Using wikis in information literacy activities 

Jean McGuinness

University of Abertay Dundee

Learning technologies at Abertay

Considering ways of :-

• using wikis, blogs, podcasts, social software, Vlogs and other Web 2.0 tools to facilitate and enrich teaching and learning

• integrating into existing teaching and learning environments such as WebCT

Information Literacy definition“people are information literate if theyknow when they need information, andare then able to identify, locate, evaluate,organise and effectively use theinformation to address and resolvepersonal, job-related or broad socialissues and problems“.

Learning and Teaching Scotland. 2007. Cross curricular themes. [online].Available at: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/informationliteracy/about/index.asp [Accessed on 31 May 2007]

Information Literacy Project with Dundee secondary schools

• Started with one school in 2001

• Now extended to 3 Dundee secondary schools

• S5 pupils visit library and can borrow books

• S6 pupils take part in Information Literacy Short Course

Summer 2007

• Used a problem-based learning approach.

• 45 pupils from 3 schools all visited the Library on the same day.

• Put all the resources and tasks on a wiki.

• Pupils did all their teamwork and collaboration on their own wikis.

Choosing a wikiCriteria:-

• Security, privacy and safety - password protected

• Open source - adverts – appropriate for age group?

• Accessibility in school – blocking software• Amount of space for free!• Read and edit control• Ease of inserting images and other widgets

Wikis we considered

• Confluence/ELGG*

• Wikispaces

• PBWiki

• Stikipad

• Wetpaint

Comparison of wikis

• Used http://www.wikimatrix.org/ to compare wiki products

• Brisco, S. 2007. Which wiki is right for you? School Library Journal. 5(1) [Online] Available from: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6438167.html [Accessed 29th May 2007]

The wiki

http://uadschools.wetpaint.com/

http://wetpaint.com

How the class progressedPupils ..• worked through tasks to evaluate different

information resources.• thought about their solutions to the problem as

they worked through the tasks• set up their own team wikis and started

recording their ideas• were given a checklist of tasks to complete

before their next visit • evaluated the course by adding comments on

the wiki

What worked!

• The hints and resources on the wiki encouraged the flow of ideas

• The wiki demonstrated the wide range of resources available to the pupils

• Having links to key resources saved time• Pupils enjoyed setting up their own wikis and

quickly started recording their ideas gathering key information.

• Very easy for pupils to set up and edit their own wikis

What didn’t work so well

• Technical problems

• Information literacy tasks using different resources

• Inappropriate usage

What we would do differently• Use a VLE such as WebCT so pupils

couldn’t progress through the course until they had completed each task.

• Incorporate wikis into WebCT so pupils would still have control over their team’s work.

• Would give more editorial control to the pupils and encourage them to add their own links to resources they found.

A work in progress!

• The pupils will come back in November to present their solutions to the problem.

• Until then we won’t know which resources they have used and the quality of the information they have found to support their solutions to the problem.

Final thoughts

• Wikis are good for collaborative group work.

• Do they offer anything special, different or extra for information literacy skills development?

• Any other new technologies which we need to consider as an alternative?