D2.3 - Pedagogical Framework for collaborative Learning through Wikis

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction (UB, OK)

1. Key-competences for the actual knowledge society (UB, OK)

1.1. European Parliament and Council (2006)

1.2. Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2006)

1.3. Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (2010)

1.4. Other frameworks

2. Collaborative learning (UB, OK)

2.1. Definition and advantages 

2.2. Associated theories

3. Teaching and learning through wikis (UB, YORG, HEIG-VD, OK)

3.1. Definitions and affordances

3.2. Educational affordances 

3.3. Success factors for using wikis in educational contexts 

4. User needs analysis outcomes (Wikimedia.se, to be finalized according to comments)

4.1. Current use of wikis in educational settings

4.2. Identified interests and needs

5. WikiSkills pedagogical approach and concepts (OK, only missing ECVET certification section)

5.1. Defining and asessing wiki key-competences 

- Elicit a set of competences that are promoted through the use of wiki environments

- assessment based on quality and quantity of contributions

5.2. The WikiSkills approach to collaborative learning 

- Connectivism

- Virtual Communities of Practice

5.3. Recommendations for the definition of training curriculum

5.4. ECVET certifications (to be provided by DieBerater)

6. Validation of the pedagogical framework (to be finalized by HEIG-VD, MAC-Team)

Summary

WikiSkills is a European project (Lifelong Learning Programme, KA3, 2012-2013) aiming to analyze and apply the benefits of adopting a wiki-culture to promote lifelong learning opportunities. Within common learning scenarios, participants from different educational sectors, cultures and ages will learn how to use wikis for their socio-professional development. 

Task 2.3 (Definition of the Pedagogical Framework) aims to develop an overall pedagogical framework for enhancing collaborative learning through wikis in different LLP levels (Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci and Grundtvig). As an outcome, this deliverable (D2.3 - Pedagogical Framework for Collaborative Learning through Wikis) details the WikiSkills pedagogical framework. It first studies the main concepts related to project, i.e. the key-competences for the actual knowledge society, collaborative learning, and the use of wiki environments in educational settings. Afterwards, it details the results of the user needs analysis performed in earlier stages of the project, by resuming the current use of wikis in educational contexts as well as the identified interests and needs of educators to this regard. On this basis, the WikiSkills training approach and concepts are detailed, including the definition of wiki key competences, the project approach towards collaborative learning, and guidelines for the definition of the training approach. The deliverable closes with a section planning the evaluation strategies which will help refining and adapting the project psycho-pedagogical framework along the project, according to the experience gained through the implementation.   

Introduction

Recently, wikis have been widely used in various sectors and levels of education, as they can enhance collaborative learning processes. In a wiki-based learning scenario, participants co-write and co-edit web pages. During such processes, peer interaction can motivate participants, who construct synergically shared knowledge.

WikiSkills - Empowering and fostering social, professional, cultural and civic skills though pedagogical use of wiki technologies and methodologies - is a European project (Lifelong Learning Programme, KA3, 2012-2013) aiming to analyze and apply the benefits of adopting a wiki-culture to promote lifelong learning opportunities. Within common learning scenarios, participants from different educational sectors, cultures and ages will learn how to use wikis for their socio-professional development.

In details, Wiki-Skills project aims to: 

• Provide opportunities for meaningful collaborative learning activities; 
• Promote digital literacy, as well as social skills, writing skills and critical thinking; 
• Develop sustainable virtual communities of practice among the different project countries;
• Enable educational communities to contribute to the actual information society; 
• Empower civic behaviours, social inclusion, employability and cultural understanding.

The project will develop, implement and evaluate an innovative training curriculum focusing on how to make the best use of wiki environments in educational settings, so to reach high learning objectives and foster a community of learners among Europe.

The project work is organized according to seven work packages (WPs), as depicted in the table below.

1. Key-competences for the actual knowledge society

Life and society in the 21st Century is characterized by a technology and media-driven environment, marked by access to an abundance of information, rapid changes in technology tools and the ability to collaborate and make individual contributions on an unprecedented scale (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2006). Furthermore, the types of work done by people (as opposed to the kinds of labor done by machines) are continually shifting as computers and telecommunications expand their capabilities to accomplish human tasks (Dede, 2010).

