WEB 2.0 FOR GROUP
PROJECTS AND
SUMMER INTERNSHIP
SAMUEL KAI-WAI CHU
Division of Information and Technology Studies
Faculty of Education
The University of Hong Kong
1
Objectives
 Discuss findings from a series of studies that
investigated the use of Web 2.0 technologies
in facilitating students’ learning in group
projects and summer internships.
2
Web 2.0 (1)
 Web applications that facilitate interaction and
collaboration
 Emphasizes users as co-developers; harnesses
collective intelligence

Examples: blogs, wiki, podcasts, RSS (Really Simple
Syndication), social bookmarking, social networking.
Web 2.0 (2)
 Used in different sectors
 Business
 McKinsey Quarterly Survey (2009) indicated that 75%
of the companies surveyed planned to maintain or
increase their investments in Web 2.0
 Education
 Wikis facilitate collaborative learning activities and help
in building up socially constructed knowledge
(Foley & Chang, 2006; Lamb & Johnson, 2007)
TWiki, Wikibooks,
MediaWiki, Google Docs
Undergraduate and
Postgraduate Students
5
Wikis (1)
 Considered as the “poster example” of Web 2.0 technologies
(Rollett et al., 2007)
 Web-based open-editing functions allow users to enter, submit,
manage, and update materials and documents for easy
authoring
(Lamb & Johnson, 2007)
 Low-cost knowledge creation process
(Stvilia, Twidale, Smith, & Gasser, 2008)
 An illustration of this is Wikipedia – perhaps the most influential
wiki-based web project and now one of the most widely used
encyclopaedias in the world
(Richardson, 2009)
6
Wikis (2)
 Key factors in the rationale for using wikis in education





Wiki is an open-source technology
Users require minimal HTML knowledge
Wiki pages are organized by content, and students
decide how to structure the information
It is easy to go back to earlier versions if problems
occur
Some wikis permit limited access which can ensure
privacy
(Engstrom & Jewett, 2005; Lamb, 2004; Raman et al., 2005)
7
Wikis (3)
8
Wiki Studies
 Wiki Study 1: TWiki for BScIM
(Chu, 2008)
 Wiki Study 2: Twiki & Wikibooks for BScIM
(Lo & Chu, 2007)
 Wiki Study 3: TWiki for BScIM & MSc[ITE/LIM]
(Chu, Cheung, Ma, & Leung, 2008)
 Wiki Study 4: Twiki & MediaWiki for MSc[ITE/LIM]
(Liang, Chu, Siu, & Zhou, 2009)
 Wiki Study 5: MediaWiki & Google.Doc for BScIM
(Chu, Kennedy, & Mak, 2009)
9
Wiki Study 1:
Twiki for BScIM
 Project development space, document management
system, and knowledge base for intranets or the
internet
(TWiki, 2007)
 TWiki is considered the flagship wiki software
(Ebersbach et al., 2006)
10
Wiki Study 1:
Research objectives
 The study explored the effectiveness of using
TWiki to facilitate student group work.


Examined the effectiveness of TWiki in
facilitating students’ knowledge building in
working on their group projects.
Focused on how TWiki serves as a knowledge
management tool, particularly in creating,
capturing, sharing and transferring knowledge.
11
Wiki Study 1:
Methods (1)
 TWiki was used to support knowledge
building for students in an undergraduate
course on knowledge management (KM)
 In the KM course, students were required to
create a chapter (a case study) first on TWiki,
and eventually for a Wikibook
 Wiki templates were designed specifically for
the students’ group project by the instructor
and were modified by students according to
their needs
12
Wiki Study 1:
Methods (2)
 Wiki workspace for the KM course



“group progress”
“group discussion”
“group report”
13
Wiki Study 1:
Methods (3)
 Instruments
Survey questionnaire (5-point Likert, open-ended
questions, online)
 Interview
 Participants: undergraduate students
 41 responded to the survey
 19 frequent users of TWiki were interviewed
 Analysis
 SPSS 14.0
 NVivo version 7.0

14
Wiki Study 1:
Findings (1)
15
Wiki Study 1:
Findings (2)
16
Wiki Study 1:
Findings (3)
 Workspace design in TWiki



The more frequent TWiki users were interviewed
about the usefulness of the workspace design
Half of the respondents: sections served different
functions and were useful for doing their group
projects.
Other half: confused about the purposes of the
“group progress” and “group report” sections

Instructor decided to retain the “group report” section
only
17
Wiki Study 1:
Conclusion
 Students’ responses to the questionnaire
indicated their positive perceptions of the use
of TWiki
 TWiki was found to be




effective in improving student collaboration
and quality of work
suitable tool for working on collaborative
projects online
an enabling technology for KM
requiring training prior to use
18
Wiki Study 2:
TWiki and Wikibooks for BScIM
 Wikibooks is a free collection of open-content
textbooks that anyone can edit
(Wikibooks, 2007)
 This study evaluated the effectiveness of using online
collaborative spaces with TWiki and Wikibooks in
facilitating students’ learning through knowledge
building activities in an undergraduate course.
19
Wiki Study 2:
Methods (1)
 Undergraduate students engaged in 2 phases of
group project work


