Action and Expression: Wikis for Collaboration

Lesson Pages

Sizing Up the Barrier

Because this module will look at two functions of Wikis for Collaboration (content development and shared note taking), two separate barriers are addressed.

Lack of Collaborative Skills Development – A primary function of college is to prepare students for future careers. Effective collaboration with others is a prized skill for professionals. For example, high-powered global businesses like Accenture, Elcom, and Cisco emphasize the importance of not just collaboration, but digital collaboration among employees. If students are required to collaborate to create content via authentic tasks in their courses, they are more likely to be able to transfer those skills to the work world.

However, collaborative experiences in online coursework are rare. Even the use of discussion boards is often perfunctory. In such instances, students may feel disengaged, may not have the opportunity to learn the value or the skills related to collaboration (e.g. Luckin, 2010), and may ultimately be less prepared for competitive job markets.
Difficulty in Simultaneous Listening and Note-Taking – The research shows that students benefit from taking quality notes in real-time classes (see Friedman, 2013 for a comprehensive review of the literature). In fact, research by Carrier, Williams and Dalgaard (1988) demonstrated that students’ perceptions of the value of note-taking is a predictor of college grades. However, some students struggle to listen and take notes simultaneously. Even those who are able to manage simultaneous execution of both cognitive activities may be unable to organize their notes so that they can make sense of them when they review them later in the term.

Scenario

Scenario One: Quentin earned his bachelors degree in communication arts and is currently working as a retail manager while working on his MBA. He takes online courses that enable him to accommodate his variable work schedule. His course assignments frequently involve reading assignments, limp discussion boards, and personal projects. He understands the concepts and models covered in the courses, but is frustrated that, while the importance of collaboration in the business world is constantly emphasized, he is being given little opportunity to practice that skill with his peers and instructors. He is nervous that he will graduate with a conceptual knowledge of how to effectively collaborate, but will lack the procedural and practical knowledge that comes with practice.

Scenario Two: Dr. Smith's introduction to philosophy course is a dedicated lecture course. It is intended to quickly cover a tremendous amount of content, and students are expected to take excellent notes throughout the term. Students frequently report that they struggle with being able to focus on what is being said and simultaneously convert it into coherent notes for later review. Even some who are able to keep up report that their notes are often illegible, unorganized, or insufficient for purposes of review.

How can instructors use Canvas to facilitate effective collaboration among students and quality note-taking? This lesson will address this challenge.

Methods

Method 1: Using Canvas Pages as Wikis

One way to support students in collaboration is to use Canvas Pages as wikis. Using Canvas Pages as wikis opens up a great tool with several uses. Here are some (drawn verbatim from an excellent guide from the University of Delaware):

Brainstorming: When starting a specific project or a creative process, participants are invited to add items and thoughts on a wiki. They are also asked to link all these random thoughts and concept together in order to stimulate creativity.
Group project: A wiki can act as a private intranet for a specific group project so all participants can communicate, share resources (including texts, videos, spreadsheets, links, etc.), and write a report or a book together.
Meeting support: An agenda for a specific meeting is posted on a wiki and participants are invited to consult and edit it prior to a meeting. The wiki is edited during the meeting to include what was discussed. Participants can later use the wiki to post missing information or follow‐up items. This technique is also very useful for training, presentations, and birds of a feather sessions during conferences.
Make lists: From a list of best restaurants in town to a glossary of terms used in a specific field of expertise, a wiki is a great way to organize this kind of content. In the same spirit, wikis can also be used to build an online repository of relevant documents or FAQs.
Collections of links: Wikis can be used for social bookmarking. They give to all participants the possibility to post, comment, group, and classify links of all nature or in a specific field of expertise.
Writing a collective letter, position, statement, Web content: When writing something that is intended for an official legal instance, to clients, to upper management or to the general public, a wiki is an excellent tool to reach a consensus, define key ideas, and write down the content to be clear and non‐ offensive.
Building a group portfolio: Any organization can use a wiki to post past projects, testimonials from clients, history of the organization, etc. This kind of portfolio is a powerful marketing tool.

What is a Wiki, Anyway?

A wiki is a Web page that is editable by anyone who has been granted access. "Wikis permit asynchronous communication and group collaboration... Variously described as a composition system, a discussion medium, a repository, a mail system, and a tool for collaboration, wikis provide users with both author and editor privileges; the overall organization of contributions can be edited as well as the content itself. Wikis are able to incorporate sounds, movies, and pictures; they may prove to be a simple tool to create multimedia presentations and simple digital stories" (Educause, 2005).