In this context, knowledge is not nearly enough (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2006). The Recommendation of the European Parliament and the Council on Key competences for lifelong learning (2006) stated that, “as globalisation continues to confront the European Union with new challenges, each citizen will need a wide range of key competences to adapt flexibly to a rapidly changing and highly interconnected world.” 

As a result, students should acquire sophisticated thinking, flexible problem solving, collaboration and communication skills they will need to be successful in work and life (Binkley et al., 2010).

Many organizations have developed frameworks aiming to describe the skills, knowledge and expertise students must master to succeed in work and life of the 21st Century. This section aims to review the main current conceptual frameworks for those 21st Century Skills.

1.1. European Parliament and Council (2006)

The Recommendation of the European Parliament and the Council on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning (2006) defined a framework of eight competences which all individuals need for personal fulfillment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment. Those key competences guarantee more flexibility in the labour force, and allow individuals to adapt more quickly to constant changes in an increasingly interconnected world. Key competences should be acquired by both young people and adults throughout their lives, through a process of developing and updating skills.

Furthermore, the framework fits in with the principles of equality and access for all, as it applies in particular to disadvantaged groups whose educational potential requires support (e.g. people with low basic skills, early school leavers, long-term unemployed, people with disabilities, migrants, etc.). 

The eight key competences are the following: 

• Communication in the mother tongue: ability to express and interpret concepts, thoughts, feelings, facts and opinions in both oral and written form and to interact linguistically in an appropriate and creative way;
• Communication in foreign languages: involving mediation and intercultural understanding;
• Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology: ability to develop and apply mathematical thinking in order to solve a range of problems in everyday situations, with the emphasis being placed on process, activity and knowledge; 
• Digital competence: involves the confident and critical use of information society technology (IST) and thus basic skills in information and communication technology (ICT);
• Learning to learn: ability to pursue and organize one's own learning, either individually or in groups, in accordance with one's own needs, and awareness of methods and opportunities;
• Social and civic competences: personal, interpersonal and intercultural competence and all forms of behaviour that equip individuals to participate in an effective and constructive way in social and working life (understanding of codes of conduct and customs, civic competence, knowledge of social and political concepts and structures);
• Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship: ability to turn ideas into action, involving creativity, innovation and risk-taking, as well as the ability to plan and manage projects in order to achieve objectives;
• Cultural awareness and expression: appreciation of the importance of the creative expression of ideas, experiences and emotions in a range of media.

2. Collaborative learning

Traditional learning environments are often characterized by one-way knowledge transmission processes in which the teacher, as the only source of knowledge, assigns a learning activity that is carried out autonomously by the student. Such processes strip the learning process of its social dimension (Sullivan, 1994). Collaborative learning strategies can strengthen this dimension by creating the conditions for learning, or individual cognitive development, as a result of group interaction (Garrison, 2003). 

On the basis of an extensive literature review conducted in T2.1, this section aims to define the characteristics and advantages of collaborative learning strategies. Furthermore, it presents the main theories that are related collaborative learning environments.

2.1. Definition and advantages

Collaboration is the process of interaction amongst people who share the same goal. It requires individuals to be jointly engaged and coordinate their efforts in order to solve a problem or produce a product together (Dillenbourg, 1999). Thus, collaborative learning is a social activity. It involves individual learning processes, but is not reducible to it (Stahl et al., 2006). Collaborative learning is defined as an instructional method in which students at various performance levels work together in small groups toward a common goal (Coutinho and Bottentuit, 2007). The expected outcome of collaborative learning is shared construction of knowledge among students, or the creation of an artifact or product of their learning. Collaborative learning activities include collaborative writing, group projects, joint problem solving, debates, study teams, and other activities.

