Rocco Agrifoglio, Concetta Metallo, Luisa Varriale, Maria Ferrara, Nunzio Casalino, and Marco De Marco
Wiki, Online collaborative learning, Individual learning, Educational processes, Knowledge sharing
The aim of this study was to investigate the collaborative learning in an online environment in order to assess the role of technology in determining individual learning of students. It describes the benefits of using a wiki in education and how it can allow students to work together to reach a common goal, giving them a sense of how writing can be effectively performed in collaboration. In collaborative learning with a wiki, students need to agree the structure, the contents, and the methods that are necessary to accomplish cooperative activities. The technology investigated is PBworks Education (PBwiki Edu), a collaborative tool that offers a variety of powerful information sharing and collaboration features in order to improve student’s learning activities. Respect than traditional in-class course, PBwiki Edu facilitates the communication and encourages collaborative finding, shaping and sharing of knowledge, all of which are essential properties for student’s learning process. A survey methodology was used in undergraduate students of “Management Information Systems” course who used PBwiki Edu for doing four reports concerning to case studies on specific lesson topics. With regard to these topics, we measured individual learning of students before (traditional learning) and after (online learning) any case study and compared these results through t-test method. Findings have shown significant differences between learning before and after case studies, pointing out the contribute of PBwiki Edu to student’s learning.
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