Wiki Ways of Knowing:
Using Wikis to Facilitate
Collaborative Group
Learning
Anthony De Jesús
Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College
February 21, 2013
Course Objectives
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To build students’ capacity to acquire, appraise,
analyze and integrate multiple sources of
knowledge and communicate both orally and in
writing through mastery of the substantive
course content.
In addition, the course is an introduction to key
theoretical frameworks within the sociology of
education and issues in the field of social work
practice in schools.
Retrieval and Information
Assesment Skills
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Boolean Searches
Peer review journals
Books of various presses (University,
Trade, etc)
Reports (research, advocacy, etc.)
Periodicals
Websites (.com, .org, .gov, etc.)
WOK Paradigms
(Lincoln & Guba, 2003)
 Positivism/Post
Positivism
 Constructivism/Interpretivism
 Critical Theory/Social Science
 Participatory Social Science
BB Site Demonstration
Student Feedback
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We all liked the group experience in that we were able to explore a topic
picked by the group. This kind of independent learning was useful. Our group
size proved to be most challenging aspect of the process. We had 6 people in
the group and scheduling was virtually impossible.
The process of completing the bibliography prepared us for other academic
work and we were better able to understand the topics that we were
researching and find credible sources.
Ultimately, we found the annotated bibliography to be a useful component of
the course and it proved very helpful to have done significant research on our
chosen topic well prior to the presentation. We all agreed that we needed a
better sense of expectations and direction from the outset.
The timeline was challenging during the semester because of the mini breaks.
It was also the first time we all were completing a wiki, so we weren’t
exposed to it prior to this class.
With regard to the WIKI, no one in the group found it useful or effective. It
was hard to edit so we used Microsoft Word and then uploaded.
The discussion board component was not interactive, and time consuming.
Some observations
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The annotated bibliography assignment was successful in
facilitating collaborative learning and preparing groups
for their final presentations. All students contributed to
the assignment - but not equally.
The wiki is a useful resource for collaborative student
work – but it has limitations (especially formatting).
Students have access to more user friendly platforms
(Google) and use them, this both facilitated and
undermined some of the goals I had with the
assignment.
There was too much online/blackboard work and the this
created additional pressure for students. Group work
creates additional scheduling and time demands on
students and this needs to be considered in overall
workload.