by Aaron Street

Created on: June 07, 2008   Last Updated: June 27, 2010

As access to computers and the Internet becomes commonplace in the classroom and at home, English teachers at my school have started assuming they the majority of student research and writing will take place on a computer terminal rather than in a library. Instructors (myself included) assume that students will have access to a wide variety of credible primary and secondary resources, and will be able to use this information as they work on a variety of research, writing and presentation projects. What teachers have not realized, however, is the degree to which Internet technology can help students create excellent products once they have collected their resources and are ready to create their product or presentation.

The traditional model of technology integration in classrooms involves student finding resources, then sitting together as a group around a computer to create a power point project, publisher document, or web page. One significant drawback of this type of project is that once students finish their initial research and start working on their project, they need to either spend a great deal of time in class collaborating on the project or delegate assignments to each member to be completed at home. In addition, only one student can work on the composition of the power point or other presentation graphic, unless students are willing to assign tasks and work independently. Once again, independent work deprives the group of true collaboration experience, and real collaboration prevents all students from creating product and takes too much class time.
The wiki seems to be a perfect solution to this problem. Using a wiki, students can view what partners are doing and provide comments and correction as others make progress on the project. When students are not in class, the wiki allows students to create a sort of "virtual classroom" where students can exchange remarks, upload products, peer edit their work, and plan presentations. Even if students are not assigned to work on tasks together, wikis provide the ability to create online study groups where students can submit work for comments or corrections, exchange resources, and instant message each other with questions and answers. This provides a great solution for the inevitable planning, communication, and coordination problems students face when they work collaboratively.

When students return to the classroom, the wikis help solve some of the technical problems with collaborative projects. Students can work at different times of day, in different computer labs, or be sent to other classrooms if a teacher doesn't have enough computers to allow every student to work at once. In addition, a wiki page allows students to communicate and collaborate while they simultaneously work on their own projects. Teachers no longer have to watch as one group member types and the other four or five make suggestions, talk, and stare off into space.

By using wikis, teachers can eliminate many of the excuses, communication problems, and barriers to successful collaboration frequently experiences in typical group projects.

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