A wiki task for first-year university students : the effect of scripting students' collaboration

Abstract This study investigates the effect of a collaboration script - i.e. a set of instructions to improve collaboration between learning partners - for a wiki task. Participants were first-year university students in Educational Sciences ( N  = 186) collaborating in groups of five during a three-week period to create a wiki on peer assessment in education. Two conditions were contrasted: a scripted and a non-scripted condition. The effect of scripting was measured in four ways (questionnaires, log-file analyses, group product scores, and individual pre–post-test scores). Results show significant positive effects of scripting with respect to the collaborative group processes and students…