Phase 1: TWiki was used for input and edit of drafts of
the student projects on a secure server
Phase 2: Wikibooks was used to finalize the drafts as
an online books to be viewable by the open public
20
Wiki Study 2:
Methods (2)
 Instruments
Survey questionnaire (5-point Likert, open-ended
questions, telephone administered)
 Participants: undergraduate students (n=41)
 19 from year level 3
 22 from year level 2
 Analysis
 Microsoft Excel
 Nvivo 7.0

21
Wiki Study 2:
Findings (1)
Comparison of students’ perceptions on TWiki and Wikibook
5
4
3.22 3.29
3.2 3.22
3.49 3.41
3
TWiki
Wikibook
2
1
0
Ease of Use
Enjoyment
Suitability for
collaboration
22
Wiki Study 2:
Findings (2)
Percentage of students who will use Wikis for future group projects in KM
6%
8%
8%
Y es
No
depends
alternative
78%
23
Wiki Study 2:
Findings (3)
 Reasons why students found Wikis suitable
for group projects in KM




Facilitates knowledge sharing
Enables tracking of students’ progress
Easier project management
Enables access to feedback from lecturer
24
Wiki Study 2:
Findings (4)
Students’ perceptions on effects of Wikis on collaboration and group project
5
4
3.15
3.32
3
2
1
0
Improves collaboration
Improves the quality of
group project
25
Wiki Study 2:
Findings (5)
 Students encountered difficulties in handling
graphics and editing the same document
simultaneously
 TWiki and Wikibooks did not have sufficient
instructions in guiding users
 Enhancement of user interface and
improvement in instructions are desired
26
Wiki Study 2:
Conclusion
 Students had positive perceptions of TWiki and
Wikibooks in terms of ease of use, enjoyment, and
suitability for collaboration
 Wikis are perceived to have a positive effect on the
collaboration between students and on the quality of
group projects
 Training should be to familiarize students with Wikis
27
Wiki Study 3:
TWiki for BScIM and MSc[ITE/LIM]
 Online master students


greater convenience and better connection with
the use of Wiki
improvement in online technology skills
(Bold, 2006)
 Few studies have compared the use of TWiki
between different levels of study
 None seem to have examined whether wiki is
particularly useful to part-time students
28
Wiki Study 3:
Research objectives
 To compare the use of TWiki at
undergraduate and postgraduate levels
 To determine if TWiki is particularly useful for
part-time postgraduate students
29
Wiki Study 3:
Methods (1)
 TWiki was used in both undergraduate and
postgraduate courses


students in groups of 3-5 conducted a small research
and compiled a report using TWiki
lecturer designed Wiki templates which could be
modified by students according to their needs
 The TWiki online workspace consisted of three parts
 “Progress”, “Discussion”, and “Report”
30
Wiki Study 3:
Methods (2)
 Instruments
Survey questionnaire (5-point Likert, open-ended
questions, online)
 Log data retrieval from the TWiki web pages (student’s
frequency of use)
 Participants: N=61
 BScIM students (n=41)
 MSc[ITE/LIM] (n=20)
 Analysis
 SPSS 16.0
 Nvivo 7.0

31
Wiki Study 3:
Findings (1)
Comparison of BSc and MSc students’ perceptions on the use of TWiki
for collaboration
BSc students
Mean; Median
(95% CI)
(N2 = 41)
3.3; 3.0 (3.1-3.6)
MSc students
Mean; Median
(95% CI)
(N1 = 20)
3.3; 3.5 (2.8-3.8)
Improves the quality of the group
work
3.2; 3.0 (2.9-3.4)
3.3; 4.0 (2.8-3.8)
0.325
Easy to use
3.2; 3.0 (3.0-3.5)
3.1; 3.0 (2.6-3.6)
0.677
Enjoyable to use
3.2; 3.0 (2.9-3.5)
3.0; 3.0 (2.5-3.4)
0.495
TWiki is suitable for collaboration
3.5; 4.0 (3.2-3.8)
3.8; 4.0 (3.4-4.2)
0.331
Survey Questions
Improves the collaboration among
group members
Mann-Whitney
p value
0.811
32
Wiki Study 3:
Findings (2)
Comparison of more frequent and less frequent users’ perceptions on the
use of TWiki for collaboration
Survey Questions
BSc students:
- Improved collaboration
- Improved quality of group work
- Easy to use
- Enjoyable to use
-TWiki is suitable for
collaboration
MSc students:
- Improved collaboration
- Improved quality of group work
- Easy to use
- Enjoyable to use
- TWiki is suitable for
collaboration
More Frequent Users
Less Frequent Users
Mann-Whitney
p-value
Mean; Median (95% CI)
Mean; Median (95% CI)
(N1 = 14)
3.2; 3.0 (2.9-3.7)
2.9; 3.0 (2.4-3.3)
3.2; 3.0 (2.8-3.6)
3.1; 3.0 (2.6-3.6)
3.4; 3.0 (2.9-3.8)
(N2 = 14)
3.3; 3.5 (2.7-3.9)
3.2; 3.0 (2.7-3.8)
3.4; 3.5 (2.9-3.8)
3.6; 4.0 (3.0-4.1)
3.7; 4.0 (3.2-4.2)
0.961
0.321
0.548
0.159
0.165
(N1 = 6)
2.3; 2.5 (1.1-3.6)
2.2; 2.0 (1.0-3.4)
3.3; 3.5 (2.1-4.6)
2.2; 2.0 (1.1-3.2)
3.1; 3.0 (2.6-3.6)
(N2 = 5)
3.5; 3.5 (2.9-4.1)
3.9; 4.0 (2.8-5.0)
3.0; 3.0 (2.1-3.9)
3.2; 3.0 (2.6-3.8)
3.8; 4.0 (2.8-4.8)
0.089
0.031*
0.634
0.044*
0.107
33
Wiki Study 3:
Findings (3)
Comparison of BSc and MSc students’ perceptions on the use of TWiki
for Knowledge Management
Ratings on TWiki as a Knowledge Management Tool
5.0
Mean Score
4.0
3.0
2.0
BSc students
3.8
3.5
4.2
3.9
MSc students
1.0
0.0
Knowledge Creation
Knowledge Sharing
Aspects of Knowledge Management
34
Wiki Study 3:
Findings (4)
BSc students' responses on using TWiki in the future
22%
51%
27%
Yes
No
Depends
Will students use TWiki
in the future?
MSc students' reponses on using TWiki in the future
20%
25%
55%
Yes
No
Depends
35
Wiki Study 3:
Findings (5)
 Based on qualitative analysis of responses to open-
ended questions, students consider TWiki as an
effective tool to facilitate their group project work