Collaborative learning implies a change in the roles of the instructor and students. Indeed, collaborative instruction is student-centered, and knowledge is viewed as a social construct which is enhanced by both the instructor and the peers (Harasim, 2000). Thus, learning shifts from instructor-oriented instruction to student-oriented collaboration, and students build a community as they are learning with and for others. Students learn by expressing their questions, pursuing lines of inquiry together, teaching each other and seeing how others are learning (Stahl et al., 2006). As a result, collaborative learning processes put learners not only as responsible for their own learning, but also for constructing new knowledge with other learners.

Collaborative learning processes can offer numerous benefits, such as increasing student involvement with the subject matter, enhancing critical thinking skills, promoting problem-solving skills, and encouraging student learning and achievement (Stahl et al., 2006).

2.2. Cooperative learning versus collaborative learning

Cooperative learning defines a teacher-structured experience where students work together with pre-assigned roles to accomplish a group task (Johnson and Johnson, 1999). Student success depends on each of the members of the group accomplishing their part of the work. Cooperative learning is a teacher-centric activity where the teacher determines the outcomes, assigns students’ roles, and often develops the procedures to be followed by each group.

In contrast, collaborative learning defines student-centred experiences where learners examine an assigned task to determine how the team will approach the assignment. Roles are determined by the group, providing flexible autonomy for the collaborative team. In many cases, learners self-monitor the contributions of each team to ensure quality. The instructor is brought into the process as facilitator as needed. 

2.2. Associated theories

The following theories are associated to collaborative learning environments.

Socio-constructivism

Constructivism argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and their ideas (Wikipedia). Thus, learners actively construct knowledge by interpreting new knowledge based on their prior knowledge (Kuiper and Volman, 2008). Constructivist teaching approaches provide students with opportunities to participate in authentic activities requiring them to interact with their environment and create their own understanding. Constructivist teaching moves students beyond the accumulation of knowledge, as it involves them in critically thinking, reflecting, and using knowledge (Tynjal, 1998).

Furthermore, socio-constructivist theories consider learning as socially constructed by “competent participation in the discourse, norms, and practices associated with particular communities of practice” (Kuiper & Volman, 2008, p. 244). In such contexts, students are offered the opportunity to learn through social, collaborative activities that occur in a meaningful context and allow them to make connections between their prior experiences and their new experiences.

In these learner-centered educational contexts, teachers act as facilitators who guide students who explore their environment and construct their own knowledge.

Connectivism

Siemens (2005) proposes a contemporary theory (portrayed as a learning theory for the digital age) which provides a premise and a framework that are useful for understanding collaborative learning in an online environment. Through connectivism, learning in the digital age is no longer dependent on individual knowledge acquisition, storage, and retrieval; rather, it occurs when individuals connect with each other and with technology, through interaction with various sources of knowledge (including the Internet and learning management systems), and participation in communities of common interest, social networks, and group tasks. Thus, learning consists of retrieving information from self, others, and machines. 

From this perspective, effective learners are those who can cope with complexity, contradictions, and large quantities of information, who seek out various sources of knowledge, and who can create and sustain learning communities and networks. 

Simply put, connectivism defines a networked learning model that takes into account the massive technological and societal changes that characterize the late twentieth and early twenty first century.  On an internal level, individuals learn by the connections that are formed in their brains (neural networks), while on an external level, they learn by creating networks with other individuals and repositories of knowledge.  

Computer Supported Collaborative Learning

Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) has emerged with the increased use of technologies in educational settings. CSCL takes advantages of Internet resources (online communication tools such as discussion boards, e-mail, video conferencing and chat rooms) to facilitate communication and collaboration among students. Thus, students can reorganize their thinking, present new forms of knowledge, and are exposed to multiple views from groups (Uribe, Klein, and Sullivan, 2003).

A wide range of empirical studies have provided evidence that a CSCL environment can enhance the learning process and outcomes. Such discussions focus on how technology infrastructure affects the social nature of learning. Online collaborative learning processes can fit into different categories, according to a time-space matrix: whether the collaboration is collocated or not, and whether it is synchronous or asynchronous (Ellis et al., 1991).

