Working with wiki and bulletin boards
Debbie Holley Dept of Business & Service Sector Management d.holley@londonmet.ac.uk. David Andrew Centre for Academic Development d.andrew@londonmet.ac.uk
Year One students – the business skills module
The traditional model of learning Lectures Seminars
Timed Scheduled Bureaucratic
Is there an alternative?
We are exploring how to work with students to give them a set of skills values and attributes for the future To engage them in the learning process To give them an appreciation of learning – not just for now, but for the future
Our recent research shows:
Our students juggle multiple roles they are: Students and Employees and Parents and Carers This means we have to be innovative, creative and enterprising to engage them on and off campus
See Holley et al 2003
Last years new students – week 11
Have you: Spoken to a lecturer on a one-to-one basis Been to the learning centre Used a computer at the university wk 11 73% 99% 96%
Been to the university book shop
Joined a student society Been to a social event at the university Used the university email account Used a university website
72%
19% ** 44% ** 66% 92%
Which of the following were helpful in your learning?
Learning centre
BX101 (the business skills module) Academic tutor Other lecturers University websites Other students Family Friends
88%
81% 81% 69% 73% 83% 54% ** 80%
Some ways we encourage students to get involved off campus: Email Online interaction – for example bulletin boards Can be downloaded for free from www.funkboard.co.uk Votes and surveys work well!
Bulletin board
Forum Posts Last Post Moderator(s)
Critical learning
Mon 17 Nov 2003 @ 10:27
Critical learning
Discussion of learning from a variety of critical perspectives
6
Anonymous
BX101 - Business Skills (Londonmet)
BX101 - Semester B 2003/4
Discussion for students takign the Business Skills module
1
Sat 24 Jan 2004 @ 01:06
Anonymous
Business Students Semester A 2003
Discussion for students who started in semester A 2003
117
Wed 14 Jan 2004 @ 22:53 Wed 03 Dec 2003 @ 15:06
Anonymous
BX101 Staff
Closed discussion for BX101 staff
12
Anonymous
Working with wiki
Wiki comes from the Hawaiian Wiki Wiki meaning quick and are web pages that are very easily edited using a simple code to create hyperlinks and to format pages. While flexible they tend to be limited to text. Probably the best place to explore wiki is the wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org. There are a number of versions of the basic wiki software available, called wiki clones. The one we used is called Wakka Wiki is available from http://www.wakkawiki.com/WakkaWiki and is uses PHP script and a MySQL database. As access to these was not possible within the University we used our research groups web site to host it (www.critical-learning.co.uk).
wiki
Welcome to the Critical Learning Wiki site, part of the Critical Learning website. If you are returning to the site go straight to the HomePage - otherwise read about the site here. A wiki site is a web page but one where most if not all of the pages are editable - by you and any other registered visitor- to register or log on click on Login/register above. To edit a page you need to register - to do that is easy - click on Login/register - you will need to type in your wiki name which is your FirstnameSurname?? without a space between them (mine is DavidAndrew)- that your name as a WikiWord, and then give yourself a a password and enter your email. When you create a WikiWord you will automatically create a created with your FirstnameSurname?? as the title.
Initial Evaluation
Week Nine Very few postings by students Even fewer postings by staff Both students and staff postings dominated by activists So, not very successful?
Our analysis of the website
Total visits to site
4500 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 Weeks (13-15 is vacation)
Other Web pages on site Bulletin Board BX101 Wiki Critical Learning Wiki