Title of presentation umanitoba.ca The Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development: Action and Impact, 8-12 July in Stockholm Oleksandr (Sasha) Kondrashov Instructor Social Work / Family Social Sciences The applicability of Wiki assignment in promoting collaboration among students in social work and social development curriculum

What is Wiki? A Wiki is a type of website that allows users to edit and change available content Wiki is a Hawaiian word for quick. Ward Cunningham (1995) developed scripts for web pages that could be created, edited, linked, deleted, or renamed without using HTML, software packages, of file transfer.

Free Hosting of Wikis wikihost.org wikia.com wikidot.com wikispaces.com (personal preference)wikispaces.com

Why use wikis in social work education? –Participatory approach to learning –Progressive knowledge building –Collaborative content creation –No hierarchy (everyone has equal access) –Web-based: anytime, any place access

Courses where I have tried various forms of wiki assignments to test achievement of course objectives. FMLY 1012 Introduction to Social Development (100 students per class) FMLY 2012 Conflict Development and Displacement (30 students per class) SWRK 1310 Introduction to Social Welfare Policy Analyses (60 students per class) SWRK 3130 Contemporary Canadian Social Welfare (20 students per class)

Most wikis have: –Edit button- open editing of pages (login required) –Distinct syntax – simple, non-html –Add comment button – comment on a page or the site to clarify the wiki contribution –History: Versioning or “diffs” – you can see every change that has been made to a page and –Revert – can always change a page back to what it was before

Key Challenges of using wiki (students’ feedback) Technological issues –New software to learn –Browser compatibility concern –No multiple student’s submissions are allowed at the same time –Lack of technical support.

Key benefits of using wiki (students’ feedback) Engagement and motivation Inquiry-driven learning Collaborative learning Reflection and metacognition 21 st -century skills

Possible examples of wiki assignments Wiki poster presentation Wiki test Wiki book Wiki resource page Wiki discussions Wiki peer review Wiki ???

Remember: You can’t break it You can always go back Security levels can be set and tweaked Many students contributing a small amount can get a lot done Wiki software is free

Courses I have already developed, taught and can adopt to use wiki assignment. SWRK Community and Organizational Theory SWRK Small Group Dynamics SWRK Interpersonal Communication Skills SWRK Human Behaviour and Social Work Practice SWRK Systematic Inquiry in Social Work SWRK Introduction to Social Work Practice FMLY Foundations of Childhood Developmental Health FMLY 4470 – Family Communication FMLY Risk and Resilience in Behavioural and Social Development FMLY Senior Seminar in Family Violence and Conflict Resolution

Final Test: Please read the next line HAPPINESSISNOWHERE HOW DO YOU SEE IT? Keep exploring the power of wiki THANK YOU

Selected References: Augar, N., Raitman, R., & Zhou, W. (2011). Teaching and learning online with wikis. Beyond the comfort zone: proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference, Perth, 5-8 December (pp. 95–104). Retrieved from Boulos, M. N. K., Maramba, I., & Wheeler, S. (2006). Wikis, blogs and podcasts: A new generation of web- based tools for virtual collaborative clinical practice and education. BMC medical education, 6(1), 41. Retrieved from Elgort, I. (2007). Using wikis as a learning tool in higher education. ICT: Providing choices for learners and learning. Proceedings ascilite Singapore, 233–238. Jones, P. (2010). Collaboration at a distance: Using a wiki to create a collaborative learning environment for distance education and on-campus students in a social work course. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 30(2), 225–236. doi: / Lazda-Cazers, R. (2010). A course wiki: Challenges in facilitating and assessing student-generated learning content for the humanities classroom.The Journal of General Education, 59(4), 193–222. Retrieved from Parker, K. R., & Chao, J. T. (2007). Wiki as a teaching tool. Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects, 3(1), 57–72. Retrieved from +Wiki+as+a+Teaching+Tool.pdf/ /Parker%20%26%20Chao%202007%20- %20Wiki%20as%20a%20Teaching%20Tool.pdf

Title of presentation umanitoba.ca