More specifically, web 2.0 technologies, such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, and RSS feeds, have the potential to complement, enhance, and add new collaborative dimensions to learning (Parker and Chao, 2007).  Web 2.0 technologies are perceived as being especially connected, allowing users to develop Web content collaboratively and open to the public (Alexander, 2006).  Owen et al. (2006) formulate some key attributes of social software in relation to education, such as:

• the communication between groups (to review each others’ actions and to allow those actions to benefit each other member of a community); 
• the communication between many people (to publish for a large audience);
• gathering and sharing resources (gathering and making material available);
• collaborative collecting and indexing of information (new ways of organizing and finding knowledge objects);
• new tools for knowledge aggregation and creation  of new knowledge.

Wikis represent a powerful 2.0 technology which tend to lend themselves particularly well to collaborative learning processes (Schaffert, Bischof, Bürger, Gruber, Hilzensauer, and Schaffert, 2006).

3. Teaching and learning with wikis (UB + YORG, 5/6 pages)

On the basis of an extensive study conducted in T2.1, this section aims to provide definitions of wikis, as to describe their educational affordances. Furthemore, it provides a list of success factors for using wikis in educational settings.

3.1. Definitions and affordances (Yorg)

A wiki is a website whose users can add, modify, or delete its content via a web browser using a simplified mark-up language or a rich-text editor. It supports hyperlinks and has simple text syntax for creating new pages and cross-links between internal pages. Wikis permit asynchronous communication and group collaboration across the Internet. Wikis allow users, with both author and editor privileges, to edit the overall organization of contributions as the content itself. A wiki allows for non-linear, evolving, complex and networked text, argument and interaction. Thus, a wiki holds technology as well as community aspects. What separates the wiki from other online, distributed environments, such as Learning Management Systems (LMS) and groupware applications, is its open architecture. The design implies that structure is not imposed or predetermined (as in an LMS) but emerges as a result of participation.

A wiki will typically afford a series of meta-features, such as the history of a page (including comparison of versions and roll-back to earlier versions), notification of revisions, and discussion spaces assigned to particular pages. In this way, producing content and structure in the wiki can be accompanied by comments, discussion, and annotations. This is where the interdependent and collective orientation of the wiki emerges.

Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often created collaboratively by multiple users. The essence of the wiki concept may be described as follows:

• A wiki invites all users to edit any page or to create new pages within the wiki website, using only a web browser.
• A wiki promotes meaningful topic associations between different pages, by making page link creation intuitive and showing whether an intended target page exists or not.
• A wiki is not a carefully crafted site for casual visitors. Instead, it seeks to involve the visitor in an ongoing process of creation and collaboration that constantly changes the website landscape.

A defining characteristic of wiki technology is the ease with which pages can be created and updated. Generally, there is no review before modifications are accepted. According to The Wiki Way, “Open editing has some profound and subtle effects on the wiki’s usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site [...] encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by non-technical users.”

Wikis may serve many different purposes. Examples include community websites, corporate intranets, knowledge management systems, and note-taking. Below are some examples of uses:

• Collecting historical data and building encyclopaedic content: purpose heavily inspired from Wikipedia, it is frequently used within companies.
• Drafting and reviewing material: co-design of promotional flyers, public documents, reports, books, grant requests, documentation, annotated bibliography, meeting minutes, writing assignments, etc.
• Keeping directories updated: keep personal or collective information up to date through easy administration. A famous example is Diplopedia, the wiki of the US Diplomatic Department.
• Project knowledge management: collaborative activities such as brainstorming, sharing of ideas, coordination of activities, etc.
• Diffusing temporary events: as a public website, a wiki may host information about a conference program, speakers, list of talks, etc. Information can be easily updated by editors. One such example is Wikimania website.

3.2. Educational affordances (UB)

In a wiki-based learning scenario, students co-write and co-edit web pages. When contributing to a web page, they must read related materials carefully and therefore yield high achievement. Furthermore, being aware of the fact that articles can be read by the public, students may read critically and write responsibly (Guth, 2007). During such learning processes, peer interaction can motivate participants, who collaboratively construct shared knowledge. Wikis enhance asynchronous communication and cooperative learning among students, and promote cooperation rather than competition (De Pedro et al., 2006).

