a new 'knowledge economy'. Over the last 20 years there has been a vast amount of technological innovation, and this trend shows little sign of abating. Given this rate of change, the possibility of a stable career or a 'job for life' is becoming increasingly less likely. An increasingly important demand in a knowledge economy therefore is an ability to adapt to these changing circumstances. Therefore knowing how to learn and how to participate in creating new knowledge are increasingly essential life skills. The focus on skills of 'learning to learn'[2] and knowledge creation in a knowledge economy mean that the use of wikis in education is starting to be recognised as having significant potential[3].

In recent years we have also seen the growth of what has been termed 'social software', a phrase attributed to Clay Shirky (2003) to describe technologies that facilitate group communication. Internet discussion forums, social networking sites such as MySpace that allow people to represent and create social relationships, and dating sites can all be seen as social software. Weblogs that facilitate conversation across many weblogs through comments on posts, social bookmarking, which allows users to share their internet 'bookmarks' or 'favourites', and wikis are other forms of social software that have recently seen growing popularity and received interest from the education sector. Wikis are one way in which technology can help groups come together to share and create new knowledge and so may be a useful way of learning skills important to participation in a knowledge economy.

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