Accompanying the rise of Web 2.0 technologies in the past decade is the growing interest in applying the tools in supporting student learning through participation. This paper reports on a systematic review of empirical studies on educational use of wiki, a popular Web 2.0 tools, in the higher education context. In particular, it focuses on how wiki was designed and how students participated in wiki-supported activities in an effort to enlighten how participatory learning was enacted. Through reviewing the research papers published from 2000 to 2014, it has been found that wiki is a flexible tool affording a wide range of pedagogical uses, mostly collaborative in nature, but also including individual writing, peer review and online discussion. This review also delineates the research gap and agenda for future research and practice such as instructional design issues, comparative studies, and the use of wiki to extend the reach and connection to wider communities.