Wikis for Collaborative Learning and Knowledge Construction

The strength of a Wiki is in its ability to foster collaborative learning.  To demonstrate this, I have created a lesson plan in which medical students and residents contribute as a small group to creating medical protocols for prehospital providers, using the development of a protocol for treatment of allergic reactions as an example.

Title:  Protocol Development for EMS

Target Audience:  New medical directors, residents, medical students interested in learning development of new medical protocols for prehospital providers.

Learning / Training Objectives:

• By the end of the course, the student should have gained familiarity with using a Wiki for collaborative learning.
• The student should have gained a better understanding of development of medical protocols.

Materials Needed:

• Articles
• Handouts
• Computer with Internet Access
• Medical Reference materials of your choice

Class Outline:

	OBJECTIVES	TASKS	TO-DO SUMMARY
WEEK 1	Introduction to Wiki Class Introductions	Create an introductory presentation to meet the rest of your classmates. Watch the video and review the material on how to create a Wiki.	VIDEO:  Intro to Wikis Review Handouts Introduction PPT
WEEK 2	Intro to Wiki Introduction to Basic Protocol Development	Review the handouts on adding multimedia to your Wiki.  Use this information to practice on our main group Wiki site, so you can play with the features before working on your group projects. Also review the material on basic medical protocol development.	VIDEO:  How to Embed Videos in Wiki Review Handouts
WEEK 3	Introduction to EMS Scope of Practice	Within your groups, meet via Wimba or Zoom to discuss how you might want to divide the workload for your group Wiki. Continue to use the practice Wiki to play with various features. Review the materials on EMS scope of practice in our region.	LINK:  Eastern PA EMS Protocols Review Handouts Meet with Small Group Use Practice Wiki
WEEK 4	Creation of Wiki: Review Medical Problem (Allergic Reactions) and its EMS Treatments	Your group may divide the work over this 3 weeks however is needed. Start by reviewing presentation of allergic reactions (by severity) and treatments used by EMS. Use journal articles to review most up-to-date, evidence-based medical treatments. Start contributing this information into your group Wiki, including supporting docs.	Review Handouts Research EBM on Allergic Reactions and their Treatments Start Wiki
WEEK 5	Creation of Wiki: Algorithm Creation	Once you have the basic understanding of how EMS manages the various levels of allergic reactions, start creating your algorithm. I suggest adding information in regards to medication dosing, administration, and contraindications. Be creative! Add videos, diagrams, pictures!	Discuss with Small Group Continue contributing to Wiki using Evidence-Based Medicine
WEEK 6	Creation of Wiki: Fine-Tuning, including Creativity!	Use this final week of Wiki Creation to fine-tune your group's protocol. Review your treatment suggestions for each severity of allergic reaction. Review how EMS should be judging allergic reactions based on severity (symptoms, vitals, etc). Add multimedia to enhance creativity!	Fine-tune your Wiki Complete Wiki project by the end of the week
WEEK 7	Presentation of Protocols	Review each of the other groups' protocols (Wikis). Comment on the Wiki presentation. Comment on the protocol: its ease in following, potential confusing points, their use of Evidence-Based Medicine, etc.	Review the other groups' Wikis and leave comments, suggestions
WEEK 8	Course Wrap-Up Feedback	Participate in the survey to evaluate your group's Wiki. Complete self-evaluation. Complete survey on the utility of the Wiki as a learning tool.	Complete survey for Wikis Complete self-eval Complete course eval

Evaluation:

• Total 100 points
• Wiki Contribution:
• Based on self-evaluation and evaluation from peers
• Total 10 points
• Wiki Content:
• Based on utilization of evidence-based medicine (EBM), citing at least 6 articles
• Use of APA 6th edition for citations
• Grading Rubic to also include ease of following protocol, use of EBM
• Total 60 points
• Wiki Creativity:
• Visual appeal and Interactivity, based on self-evaluation and peer evaluation
• Total 30 points

References:

"Wikis in Plain English."  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY 

"How to embed videos into Wiki."   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4xsmSWZFEI

Eastern PA EMS Council BLS / ALS Protocols.  http://www.easternemscouncil.org/education/als-bls-protocol/

Wikis: Pros and Cons for Adult Learners

What is a Wiki?

Wikis are web applications that allow anyone with web access to add, delete, edit, and remove text and content to a site, or an "online collaborative writing tool" (West & West, 2009, p. 3).  The first one was created by Ward Cunningham in 1995, called WikiWikiWeb, while the most well-known is an online free encyclopedia called Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) (West & West, 2009, p. 3).  