49% BSc and 50% MSc students


TWiki is effective in facilitating collaborative group work
40% MSc students

TWiki facilitates communication within group
 These comments were from open-ended questions
and not from survey, thus relatively low percentage of
students
36
Wiki Study 3:
Findings (6)
 MSc students had less pleasant experiences

65% claimed difficulty in formatting on Twiki

20% pointed out that it is time-consuming to
learn about the new tool
 Contrary to the researchers’ initial
assumption that part-time MSc students
would find TWiki more useful
37
Wiki Study 3:
Conclusion
 Both undergraduate and postgraduate students found
TWiki effective in supporting them to do their group
project work
 Majority in both groups also indicated that they would
continue to use TWiki in the future
 MSc students viewed TWiki less favorably when
compared to the BSc students
38
Wiki Study 4:
TWiki and MediaWiki for MSc[ITE/LIM]
 TWiki

considered as a collaborative tool for development of
educational papers and technical projects
(Raygan & Green, 2002)
 MediaWiki


gained its popularity as the software used by Wikipedia
enhanced social interaction in an icebreaker assignment in
undergraduates
(Augar, Raitman, & Zhou, 2004)

used for developing an encyclopedia in an undergraduate
new media technologies course
Bruns and Humphreys (2005)

academic interest (e.g. Foley & Chang, 2006)
39
Wiki Study 4:
Research objectives
 To compare users’ experiences in using
TWiki and MediaWiki for academic purposes
 To compare the users’ perceptions on using
Wiki versus the usual work processing tools
in collaborative group work
40
Wiki Study 4:
Methods (1)
 MScLIM students used TWiki for a research project
report in Information Behavior (IB) course

work consisted of submission in four phases: (1) research
proposal with relevant literature, (2) draft of the study design,
(3) preliminary results, and (4) final report
 MScITE students used MediaWiki for a major project
report in Designing Shared Virtual Environments for
Learning (DSVEL) course
 Wiki templates were set by the instructors but could
be modified by students according to their needs
41
Wiki Study 4:
Methods (2)
 Instruments
Survey questionnaire (5-point Likert, open-ended
questions, online)
 Log data retrieval from the TWiki and MediaWiki web
pages (individual contributions)
 Participants: N=36
 MScLIM (n=20)
 MScITE (n=16)
 Analysis
 SPSS 16.0
 Nvivo 7.0

42
Wiki Study 4:
Findings (1)
Comparison of students’ perceptions on the use of TWiki and MediaWiki for
collaboration
TWiki
Mean; SD
(N = 20)
MediaWiki
Mean; SD
(N = 16)
Mann-Whitney
p-value
Improved collaborative
activities
Improved quality of group
report
Ease to use
3.23; 1.057
3.63; 0.806
0.328
3.23; 1.129
3.20; 0.775
0.710
3.00; 1.076
3.75; 0.931
0.05
Enjoyable to use
2.90; 1.021
3.63; 0.957
0.036
Suitable for collaboration
3.60; 0.805
3.94; 0.772
0.147
Effectiveness Component
43
Wiki Study 4:
Findings (2)
44
Wiki Study 4:
Findings (3)
45
Wiki Study 4:
Findings (4)
 Comparison with a typical word processor