Wiki software is relatively flexible, and can be adapted to a wide range of learning environments and to various educational levels (Boulos, Maramba, & Wheeler, 2006). For instance, Schaffert, Bischof, et al. (2006) suggest the use of wikis in project-based learning, collaborative story writing, and interdisciplinary and intercultural learning.

Possible pedagogical applications of wikis

Duffy and Bruns (2006) list several possible educational uses of wikis:

• the development of research projects, with the wiki serving as ongoing documentation;
• the creation of summaries of thoughts from the prescribed readings, building a collaborative annotated bibliography on a wiki;
• the publication of course resources;
• the use of wikis as a knowledge base, enabling teachers to share reflections and thoughts regarding teaching practices;
• the use of wikis to map concepts (e.g. for brainstorming);
• the use of wikis for presentations, which students can directly comment.

Furthermore, Tonkin (2005) identifies four different forms of educational wikis:

a) Single-user wikis enable collecting and editing thoughts using a web-based environment.

b) Lab book wikis enable students keeping notes online and allow peer reviewing and edition by fellow students.

c) Collaborative writing wikis can be used by a team for joint writing.

d) Knowledge base wikis provide a knowledge repository for a group.

In addition, Parker and Chao (2007) highlight different uses for wikis in pedagogical contexts, which are resumed below.

Writing assignments

Wikis can be used for class project with an encyclopaedic format (instructions, user manuals, glossaries, etc.) or a bibliographic format (that requires students to locate websites related to a topic). They can also support the creation of handbooks (e.g. students can build a guide to correct punctuation, which could be compiled and evaluated as a class, giving every student a stake in the project and benefiting each from the authoring process).  Furthermore, Schaffert, Bischof, et al. (2006) discuss the concept of collaborative creative writing, in which students collaboratively write a story through a wiki. 

Project-based learning

Wikis represent a powerful tool for project planning and documentation (Schaffert, Bischof, et al., 2006). When used for collaborative class projects, they allow students to meet virtually at their convenience and work on projects together. Schaffert, Gruber, et al. (2006) suggest ways in which wikis can be useful in project knowledge management, including brainstorming and exchange of ideas, coordination of activities, coordination and records of meetings, etc.

Online / distance education

Wikis are useful tools for facilitating online learning groups (Augar et al., 2004).  Indeed, they can support the dissemination of information, thus enhancing the exchange of ideas and facilitating group interaction. Further, wikis can be used to create a set of documents that reflect the shared knowledge of the learning group (Augar et al., 2004). 

3.3. Success factors for teaching with wikis

This section brings out success factors for the relevant use of wiki environments in educational settings. These success factors emerged from the results of T2.1, including a literature review on the educational use of wiki environments, the analysis of existing wiki platforms / projects, good practices provided by the project partners, and national surveys conducted among the different partners’ countries.

The success factors have been distributed among four different categories, which correspond to the steps necessary for using wikis in educational settings.

Pre-requisites

• Make ICT resources available: ensure the availability of computers and internet access for each participant.
• Make clear what and who you want to teach : define your teaching objectives, learning content, and the specific characteristics of the editing community.
• Make sure that students have sufficient ICT skills: in order to focus on  the learning subject, rather than on technical issues. Detect also ICT skills between them.
• Consider accessibility issues: the wiki environment should be usable by students with special educational needs, as well as provide interfaces that can be adapted according to users' characteristics: font size, use of keyboard, mouse or adaptive external devices, etc.

Setting up the wiki environments

• Define essential rules: Provide a minimum set of rules necessary for an efficient use of the wiki environment, although limiting the number of rules
• Define a clear organizational structure: Provide a minimum structure for organizing the wiki environment, while keeping it flexible and open.
• Define and import initial content: Start filling in the wiki environment in order to avoid, from participants, fear of empty spaces or being the one to start.
• Choose the adapted wiki platform: identify which wiki software is best adapted to your educational objectives and your students. Decision should be made according to the special features of each platform, the technical environment required, the software license, the prior familiarity required to use the interface, the training availability, students' level of skills, languages available, etc.
• Prefer platform counting with page locking system and help links: in order to avoid students editing the same page simultaneously.
• Prefer platform counting with statistics tools: in order to follow up participants' progress and to extract useful information about the project's spread.