Ward Cunningham

Wikipedia

The free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

What are the Pros and Cons of Wikis for Adult Learners?

Some of the best aspects of using Wikis in adult education are that students are able to work in groups, in a collaborative fashion, but "in an asynchronous manner" (West & West, 2009, p. 5).  With such collaboration among students from the entire class, "the wiki opens the door to brainstorming, group problem-solving, critical evaluation, synthesis, idea refinement, and group consensus" (West & West, 2009, p. 5).  It allows for more dynamic communication and added creativity amongst the group because multimedia is supported.

The downside to Wikis are that since it is open for editing by multiple users, this could lead to misinformation being spread.  In addition, there is certainly a learning curve to composing and contributing to a Wiki, especially for those unfamiliar with the technology.  Another suggested con by an article from Educause Learning Initiative (2005) is "that a wiki represents the collective perspective of the group that uses it, and therefore has a collective bias" (King & Cox, 2011, p. 123).

Should we use them?

I say, of course!!!  I have had the pleasure of working on a Wiki project in two prior courses here at Kansas State.  The first was certainly interesting given that I had never used a Wiki before.  However, once started, and with patience in learning how to format the multimedia the way I wanted it, it became an excellent tool for collaboration.  Most convenient for me was the fact our groups could work on the project in an asynchronous manner.  All of our schedules are very hectic and having that freedom to learn and work on our own time was crucial.  The collaboration itself was also wonderful for my learning.  As one group member added one picture or statement, that would trigger an idea in my mind to add to our project, and this same flow continued throughout the group.  With anything there are downsides, but I believe that just reminding students that Wikis are public (some are private to a password-protected specific group, but still viewable by that group) so they need to remain professional and ethical with their creations.  Wikis, to me, are great learning opportunities!

References

Educause Learning Initiative (2005, July). Wikis. Retrieved January 5, 2010 from http://www.educause.edu/eli

King, K.P. & Cox, T.D. (2011). The Professor's Guide to Taming Technology. USA: Information Age Publishing.

West, J.A. & West, M.L. (2009). Using Wikis for Online Collaboration: The Power of the Read-Write Web.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Blogging: Pros and Cons for Adult Learners

Blogging has quickly become a more prominent venue for people to express themselves and exchange ideas. This class at Kansas State, Integrating Technology into Adult Curriculum, is the first time I have experienced blogging as a part of an educational assignment. My first thoughts were “you post a thought, someone else reads it, makes his or her comment,… what’s the difference between that and the discussion board?” However, after our reading and reflecting on the experience a little more, it does seem like a great tool to add personal creativity to the student’s learning experience, as well as expand that learning exchange to a much a broader audience through the world wide web.

The first difference I didn’t realize before is that most discussion boards are housed within the online education system (i.e. BlackBoard, Moodle, etc) of the school / university where access is limited to those registered within that specific course.  However, blogs are open for everyone with access to the web and other social media website, including the ability to comment and follow the blogs (Santos, 2011).  Freedom of expression, allowing for a “distinct, discriminating voice” (Oravec, 2002, p. 621) is a great benefit to the tool offered in blogs as opposed to discussion boards as well.  This allows for added creativity with how the student displays his or her learning experience.  Plus, with the added benefit that others are able to comment on the blogs, it creates “a genre that engages students and adults in a process of thinking in words, not simply an accounting of the day’s events or feelings” (Richardson, 2009, p. 20).

On the downside, creating and keeping up with a blog can seem like “techno-hell” (King & Cox, 2011, p. 95) for some; In addition, some instructors may be intimidated by the “digital disconnect, [or the] gap between the students’ adept use of technology in their personal lives versus the lack of savvy in using digital media in the classroom” (King & Cox, 2011, p. 95). I believe, however, that with some preparation ahead of time, there is no reason that blogs can’t be a very usual tool for students to be able to express their thoughts in a creative fashion, allow for other students worldwide to exchange ideas, and really serve as a “transformative technology for teaching and learning” (King & Cox, 2011, p. 97).

References

King & Cox. (2011). The Professor’s Guide to Taming Technology. USA: Information Age Publishing Inc.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. (2^nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Santos, N. E. (2011). Blogs as a Learning Space: Creating Text of Talks. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 4(6), p. 15–19.

Oravec, J. A. (2002). Bookmarking the World: Weblog Applications in Education. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(7), p. 616-618.