Scaffolding Wiki Use in Engineering Courses

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Computer Science (31) Wikis, known as collaborative knowledge building environments, are being used to facilitate computer mediated collaboration among undergraduate students working in project-based settings. As educational technology becomes an integral part of the instructional engineering landscape and distance education becomes accepted practice, understanding how students learn engineering becomes intertwined with understanding how computer mediated communication helps and hinders learning. The Pedagogical Wiki project is creating a novel framework for assessing and scaffolding collaborative learning within Wiki environments. Research being undertaken includes (a) studying student adoption and interaction in new and ongoing Wiki-based engineering courses, and comparing Wiki adoption in non-engineering (education) courses;(b) developing instructional assessment tools based on discourse analysis and course topic ontology for qualitatively evaluating student Wiki interactions; and (c) identifying scaffolding opportunities, such as topic-based material sharing, to promote student engagement and communication. Activity Theory is being used as a framework to study Wiki adoption.Ultimately, a key component of this work lies in the new discourse and topic-based instruments that enable instructors and educational researchers to better assess student learning within Wiki environments. Qualitative as well as quantitative metrics are being developed, some with respect to the particular domains being studied. The combined use of new natural language processing techniques and traditional instruments to study Wiki adoption in an engineering context contributes to an understanding of how students learn engineering in a collaborative, "real-world" medium. Codifying best practices for computer mediated collaboration is impacting the way engineering is being taught.