Students commented that Wiki allowed greater
interaction among group members
Word processors functioned well for individual
work, but not for facilitation of group work
Wiki results in greater difficulty in formatting
and in using wiki tools
46
Wiki Study 4:
Findings (5)
 MediaWiki




generally received more positive comments
and less negative comments than TWiki
more suitable for group collaboration
easier to use
some students mentioned that MediaWiki is
easier to use than a word processor
 Insufficient guidance hindered the efficient
use of MediaWiki because students were
unfamiliar with the new software
47
Wiki Study 4:
Conclusion
 Both TWiki and MediaWiki were regarded as suitable tools for
group work and as enabling tools for knowledge management
 MediaWiki was favored over TWiki
 Wikis have advantages over word processors in terms of
collaborative work
 Part-time postgraduate students consider the user-friendly
interface as a key criterion for a Wiki’s suitability for
collaboration
 Students hesitate in applying Wiki for future work and personal
use due to the perceived IT skills requirements
48
Wiki Study 5:
MediaWiki and Google Docs for BScIM
 Google Docs
 free web-based application that allows users to
create and to share online documents,
spreadsheets, presentations, and forms
 allows concurrent online editing and collaboration
for knowledge building by multiple users with
minimal technical knowledge of HTML
49
Wiki Study 5:
Research objectives
 The study investigated the effectiveness of
MediaWiki and Google Docs as online
collaboration tools for the co-construction of
project report by undergraduate information
management students.
50
Wiki Study 5:
Methods (1)
 Students used MediaWiki for the major project in
Knowledge Management course
 groups of 5-6 students produced project reports
 report structure and wiki templates were provided
 Google Docs for their final year project



groups of 2-3 students produced project reports
report structure were provided
collaboration was strongly encouraged
51
Wiki Study 5:
Methods (2)
 Instruments
Survey questionnaire (5-point Likert, open-ended
questions, online)
 Participants: undergraduate students (n=14)
 20 responded to the survey
 6 students had individual final year projects
 Analysis
 SPSS 14.0

52
Wiki Study 5:
Findings (1)
Comparison on students’ usage experiences in using Google Docs and MediaWiki
Mean (SD)
Z
Asymp. Sig
(2-tailed)
*p < .05
MediaWiki
Google Docs
Improves the collaboration among group
members
Helps improve the quality of your group report
3.50 (.76)
2.79 (1.31)
-1.93
.054
2.79 (.89)
2.43 (1.02)
-1.18
.236
Easy to use
3.50 (.94)
3.57 (1.28)
-.262
.794
Enjoy working on group project using the tool
3.21 (.89)
2.71 (1.27)
-1.64
.100
User-friendly layout
2.64 (1.15)
3.29 (1.39)
-1.59
.111
A suitable tool for students to co-construct
group projects online
3.43 (.852)
2.86 (1.23)
-1.87
.062
53
Wiki Study 5:
Findings (2)
Comparison of the severity level of potential problems in using
Google Docs and MediaWiki
Mean (SD)
Z
Asymp. Sig
(2-tailed)
*p < .05
MediaWiki
Google Docs
Creating items
2.64 (1.22)
2.93 (1.33)
-.79
.43
Uploading files
2.29 (1.20)
2.79 (1.31)
-1.47
.14
Feeling uncomfortable in editing
group members’ work
2.79 (1.12)
3.00 (1.24)
-.72
.74
Privacy issues in posting items
3.14 (1.46)
2.29 (.91)
-2.14
.03*
Others
2.07 (1.33)
2.14 (1.29)
-.58
.56
Participants responded to a question on whether these potential problems are present,
using a 5-point Likert scale where1 meant “not at all”, and 5 meant “very much so”.
54
Wiki Study 5:
Findings (3)
Comparison of knowledge management in Google Docs and MediaWiki
Mean (SD)
Z
Asymp. Sig
(2-tailed)
*p < .05
MediaWiki
Google Docs
Knowledge creation
3.29 (.83)
2.93 (1.33)
-1.22
.22
Knowledge capturing
3.07 (.73)
3.07 (1.07)
.00
1.00
Knowledge sharing
3.36 (.93)
3.14 (1.23)
-.79
.43
55
Wiki Study 5:
Conclusion
 Majority of students found MediaWiki and Google
Docs easy to use
 The potential problems identified in the study did not
seem to be overwhelming
 MediaWiki and Google Docs were perceived to be
effective knowledge management tools
 More students tended to find MediaWiki more
effective than Google Docs for online collaboration
56
Comparison across studies (1)
5
4
TWiki
3
MediaWiki
Google Docs
2
Wikibooks
1
0
Improved
collaboration
Improved quality of
project
Suitable tool for
students projects
57
Comparison across studies (2)
5
4
TWiki
3
MediaWiki
2
Google Docs
Wikibooks
1
0
Easy to use
Enjoyable
58
Comparison across studies (3)
Overall Ratings
5
4
3.28
3.28
3.28
2.88
3
2
1
0
TWiki
MediaWiki
Google Docs
Wikibooks
59
Blogs
Undergraduate Students
BScIM, Nursing
60
Blogs (1)
 “blog” is an abbreviated form of “web log”

web-based journal presented in reverse
chronological order containing someone’s
thoughts and ideas for others to see
(Flatley, 2005)
 Blogging has been used in various fields

education, public relations, healthcare, and
business
(Chaney, 2005; Churchill, 2007; Magg, 2005; Williams & Jacobs, 2004)
61
Blogs (2)
 Blogging is common in certain professions

