| Abstract | Technological advances allow for new tools and opportunities for teaching. We investigated the use of an online, course-specific wiki as a tool for facilitating discussion in an online course. A wiki (such as the commonly used Wikipedia) is a collaborative website that can be directly edited by anyone with access to it, and the study was implemented in an online graduate course regarding methods for teaching college students. Weekly wiki assignments were designed to foster discussion of readings ahead of the class period. Although students were unfamiliar with the process of editing and using a wiki prior to the start of the course, feedback from students was very positive. Students were surveyed two-thirds of the way through the course and at the conclusion. Their responses indicate the wiki “added to the in-class discussion” (73% student agreement), added to their “understanding of course material” (64% agreement), and was a good use of students’ time (73% agreement). Further, 75% stated they were “Likely” or “Very Likely” to incorporate a wiki into a future course of their own design, indicating the students themselves viewed this technology as a useful learning tool. |
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