Course Co-creation vs. Course Management: Wikis as an Alternative to Learning Management

Systems

Toronto Wiki TuesdaysFebruary 2, 2010

Michael L.W. Jones

mlwjones@gmail.com

A bit about me...

Professor/Program Coordinator, Communication, Culture and Information Technology, Sheridan/UTM joint program

PhD student, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

First research assistantship – Virtual-U online learning system, Vancouver BC (while MA student at SFU

A bit of an experiment...

Four years ago, decided to engage students in 160-student course in digital innovation and cultural transformation

Used wikis to build a co-created learning space for two months

Realized that there was potential for this model beyond a simple assignment – so continued the experiment

Now, all courses run on wikis fully – and others as well

Points of resistance

learning Management systems Public vs. Private “Constructivist” Learning and its

Implementations Rubrics and Objective Learning

learning Management systems

M deliberately capitalized – such systems are more about management than learning, and at times are barely systems

Blackboard, WebCT, Angel – all about the centralized management and control over student experience (and now all owned by Blackboard!)

Expensive, centralized IT control and support – a major institutional investment

Even open-source alternatives like Moodle don't fare well – still an architecture of control (Lockton, 2008)

Public vs. Private

One control factor of lMs – behind school firewall

While possible at cost with my implementation, no one wants to pay for it

So, protected public spaces it is IP, privacy and image consequences But also notable benefits

“Constructivist” Learning

Notion of constructivist learning at the core of much LMS research or implementation

Student focus, focus on construction of shared learning experiences from the foundation of individual experience, with teachers as facilitators

Sounds great - but...

Scaffolding vs. Critical Making

CSILE/Knowledge Forum as example – scaffolded learning through explicit support of knowledge connection

The “I” is for intentional – forced representation of connection in a set structure

Consider an opposite approach – critical making (Ratto, 2009) – where process is the goal, not the end result, engages play in a far more open space, and if you want scaffolding, you have to design and build it yourself on your own terms and theories

Which is more reflective of reality? And more constructivist and critical?

Rubrics and Objective Learning

A move to objective evaluation by rubrics, especially in the K-12 system (but moving on up)

I didn't even know what this was, and was horrified to see the results

“teaching to the test” leads to programmatic learning, rote memorization

“No Child Left Behind” in US has left every child behind – and we started this far earlier

A student body accustomed to specific instruction – and worse, high reward for obedience

Negotiating potential conflicts

Lucky to have a relatively supportive environment – initial wariness has expanded out to support (but not institutional support)

Encouraging a more playful, open space has been largely adopted and enjoyed by students – allows for far more personal expression and creativity

Simple learning curve has quelled some objective education oriented students – but others just have to learn that's not reality, sorry.

Why Wikispaces?

Wikispaces (http:/www.wikispaces.com) picked as platform in 2006 – still used

Ease of use – 10 minute learning curve (helped by CommonCraft wiki video)

Orientation to education – esp. K-12 (and peer pressure factor comes into play...)

Early and continued support from owners Consistent development of space parameters

Examples

http://cct300-f09.wikispaces.com http://cct355-f09.wikispaces.com http://cct205-w10.wikispaces.com http://cct333-w10.wikispaces.com