Using Wikis to Support Constructivist Learning: A Case Study in University Education Settings

According to Tim Berners-Lee, wiki technology represents an instantiation of how the World Wide Web was planned to work: a platform that users can use both to retrieve content (read) and contribute content (write). Wiki technology lends itself to many uses. One of the main features of wiki technology is its support for collaborative editing of content. In this paper, we introduce briefly wiki technology, the pedagogical premises of the use of wiki in education, and present one case of the use of wiki in university education context as support for constructivist collaborative learning. We present empirical data on the participants´ evaluation of the use of wiki, and the analysis by the course instructor. We also discuss possibilities and potential problem situations when utilizing wiki-technology in educational settings, in particular related to the assessment of learning, the monitoring of student participation, and the need for communication support in the learning process.