Gardening the wiki space

• Be flexible with rules: keep the rules within the environment open and encourage students to participate in their definition. This will foster a sense of ownership. 
• Open the wiki environment to a global audience: when relevant, spread the project to external audiences, so students become aware that their work can be seen by others. 
• Track portfolios of edits and updates tied to individual users: in order to permit the instructor to see the amount of time spent online and provide qualitative / quantitative data on students’ contribution to the wiki.

Teaching / learning 

• Introduce students to the wiki functions: start by showing your students what they can do and how in the wiki environment.
• Show existing success wiki projects: demonstrate to students the possible benefits from using wikis, in order to motivate them and show them the large range of opportunities they can offer.
• Introduce students to the wiki culture: familiarize students with the social implications of working in wiki environments. As an example, introduce them to collective ownership issues: make clear that they stay authors of their own contributions, that their texts may undergo revisions and are likely to be modified by others even after publication.
• Introduce students to legal issues: introduce students to copyright laws that forbid copying and pasting content from other external sources, giving credit for others’ work, copyright laws for collective works, legal responsibilities of host provider and editors.
• Find a balance between guidance and autonomy: act as a moderator, rather than a supervisor, by encouraging and tracking the participation of students, as well as facilitating communication among them. Provide students with a clear organizational structure for the wiki, while giving them autonomy with regard to its scope and content.
• Foster a "BeBold" attitude: encourage students to try, fail, try again and finally succeed.
• Foster students’ collaboration: provide students with opportunities to collaborate outside of the wiki environment.
• Assume good faith from participants: promote an atmosphere of trust and assume good faith from students. Mistakes may be done non-voluntarily and are reversible on a wiki. 
• Foster the use of multimedia formats: images and video can, in some cases, illustrate a topic better than only text does. Their use can also make the environment more dynamic, and promote students’ digital literacy.
• Encourage the use of internal and external hyperlinks: enable students to get used to the culture of linking contents, from inside and outside of the wiki site.
• Consider using wiki-based evaluation methodologies: use available functions which permit you to obtain qualitative / quantitative data on students’ contribution to the wiki.
• Diffuse your wiki: disseminate your project through social networks and personal digital communication tools as mailing-lists, feeds, communities, etc.
• Develop opportunities for collaboration among students from different institutions: consider setting up wiki-based scenarios involving the participation of other educational centers. 
• Create a supportive community of practice: communities among teachers and / or students provide opportunities for continuous collaboration and meaningful learning.

4. User needs analysis results (Wikimedia.se + HEIG-VD, 4-5 pages)

In the context of T2.2, seven focus groups have been organized by the WikiSkills consortium in five different countries (Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and Sweden). The main objectives were the following: to introduce target users to the WikiSkills project, its objectives, organization and consortium; to introduce them to the use of wikis in educational contexts; and to identify their interests and needs regarding the use of wiki environments in their teaching settings. The focus groups enabled to obtain quality data on practitioners' current practices, as well as on their interests and needs for developing wiki-based scenarios. 

This section resumes the main results of the focus groups, by presenting the current use of wikis in educational settings and providing a set of needs and training wishes.

4.1 Current use of wikis in educational settings

Current wiki usage can be roughly divided into four or five categories:

where A, B and C are the most commonly mentioned in the conducted workshops. There is, of course, some ambiguity between A and B.

(A) Local, collaborative wikis are used for group exercises, collaboration between classes, etc, but also as a tool to teach internet literacy, collaboration in internet communities. The wiki is sometimes one of many tools in a larger toolbox.

Example: Interconte, collaborative storytelling among students (ca, ES)

(B) Local wikis are used for writing exercises, for sharing students work, etc. In virtually all of these cases the wiki could easily have been replaced by e.g. a blog.

