Models for Activities, Collaboration and Assessment in Wiki in Academic Courses Hagit Meishar-Tal & Edna Tal-Elhasid EDEN conference,Naples 2007 The Center for Technology in Distance Education The Open University of Israel

Background The Open University of Israel (OUI): The largest university in Israel –40,000 students, Aged 13 to 85 –600 courses, B.A, M.A, M.Sc Distance Learning institution A pioneer and a leader in the implementation of advance technologies to support learning Incorporate a high level of self learning, moving towards collaborative learning

Wiki Project in the Open University of Israel Beginning: September 2005 Participants: Students of more than 30 courses from all disciplines Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness of online collaborative learning at the OUI

Why Wiki? Enables the creation of collaborative documents, co-editing and collaborative writing. Provides powerful assessment tools for the teacher and the researcher ( history, user’s contributions, comparison of versions )

Wiki Environment in English Course

Students’ edits History Report

The study Scale: 16 courses, 1000 students Duration: 2006a, 2006b semesters Four aspects of the study: Types of activities Types of collaboration Level of commitment (mandatory or optional) Modes of assessment

Types of Activities GlossariesAnalyzing textsSolving questionsWeb inquiries Number of courses

Types of Collaboration Wiki allows the development of : Collaborative products (co-operation): sharing Individual’s learning products, making a shared web of knowledge Collaboration processes : co-editing and collaborative writing of content Peer assessment The mode of collaboration depends on the instructional design

Types of Collaboration Co-operationCo-editing Collaborative writing Peer assessment Number of courses

Commitment: Mandatory or optional? Percentage of active students due to the level of obligation Active students

Modes of Assessment Qualitative vs. Quantitative Group vs. Personal Process vs. Product

Compare Selected Versions Exercise 1

User Contribution Report

Conclusions Wikis are flexible and suitable for a wide range of collaborative learning activities The degree of obligation influences the level of participation The level of collaboration is influenced by both the instructional design, and the assessment criteria.

What Next? The role of the teacher in wikis: The Instructional design of wiki activities Managing an effective wiki learning activity The influence of the above on student’s participation and collaboration Using data mining Other WEB 2.0 tools for collaborative learning Blogs Second life

Thanks! Hagit Edna