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The article “Wiki use that increases communication and collaboration motivation” (Davidson, 2012) appeared in the Journal of Learning Design Volume 5, Issue 2 in 2012. Three years on, Robyn Davidson reflects upon her original article. Wiki use that increases communication and collaboration motivation: A reflection several semesters later Robyn Davidson Business School The University of Adelaide, Australia [email protected] This article gave an account of how wikis were used as a platform to provide an opportunity for students to work on group projects without such barriers as communication and collaboration issues that arise from traditional group work. The original motivation to write the article was to share an innovative teaching experience so that others may be encouraged to try using wikis in the classroom to facilitate group work. It is pleasing to note the surprising number of downloads the paper received. I expect it has generated interest in those wanting to see how technology is being used and those considering adopting similar ideas for themselves. It would be interesting to hear accounts of others’ experiences that were prompted by the paper. The assessment task has gone through a number of changes and refinements since it was first introduced. The biggest change has been going from a one-off activity to incorporating more of the course content over the semester and, more recently, adding a research report component. Initially, students worked in teams to answer a question in an essay format. This question typically only captured one or two segments of the course. Weekly wiki activities were incorporated to broaden coverage to all of the course content. These activities involved teams of five selected from within tutorial groups. Each student in the team was assigned a company in a different industry to which they find its latest annual report. Each week, students find information in the annual report that relates to the course content being studied (for example, leases, intangible assets, and impairment of assets). They find this in the financial statements and disclosure notes and write a short summary on their team wiki of what they found and how it relates to the applicable accounting standard. This includes a discussion on why certain items are classified in such a way, the accounting policy choices the company has made and a comparison between each student’s findings. Students gain knowledge of how the concepts we are learning about each week relate to a real world setting through the reports of companies in different industries, which, in turn, helps consolidate their understanding of the material. Tutors provide feedback on student entries, offer encouragement, and clarify any misunderstandings that may have arisen in the weekly posts. Recently this activity was further extended to incorporate a written team report that is submitted at the end of semester. In this report students compare and contrast the different accounting policy choices each company has made and they try to explain what might motivate these similarities and differences. The content of the report is different to the weekly wiki entries; however the weekly entries provide the basis of the reports. These reports are one component of the AQF1 research project which is required for Masters students. 1 AQF stands for the Australian Qualifications Framework, a national system describing the ten levels of post-secondary education with Level 10 being doctoral qualifications. See <http://www.aqf.edu.au> for further information. Journal of Learning Design In order to avoid some of the traditional problems with group work (the divide and conquer approach and dysfunctional groups) a concerted effort is made to only call the groups “teams.” Students are now assigned to teams within tutorial groups rather than from across the entire course. This way, the students physically meet each other each week thus enhancing communication, cooperation and accountability. By promoting teamwork as being important in the workplace and in class, they work together as a team to help each other understand the material and achieve an outcome. Working together as a team is emphasised so that team members help each other and all benefit as opposed to working in a group to achieve an outcome. There should be no competition for better results, rather, all should be working towards one “good” result and helping and encouraging each other to achieve that. The ultimate aim is for all students to have a thorough understanding of the course material rather than the student being focused on grades. While onerous in terms of time, students realise that the weekly activities help them to learn and most have a positive attitude towards it by the end of the semester. Through the “student grapevine,” they pass this information on to the next cohort of students. The initial resistance students had to doing something relatively new to them and the necessity to provide them with a test site to become familiar with the wiki environment has lapsed as students’ fears are reduced before they even come to class. An extra activity was added at the beginning and end of semester which requires students to reflect on important graduate attributes they have improved throughout the semester. In the first tutorial students bring a job advertisement for a business related position. In their teams, they compile a list of attributes that are needed for this type of work. During the tutorial, the tutor writes these attributes on the whiteboard until all ideas are exhausted. This results in a comprehensive list. Ideally, the tutor will group these with related skills while writing them up and will then discuss them with the students. Students are asked if they possess these skills that they will need when they go out into the workforce in six to twelve months’ time. Typically the answer is No! Students are then asked to consider the University’s Graduate Attributes, what they are and what is their purpose. They then place all of the attributes listed on the whiteboard against one or more of the University Graduate Attributes. The point is made that the University Graduate Attributes are not simply a fanciful list that is written on every Course Outline but very important skills that they need to get a job. At the end of semester, students write a reflection on which attributes they have gained or improved upon and what they did to increase these skills. Reading these reflections is insightful and encouraging in that many students appear to realise the value of what they have been doing and that the task is not seen as just “yet another assignment that has to be completed.” Like all assessment tasks, this one has evolved over several semesters. While the use of the wiki platform still remains, the actual task is quite different from what it initially was. I expect it will continue to evolve and do not know what it will look like in the future. The important thing is that it does evolve to continue to take advantage of resources available to us and continue to push students to achieve their goals. 2015 Vol. 8 No. 3 93 SPECIAL ISSUE: 10th Anniversary Journal of Learning Design The following presents the article as it appeared in 2006. With the author’s approval, minor edits have been made, the referencing updated to APA 6.0 and the numbering of figures altered to reflect the new publication. Wiki use that increases communication and collaboration motivation Robyn Davidson Business School The University of Adelaide Australia Abstract Communication and collaboration can be readily enabled by the use of many ICT tools. A wiki, which is an easily accessible and editable website, is one such platform that provides the opportunity for students to work on group projects without the barriers that arise from traditional group work. Whilst wiki use is becoming more common, its use in education is patchy and pedagogical reasoning and evaluation of such use is under explored. This paper addresses the gap in pedagogy and evaluation in the context of accounting studies. A traditional assessment task of writing an essay that involved a research and knowledge component was redesigned to enable groups to communicate and collaborate at a distance using a wiki. Through participant observation and student reflections of the group project, a wiki was found to be an effective platform to communicate and collaborate on a group project and enabled different barriers to be broken down. Wikis provide ubiquitous access to group work, organisation and version control, levels the playing field for dominant and shy students, and provides transparency for non-performers and high achievers. Keywords Wiki, communication, collaboration, motivation, ICT tools, group work Introduction The importance of communication and collaborative skills are evident in many professions. This is particularly so in the accounting profession which has stressed the need for graduates to have more than just good technical knowledge. In choosing graduates for employment the applicants’ ability to communicate and collaborate in a team environment is considered essential. The traditional answer to improving students’ communication and collaborative skills is to give them a group work assignment; however, traditional group work itself is not without problems. For instance, group work seldom results in all group members being equally driven and therefore problems arise when all members do not turn up for meetings or do not make an equal contribution. This paper describes how a group work assignment is facilitated with the use of a wiki platform that creates a learning environment that solves some of the problems encountered with group work. 2015 Vol. 8 No. 3 94 SPECIAL ISSUE: 10th Anniversary Journal of Learning Design A wiki is a website that is easily edited.

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