Learning, Communication and Interaction via Wiki: An Australian Perspective

Abstract

This chapter examines the opportunities and barriers of promoting students’ learning skills, including communication, cooperation, collaboration and connection using the Wiki tool under the blackboard platform. A Wiki tool was implemented in two postgraduate units in an Australian university to develop and improve students’ professional and personal skills, i.e. communication, leadership, time management, problem-solving and decision-making. A Wiki tool becomes essential in teaching and learning, to promote students’ skills, and control their own learning and access to knowledge, cutting-edge technology and news nationally and internationally. To implement this for students in developed and developing countries, universities and the higher education sector must recognize and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which were signed by 189 United Nation member states in September 2000, the second goal of which is related to education. This chapter provides empirical evidence, gathered through mixed methods, from 88 students who have been exposed to Wiki as a teaching tool. Student’s feedback indicates that the use of Wiki in the higher education setting is valuable and gratifying as it enables students to develop and enhance several skills, including communication, collaboration, interpersonal, writing, reading, and search/research, problem-solving and decision-making, all of which are required for both their current studies and their futures in the real-world workplace. In addition, students show their satisfaction with the Wiki’s tool, as it develops specific skills for the current study and for the future workplace, i.e. cultural awareness and cutting edge.