Professionals who use reflective journals


E.g., healthcare professionals
Those whose tasks involve information
retrieval and search

E.g., information management professionals,
researchers, analysts
(Williams & Jacobs, 2004)
62
Blogs (3)
 The way students understand and use
blogging is linked with the tasks and
outcomes that are associated with their
professional field
(Kerawalla et al., 2008)
 Students will apply any blogging software
according to their needs
(Kerawalla et al., 2007)
63
Blog Studies
 Blog Study 1: Three blogging systems for BScIM
(Chu, Malhotra, Ho, Leung, & Mo, 2009)
 Blog Study 2: Blogging for Nursing students
(Wong, Chu, Tiwari, Fung, & Mo, 2009)
 Blog Study 3: Blogging for BScIM and Nursing
students (Kwan, Chu, Tiwari, Zhou, Leung, & Mo, 2009)
64
Blog Study 1:
Three blogging systems for BScIM
 Blogs have been effectively administered in
higher and lower educational settings and
also in distance learning settings
(Gleaves et al., 2007; Downes, 2004; Churchill, 2009; Buffington, 2007)
 Considerable research has been done on the
use of IT in internships
(Doering et al., 2003; Graf & Stebnicki, 2002; Nasiopoulos & Ward, 2002)
 Blogs for internships remains to be explored
65
Blog Study 1:
Research objectives
 This study aimed to determine the students’
blogging behaviors, and their perceptions of
blogging in terms of facilitating information
and knowledge exchange.
 Further investigated whether blogging
functions as a social support mechanism
among interns.
66
Blog Study 1:
Methods (1)
 Three cohorts of interns were asked to create blogs
for sharing their experiences and posting reflections
during internships



Xanga (http://hk.xanga.com) or Blogger
(https://www.blogger.com)
Drupal, which is an open source software package
YouBlog (http://www.youblog.cc)
 Students were asked to write their self-reflections and
post these as blogs every one or two day(s), starting
from the first week of their internship to the end of it.
67
Blog Study 1:
Methods (2)
 Instruments

Interview



4-point Likert where 1 represented “Strongly disagree”, and 4
represented “Strongly disagree”
open-ended questions
telephone administered
 Participants: undergraduate BScIM students (n=53)
2006: 16 out of 19 interns
 2007: 16 out of 21 interns
 2008: all 21 interns
 Analysis
 SPSS 16.0
 Nvivo 8.0

68
Blog Study 1:
Findings (1)
Frequency of students’ blogging behaviors during internship (N=53)
2.41
2.29
Frequncy per week
2.50
2.00
1.93
2.00
1.50
1.03
1.00
0.50
0.00
Writing own
blogs
Reading
own blogs
Reading
classmates'
blogs
Giving
comments
Average
blog
frequency
Blog Behavior Categories
69
Blog Study 1:
Findings (2)
Students’ ratings on the usefulness of blogs for learning and communication (N=53)
Overall ratings:
Mean
Standard
Deviations
Blogging is useful for communication among classmates
3.0
0.50
Blogging is useful for self-reflection
3.2
0.65
A blog is suitable for recording self-reflections
3.0
0.65
A blog is a suitable platform to learn from other students’
problem solving experience
2.5
0.82
Classmates’ comments on blogs are helpful
2.1
0.99
Supervisors’ comments on blogs are helpful
0.6
1.09
Survey questions
70
Blog Study 1:
Findings (3)
Students’ ratings on the effectiveness of blogging (N=53)
Variables measuring the
effectiveness of blogging
Overall ratings
Mean (SD)
Frequent
users
Mean (SD)
Infrequent
users
Mean (SD)
Sig.
(t-test)
Blogging facilitated knowledge
sharing
2.8 (0.62)
2.93 (0.48)
2.6 (0.84)
0.153
Blogging facilitated information
sharing
3.1 (0.53)
3.29 (0.47)
3.0 (0.56)
0.279
Blogging facilitated mutual
emotional support
2.8 (0.70)
3.0 (.056)
2.64 (0.50)
0.084
71
Blog Study 1:
Findings (4)
Students’ ratings categorized by different blogging platforms (N=53)
Cohort 1
Mean1 (SD)
n=16
3.25 (0.45)
Cohort 2
Mean (SD)
n=16
3.19 (0.54)
Cohort 3
Mean (SD)
n=21
3.05 (0.50)
Sig.
ANOVA
Blog is suitable for keeping selfreflections
2.81 (0.40)
3.25 (0.58)
3.05 (0.81)
0.16
Blog is a suitable platform to learn from
other’s problem solving experience
2.5 (0.97)
2.5 (0.82)
2.57 (0.75)
0.73
Blogging is useful for communication
among classmates
2.94 (0.93)
3.06 (0.57)
3.0 (0.71)
0.11
Classmates’ comments on blogs are
helpful
2.06 (1.48)
1.94 (1.12)
2.24 (0.89)
0.96
Supervisors’ comments on blogs are
helpful
1.19 (1.52)
0.88 (1.36)
0.33 (0.80)
0.89
Survey questions
Blogging is useful for self-reflection
0.45
72
Blog Study 1:
Findings (5)
Students’ feedback on blogging for information and knowledge sharing
Positive feedback
Suitable to
facilitate
information and
knowledge
sharing