The most famous example of a wiki is probably Wikipedia. Other major wikis include open textbook projects such as WikiBooks.

While some instructors are cautious about Wikipedia and its use, several reports (e.g., Giles, 2005) have suggested that Wikipedia is generally very accurate and reliable.

Inviting students to collaborate on a Canvas Page is easy. Pages on Canvas (like the one you are viewing now) are actually wiki tools that only teachers can author/edit by default, but it doesn't have to be this way. Here's how you can make your Pages into Wikis:

1) Instructors should locate or create the page they wish to make into a wiki from the pages menu.

A screenshot of the left pane in Canvas. The "Pages" tab is highlighted.

Then, they should click "Edit" when they are in the page they wish to make into a wiki.

A screenshot of a page on Canvas. The "Edit" button on the top-right side of the page is highlighted.

At the bottom of the page, they can then select the "Options" drop-down menu to change whom can edit the page. Selecting "Teachers and Students" or "Anyone" allows for collaborative access to students (or anyone who accesses the page, depending on the option selected).

A screenshot shows a dropdown menu with the options "Only Teachers," "Teachers and Students," or "Anyone" ... may edit the page.

Instructors can see page revision history including which users made changes and can revert to older versions if/when mistakes are made.

Pro Tip: Facilitating a "Wiki Culture"

Setting up a wiki is easier than setting up a wiki culture. Setting some ground rules and expectations related to using the wiki is a good idea. Some ideas to this end can be found in this University of Delaware Guide. Therein, the authors mention this acronym guideline for supporting good wiki use by Dave Foord (2007). Additionally, here is a more detailed description of each of these items.

STOLEN Acronym for Good Wikis
S	Specific Overall Objective	Clear objective for the wiki Understood by all Not a "general" area Grading strategy, rubrics
T	Timely	Definitive times for different "stages" of use Definite end point - even if left open after
O	Ownership	People need to feel that they "collaboratively own" the wiki
L	Localized objective	Some structure of what is expected Starting points for editing
E	Engagement rules	Who can edit Which parts they can edit Acceptable and unacceptable use
N	Navigation	Clear navigation structure Simple navigation

Method 2: Collaborating Through the "Collaborate" Function

Using Canvas pages as wikis is an excellent tool to which faculty ought to have access, but it isn't the only Canvas tool for collaboration. On the course navigation pane, each course by default shows a section of the course called "collaborations." The collaborations page is a quick-and-easy way to create shared Google documents among students (and/or instructors) through Canvas. These documents are especially powerful for shared note-taking (either in class or for group project planning, etc), though the tool is flexible enough to be used for many collaboration applications.

What is Google Docs?

Google Docs is a free, web-based word processor that enables default cloud storage and real-time collaboration. It is one of four applications that make up "Google Suite" (comparable to Microsoft Office), which includes (cf. Word), Slides (cf. PowerPoint), Sheets (cf. Excel) and Forms (an online survey/quiz tool).

Here's how instructors can use the Canvas Collaborations tool to create Google Docs:

Navigate to the "collaborations" tab when in a given course.

Name the document, give it a description (optional).

Screenshot for naming document.

Add collaborators from among the class roster and click "start collaborating."

A screenshot showing how collaborators can be selected from among class members. Once selected, the button on the bottom right, "start collaborating" is highlighted.

All participants will immediately receive an email inviting them to collaborate on the newly created Google Doc and will be able to contribute immediately. When collaborative docs are made through Canvas, Instructors have access by default and the collaboration file becomes a permanent (unless deleted) part of the Canvas course.

Shared note-taking. As aforementioned, Google Docs may be especially useful for shared note-taking. There is some research evidence that shared note-taking during live courses may be an effective means to engage students, particularly in lecture settings (e.g. Reilly et al., 2013; Popescu et al., 2016). Such shared notes may allow students to support one another in the note-taking process. For example, while one student records main ideas, another student could be contributing examples, while another uploads an image of the instructor's visual aid to compliment that moment of the lecture and still another organizes the notes after class. Note that such structured shared note-taking may require a degree of teaching and preparation before students learn how to maximize the effectiveness of the tool.

Summary

Providing students with the opportunity to meaningfully collaborate helps develop skills in high demand in the professional world, and enables students to support and learn from one another. Canvas pages can be converted to a Wiki to support brainstorming, co-creation of final products, and other collaborative efforts. Collaboration can also be fostered using the Canvas “collaborations” function, which enables instructors or students to set up shared Google Docs within the Canvas course. Collaborative Google Docs can also be used to support shared note taking.