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Student Response to Wikis

Like James (2004) and Lamb (2004), most commentators have argued that because of their lack of structure, flexibility and the collaborative options that let anyone create edit, revise and comment, wikis are inherently democratic and learner-centric. Yet, the most frequent complaints we received from students about the wikis were that they were not clearly organized and not easy to use: “More structure on the wiki page,” “pbwiki page was confusing” and “Bliki was not the easiest thing to learn along with the curriculum.” (We called wikis "blikis" in these classes to suggest the combination of a blog and a wiki.) One “negative” for a student was that the wikis made the student feel like class was never out of session. Another student considered the wikis a distraction, while the remaining complaints were of confusion with and difficulty using the wikis.

Because technically wikis are quite easy to use, we attribute this resistance to the challenge and anxiety generated by one more new thing to learn for non-traditional students for whom much of the college environment is already foreign as well as to the learner-centric nature of wikis, which gives students more responsibility for structuring their learning. Carr, Morrison, Cox and Deacon (2007) also reported resistance and lack of engagement with a wiki from some students in their study. They attributed this resistance in part to students being unwilling to take control of their learning as manifested in their short-term focus (turning in the assignment rather than learning a new way of learning), last minute work habits and avoidance of change. They also attributed resistance to the wiki to a more general resistance to group work, to anxiety about exposure and to tutors who did not encourage use of the wiki.

In general, our students agreed that their class wikis contributed to their learning experience. When asked directly about the wikis, most students agreed that the wikis helped them improve their writing (see Improving Academic Writing Skills for more on wikis and student writing). Students who volunteered positive comments on the wikis liked that they helped with organization, communication and collaboration:

• “I liked using the bliki especially for the group project. It made it easier to communicate with each other.”
• “I have succeeded in this course because I was well informed of the needed material for the class. The Bliki helped in providing that information.”

Students did highly value the collaborative work they did on the wikis. In essence, students approached wikis as Michelle and Polly first had--as a communication tool rather than as a vehicle for learning. This approach raises the question of whether replicating our experience, by discussing with students current research on wikis and by giving students a number of opportunities to work with wikis, would help students better leverage wikis to assist their development as writers, readers and critical thinkers. While our students knew we were engaged in a research project on wikis and while Polly and Michelle used a page on their Winter 2007 class wiki to develop our research proposal, we did not discuss the scholarship on wikis or the possibilities of wikis beyond their ability to solve our practical problem of two non-compatible discussion boards.

However, we did have a handful of students who took more than one of our classes with wikis. Some took two of the classes included in this study. Others had already taken one of Polly's classes or went on to take another class one of us offered. These students were obviously more comfortable with wikis, often helping their classmates learn to use the wikis and taking it upon themselves to format and organize the class wiki. For example, one student, who had taken prior classes with wikis from Polly and Michelle and from Peggy and Suzanne, shared his knowledge of and expertise using the wiki for study and organizational purposes with Peggy and Suzanne's Fall 2008 class. This student went beyond simply answering questions posted on the wiki and created his own page. He used the page both as an archive of his assignments and research for the class as well as a way to share his ideas with his classmates. In this way, the student was consciously taking charge of his own learning style and aiding his learning. Moreover, his in-class discussions of how he used the wiki helped several of his classmates gain a better understanding of the flexibility of the wiki. These in-class discussions also generated a class dialogue about using wikis to improve study habits and foster critical thinking outside the physical classroom. This student attributed his comfort with the wiki to the experience he had gained in the initial class he took with Polly and Michelle.