Provides knowledge on what others
are doing (13)
Provides information on other work
fields (8)
Enables sharing of information on
research, photos, videos (8)
Provides free mutual reading (9)
Allows sharing of experiences (5)
Provides access to information
everywhere at anytime (4)
Serves as a source for problemsolving mechanisms (3)
Provides opportunities to learn from
others’ experience and analysis (2)
Negative feedback




Most
blog
entries
are
unimportant and routine (6)
Most entries are personal and
are not useful comments (4)
Students just write little in order
to complete the assignment (4)
Face-to-face communication is
necessary (2)
73
Blog Study 1:
Findings (6)
Students’ feedback on blogging for self-reflections
Positive comments
A suitable

platform to keep
reflections








Blogs serve as reminders for
projects (14)
Record and reflect things
systematically (12)
Blogs are convenient to do (7)
Entries are easy to trace (5)
Readily usable for sharing (5)
Easy to access (4)
Suggestions from classmates and
supervisors are received (3)
Allow expression of feelings (2)
Blogs are centralized platforms (1)
Negative comments




Privacy concerns (4)
Concerns about grades and
authenticity of content (3)
The mandatory use of computers
is found to be problematic (2)
There are better alternatives, e.g.,
Facebook (2)
74
Blog Study 1:
Conclusion (1)
 Students generally found blogging as a useful tool
during their internships for
 self-reflection
 learning from others’ problems
 Communication
 The students perceived blogs to be effective in
facilitating information sharing, knowledge sharing,
and emotional support.
 No significant differences were observed between
frequent and infrequent users.
75
Blog Study 1:
Conclusion (2)
 Unfavourable ratings for the comments of classmates
and supervisors were consistently given across three
cohorts over three years.

mainly due to inadequacy of supervisors’ comments
and shallowness classmates’ comments
 The findings were consistent regardless of the
blogging platform used
 Recommendations


A stronger background briefing for supervisors and
students in further blogging applications
Change the workload formula to allow more time for
faculty supervisors to provide support via blogging
76
Blog Study 2:
Blogging for Nursing students
 Blogging for nursing could




enhance written communication skills
increase knowledge transfer
encourage personal reflection
initiate public debate regarding simulations and
clinical case scenarios
(Maggs, 2005)
 Blogging during clinical practicum could provide
psychological support among students
(Keegan, 2007)
77
Blog Study 2:
Research objective
 To assess the effectiveness of blogging in facilitating
clinical learning

Enhance information sharing, knowledge sharing, selfreflection and emotional support during clinical
practicum
78
Blog Study 2:
Methods (1)
 10-minute training session was provided by corresponding
clinical instructors explaining purpose, access, privacy,
voluntary posting and manner of opinion expression in blogging
 Instruction sheet indicating the steps of access, blog entry, blog
viewing, examples of tags and methods of technical support
were given to each participant
 Students used two different blogging systems


2007: a free software package named Drupal
2008: a commercial blogging system named Youblog
79
Blog Study 2:
Methods (2)
 Instruments
Interview [4-point Likert, open-ended questions, telephone
administered]
 Participants: undergraduate Nursing students (N=56)
 Responded to the interviews (n=27)

 Analysis


SPSS 14.0
Nvivo 8.0
80
Blog Study 2:
Findings (1)
Blogging behaviors during clinical practicum (N=27)
MEAN a
SD
Frequency of writing blogs
2.85
1.23
AVERAGE
TIMES PER
WEEK b
1.4
Frequency of reading own blogs
2.78
1.22
1.3
Frequency of reading classmates' blogs
3.04
1.19
1.6
Frequency of giving comments to classmates’ blogs
2.26
0.86
0.8
Frequency of receiving comments from classmates
2.37
1.08
0.9
Frequency of receiving comments from clinical tutor
2.70
1.30
1.2
a Participants
answered according to a scale of 1-5, with 1 as 'Once a month or less', 2 as 'Once every
two weeks', 3 as '1-2 times a week', 4 as '3-6 times a week', and 5 as 'Once every day or more'.
b Average
values for each category were used for data analysis, i.e. rating 1 refers to 0.25 times a
week, rating 2 refers to 0.5 times a week, rating 3 refers to 1.5 times a week, rating 4 refers to 4.5
times a week, rating 5 refers to 7 times a week.
81
Blog Study 2:
Findings (2)
Students’ perception on the use of blogs for information or knowledge sharing, selfreflection, and emotional support (N=27)
MEAN
SD
Information/Knowledge Sharing
3.03
0.28
Self-reflection
2.89
0.56
Emotional support
3.00
0.46
82
Blog Study 2:
Findings (3)
Correlations (R2) between frequency of blogging and the perceptions on knowledge
sharing, self-reflection and emotional support (N=27)
Frequency of use
Information or Knowledge Sharing
Self-reflection
Emotional support
Information or
Knowledge Sharing
Self-reflection
Emotional
support
0.20
0.39*
0.57**
1
0.31
0.60**
1
0.43*
1
83
Blog Study 2:
Conclusion
 Blogging could facilitate clinical learning among
Nursing undergraduate students
 Blogging provides
 opportunities for self-reflection
 a channel for ventilation of feelings
 the possibility of providing emotional support for
nursing students during the stressful clinical practicum
 Blogging would be able to provide a platform for
information and knowledge transfer which serves its
clinical educational value
84
Blog Study 3:
Blogging for BScIM and Nursing students
 Does students’ professional discipline affect their use
of blogs for learning?
 This study examined the differences in the
experience of blogging between information
management interns and nursing student clinicians
85
Blog Study 3:
Methods (1)
 Students were asked to create blogs to share their experiences
and post their reflections during internships
 BScIM students:
 Blogs accounted for 30% of their final grade in the internship
 Faculty supervisors are assigned to the interns (given about six
hours of supervision for each student)
 Nursing students
 Blog input had no weight in their clinical grade
 On a daily basis, the clinical instructors reviewed, monitored and
responded to the blogs, comments posted, and other related
blogging activities
86
Blog Study 3:
Methods (2)
 Instruments

