Assessing adoption of wikis in a Singapore secondary school: Using the UTAUT model

This quantitative study explores students´ motivation towards the use of wikis to encourage self-directed learning (SDL) and collaborative learning (CoL). SDL and CoL are the goals for Singapore´s Ministry of Education Information and Communication Technology Masterplan 3. Wikis were used in the project to support reflection and communication within groups. Five classes consisting of 181 Secondary Two students from a Singapore secondary school were involved in this project. The participants were selected based on their mandatory involvement in an integrated 5-month project initiated by the school. As the participation in the study was voluntary, 144 of the 181 students responded. Sixty nine of the students had no prior experience with wikis. Among the 75 students who had prior experience, most of them used wikis to obtain information while 46 of them shared information using wikis and 51 of them used it to work on collaborative projects with others. The variance explained by Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) was 32.4 percent. The results showed that performance expectancy and facilitating condition were found to have a significant relationship with behavioural intention; while effort expectancy and social influence did not, contrary to many prior studies. Modifying the original UTAUT to include three other factors, attitude, trust and comfort level increased the variance explained to 37 percent. However, trust and comfort level were found to have a significant relationship with behavioural intention in the modified UTAUT. This study contributes to UTAUT´s theoretical validity and empirical applicability and to the management of technology based initiatives in education. The findings provide insights to educators and schools considering the use of wikis and other forms of social media into their lessons.