ERIC Number: EJ1013608
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1436-4522
EISSN: N/A
Affordances and Constraints of a Wiki for Primary-School Students' Group
Projects
Fu, Huijuan; Chu, Samuel; Kang, Wenxia
Educational Technology & Society, v16 n4 p85-96 2013
This study examined a wiki as a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment at upper primary level. A total of 388 Hong Kong Primary-five (P5) students in four Chinese primary schools used a wiki
platform within the context of their group projects in General Studies (GS) classes. Adopting a mixed-methods design, qualitative and quantitative data were collected from focus group interviews, survey and wiki entries. Findings showed that the wiki platform provided educational, technological, and social affordances for the P5 students' collaborative learning. At the same time, constraints were found to be related to technological factors
and users' dispositions, which may be counterbalanced by providing scaffolding and selecting wiki variants. Students' attitudes towards the pedagogical value of the wiki were found to be strongly positive after the group project implementation. Overall, this research contributes to the literature on the use of wikis in primary education. (Contains 6 tables and 1 figure.)
Descriptors: Group Activities, Elementary School Students, Web 2.0 Technologies, Focus Groups, Interviews, Transcripts (Written Records), Student Surveys, Performance Factors, Foreign Countries, Program Effectiveness, Student Attitudes, Questionnaires, Technology Uses in Education, Mixed Methods Research, Teacher Collaboration
International Forum of Educational Technology & Society. Athabasca University, School of Computing & Information Systems, 1 University Drive, Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3, Canada. Tel: 780-675-6812; Fax: 780-675-6973; Web site: http://www.ifets.info
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Hong Kong
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A