Interview [4-point Likert, open-ended questions, telephone
administered]
 Participants: BScIM and Nursing students (N=81)


BScIM (n=53)
Nursing (n=28)
 Analysis


SPSS 14.0
Nvivo 8.0
87
Blog Study 3:
Findings (1)
Students’ blogging behaviors (N=81)
Writing one’s own blog
BScIM
(N=53)
Median
3
Nursing
(N=28)
Median
3
Mann-Whitney
p<0.05
0.27
Reading one’s own blog
3
3
0.88
Reading classmates’ blogs
3
3
0.82
Commenting on classmates’ blogs
2
2
0.64
Average blogging behaviours
3
3
0.67
Blogging Behaviours
5-point ordinal rating scale was used to measure the blogging frequency of students where
1 stands for “once a month or less”, 2 for “once every 2 weeks”, 3 for “1-2 times per
week”, 4 for “3-6 times per week”, and 5 for “once every day or more”.
88
Blog Study 3:
Findings (2)
Students’ overall ratings for usefulness of blogs for learning (N=81)
BScIM
(N=53)
Mean (SD)
Median
3.15 (0.50)
3.00
Nursing
(N=28)
Mean (SD)
Median
2.95 (0.44)
3.00
Blog is suitable for keeping
self-reflections
3.04 (0.65)
3.00
2.88 (0.63)
3.00
0.25
Reading others’ blogs during
internship is useful
2.91 (0.66)
3.00
3.11 (0.42)
3.00
0.18
Classmates shared problem
solving experience on blog
2.75 (0.67)
3.00
2.96 (0.51)
3.00
0.19
Blog is useful for learning
other’s problem solving
experiences
2.58 (0.69)
3.00
2.96 (0.51)
3.00
0.02*
Blog is suitable for learning
other’s internship experience
2.94 (0.69)
3.00
2.88 (0.57)
3.00
0.35
Survey questions
Blog is useful for
self-reflection
Mann-Whitney
p<0.05
0.06
89
Blog Study 3:
Findings (3)
Students’ overall ratings for usefulness of blogs as a platform for mutual
support (N=81)
BScIM
(N = 53)
Mean (SD) Median
Nursing
(N = 28)
Mean (SD) Median
Mann- Whitney
p<0.05
Blog facilitated information sharing
3.09 (0.53) 3.00
2.93 (0.54) 3.00
0.19
Blog facilitated knowledge sharing
2.86 (0.48) 3.00
2.89 (0.63) 3.00
0.83
Blog facilitated emotional support
2.77 (0.70) 3.00
3.11 (0.69) 3.00
0.05*
Overall, blog is useful for
communication
3.06 (0.61) 3.00
3.00 (0.54) 3.00
0.57
Survey questions
90
Blog Study 3:
Findings (4)
 Nursing students tended to share more about their
thoughts and feelings on their blogs
 they dealt with patients where their daily
performance may determine their patients’ life
 many of them witnessed the reality of death for the
first time
 BScIM students gave more negative comments (i.e.,
lack of quantity and depth in blog entries)
 job duties were far from life and death matters
91
Blog Study 3:
Findings (5)
Students’ perceptions of comments received via blog (N=81)
Survey questions
BScIM
Nursing
(N=53)
(N=28)
Mean (SD) Median Mean (SD) Median
Mann- Whitney
p<0.05
Classmates’ comments are helpful
2.47 (0.78)
3.00
2.71 (0.60)
3.00
0.35
Supervisors’ comments are helpful
3.00 (0.45)
3.00
3.42 (0.50)
3.00
0.07
Felt supported by classmates via blog
2.64 (0.68)
3.00
2.93 (0.60)
3.00
0.09
Felt supported by supervisor via blog
1.93 (0.83)
2.00
3.29 (0.66)
2.00
0.00*
92
Blog Study 3:
Findings (6)
93
Blog Study 3:
Findings (7)
Comparison of perceptions of frequent and infrequent BScIM users (N=26)
BScIM Students1
Survey questions
Blog is useful for self-reflection
Reading others’ blogs is useful
Frequent Users
(N=13)
Mean (SD) Median
Infrequent Users
(N=13)
Mean (SD) Median
Mann- Whitney
p<0.05
3.23 (0.44)
3.00
2.92 (0.28)
3.00
0.22
0.55
3.00 (0.41)
3.00
2.85 (0.69)
3.00
Blog is suitable for learning other’s
internship experience
3.23 (0.44)
3.00
3.08 (0.64)
3.00
Blog facilitated information sharing
3.31 (0.48)
3.00
3.00 (0.58)
3.00
0.26
Blog facilitated knowledge sharing
2.92 (0.49)
3.00
2.81 (0.38)
3.00
0.61
Blog facilitated emotional support
3.00 (0.58)
3.00
2.62 (0.51)
3.00
0.17
Blog is useful for communication
3.15 (0.38)
3.00
2.85 (0.38)
3.00
0.22
Satisfied with blogging system
3.08 (0.76)
3.00
2.85 (0.38)
3.00
0.45
Suggest adopting blogging for next year
3.12 (0.42)
3.00
2.96 (0.14)
3.00
0.55
0.61
94
Blog Study 3:
Findings (8)
Comparison of perceptions of frequent and infrequent Nursing users (N=26)
Nursing Students
Survey questions
Blog is useful for self-reflection
Reading others’ blogs is useful
Frequent Users
Infrequent Users
(N=7)
(N=7)
Mean (SD) Median Mean (SD) Median
Mann- Whitney
p<0.05
3.14 (0.69)
3.14 (0.38)
3.00
3.00
2.79 (0.39) 3.00
3.14 (0.38) 3.00
0.32
1.00
Blog is suitable for learning other’s
internship experience
3.00 (0.58)
3.00
2.64 (0.48) 3.00
Blog facilitated information sharing
3.14 (0.38)
3.00
2.86 (0.69) 3.00
0.46
Blog facilitated knowledge sharing
2.71 (0.76)
3.00
2.86 (0.69) 3.00
0.71
Blog facilitated emotional support
3.43 (0.54)
3.00
2.86 (0.69) 3.00
0.17
Blog is useful for communication
3.14 (0.38)
3.00
2.86 (0.69) 3.00
0.46
Satisfied with blogging system
3.00 (0.00)
3.00
2.71 (0.49) 3.00
0.45
Suggest adopting blogging for next year
3.14 (0.69)
3.00
2.71 (0.76) 3.00
0.32
0.32
95
Blog Study 3:
Conclusion
 Nursing students found blogging to be more useful


