6533b827fe1ef96bd1286e02

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Wiki-mediated Collaborative Writing in Teacher Education - Assessing Three Years of Experiences and Influencing Factors

subject

description

Wikis have been reported as tools that promote collaborative writing in educational settings. Examples of wikis in teacher education are group projects, glossary creation, teacher evaluation, and document review. However, in spite of studies that report on successful stories, the claim that wikis support collaborative writing has not yet been firmly confirmed. Most studies are limited to participants’ subjective perceptions, and do not take into account influencing factors, or the relationships between wikis and the learning environment. In this paper, students’ collaborative writing activities over a period of three years are investigated using a taxonomy of action categories and the wiki data log that tracks all students’ actions. The paper analyses the level of contribution of each member of student groups, the types of actions that the groups carried out on the wikis, and the timing of contribution. The article also discusses personal and contextual factors that may influence students’ collaborative writing activities in teacher education.