Designing and investigating a blended e-learning environment through a wiki: A case study on first year university students

Abstract

Wikis are widely accepted as powerful tools supporting learners’ active participation and the development of learning communities. This paper presents the design and the investigation of an instructional intervention on 47 first year university students, in the context of an introductory course about Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which was based on the blended learning model. The study presented here analyses the ways of students’ collaboration and contribution to the wiki, as well as the first results of their perceptions of the wiki activity. Research findings indicate that the students in the sample were positive about the functionality and usability of the wiki environment, and think that their wiki activity supported peer collaboration and learning.