for emotional support
for learning from others’ problem solving experiences
 related to the nature of the professional field which dictates the
activities and situations in their work placements
 findings of this study support the proposition that the area of
professional practice may affect the way students use and
perceive blogging for learning
 use of blogs for education purposes must also be contingent to
the practice area and sensitive to the tasks of the professional
field
96
Web 2.0 in higher education
 Students have generally positive perceptions in terms
of the usefulness of Wikis in collaborative group work
and for knowledge management
 Students find blogs useful for information sharing and
emotional support during internship and clinical
training
 Able support by the teachers/instructors are crucial in
the successful use of Web 2.0 applications
97
Key references








Chu, S., Malhotra, N., Ho, I., Leung, D., & Mo, J. (2009). Using blogs to support information, knowledge
sharing, and provide emotional support during internship. Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference
on Knowledge Management [CD-ROM]. Hong Kong, Dec 3-4, 2009.
Chu, S., Kennedy, D., & Mak, M. (2009). MediaWiki and Google Docs as online collaboration tools for
group project co-construction. Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference on Knowledge
Management, Hong Kong, Dec 3-4, 2009.
Kwan, A., Chu, S., Tiwari, A., Zhou, A., Leung, D., & Mo, J. (2009). Using blogs to support internship for
information management and nursing students. Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference on
Knowledge Management, Hong Kong, Dec 3-4, 2009.
Liang, M., Chu, S., Siu, F., & Zhou, A. (2009). Comparing User Experiences in Using Twiki & Mediawiki to
Facilitate Collaborative Learning. Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference on Knowledge
Management [CD-ROM]. Hong Kong, Dec 3-4, 2009.
Wong, J., Chus, S., Tiwari, A., Fung, S., Mo, J. (2009). The use of blog to facilitate clinical learning during
practicum among undergraduate nursing students: a preliminary study. Proceedings of the 2009
International Conference on Knowledge Management, Hong Kong, Dec 3-4, 2009.
Chu, S. (2008). TWiki for knowledge building and management. Online Information Review, 32(6): 745-758.
Chu S., Cheung J., Ma, Ma L. and Leung D (2008). Student’s Co-Construction of Group Project Work Via
Twiki. Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Knowledge Management, Columbus, Ohio,
October 23-24, 2008 (pp. 27-41). Singapore: World Scientific.
Lo, C. & Chu, S. (2007, December). A tale of two Wikis: TWiki and Wikibooks. Paper presented at The
Conference on Integrated Learning, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong.
98