Example: Villa Mimmi, creative writing exercises (sv, SE)

(C) Almost all learning scenarios in C are about Wikipedia. In some of them Wikipedia could however be substituted for almost any internet community (be it a forum, a wiki, or even a cluster of interlinked blogs).

Example: Assigning Wikipedia tasks to students, to let them reflect about source criticism.

(D) We have a few mentions of non collaborative wikis used as repositories for learning resources, etc. In these cases the wiki is platform is irrelevant -- it only happens to be used as a CMS.

Example: Alla tiders klassiker (ATK), a site collecting book reviews for teachers (sv, SE). 

A special case is wikis used as either meeting places or repositories for teachers, especially for sharing curriculums.

Example: EduWikiLab, a collection of teacher's resorces (ca, ES)

It should be noted that learning scenarios in e.g. B and C have very little in common. They both happen to include wiki platforms, but that has little relevance for teachers and students.

”Internal“ wikis in the matrix (A and B) could still be open and hosted at a wikifarm, but they are intended for use within a small group of students. External wikis do often, but not always, mean Wikipedia or other Wikimedia wikis. These are used for research, to teach source criticism and media literacy, to practice language skills, to study netiquette and online communities as such, and much more. Challenges include dealing with strong online communities, and copyright and licensing issues.

Internal wikis can be private or public. They sometimes have a limited lifetime, being closed down and no longer used as a wiki at the end of the semester, and are sometimes inherited from one generation of students to another. In many cases, they are used for tasks (writing, feedback, etc.) that could also have been accomplished with other tools, such as a blog. Popular platforms are MediaWiki for local installations, and Wikispaces for wiki farms. Challenges include overcoming resistance to working collaboratively, and lack of technical knowledge and/or user friendly wiki software.

Lists of educational wikis:

• http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+educational+wikis

Detailed list of needs

Teacher training (technical)

• Need for technical training and support: learn how to master the wiki software and platforms through tutorials, face-to-face hands on sessions, templates, etc.
• Need for getting to know different platforms and tools: compare different applications in order to gain expertise, hindsight, and to be able to choose the most appropriate one for their specific settings.

Teacher training (method)

• Need for learning about wiki-based educational methodologies: learn how to create a feasible wiki-based scenario, and about the teaching methodologies that wikis can support; it is important to make carefully the decision of choosing a wiki-based teaching approach, by being aware of what is / is not possible to do with a wiki.
• Need for classroom management training: some teachers would like to learn how to organize roles among students, how to define the role of the teacher, how to teach students about wikis, how to use the history functionality, how to evaluate students, etc.
• Need for studying practical examples: in-depth study of different practical examples of wiki-based scenarios, and the way they were applied in the classroom step-by-step.
• Need for training about legal issues: learn how to deal with intellectual property issues of texts and graphical resources. Furthermore, there are employment contracts that might conflict with using open licenses.
• Need for training about security issues: learn how to teach students to work with wikis under safe, ethical and responsible behaviours.
• Need for rapid methodologies: as teachers have curricular constraints, they need to learn how to create scenarios which do not involve much time;
• Need for using existing wiki-projects: learn about the possibilities of participating in already existing projects, instead of only emphasizing on the creation of new projects.
• Need for collaborative "inter-schools" scenarios: receive help in order to create feasible scenarios among different educators / centers, and learn how to work in a team in an effective manner.

Support (technical)

• Need for technical training and support: learn how to master the wiki software and platforms through tutorials, face-to-face hands on sessions, templates, etc.
• Need for continuous guidance, support and assessment during the creation and the implementation of the scenarios.

Support by the company / institution

• Need for awareness and support from the educational community: participants stressed that their institutions and colleagues should be informed about the opportunities offered by wikis, in order to obtain their support and to facilitate the transition to innovative teaching methodologies.

ICT skills

More appealing wiki skins

• Need for better looking wiki skins: according to some teachers, young students refuse to work with non attractive environments.

UX wiki environment and UX skins

• Need for user friendly interfaces: participating teachers and trainers expressed that the wiki environments they know are not friendly enough. As an example, the English Wikipedia contains a high the amount of links, footnotes, etc., which makes reading difficult.  

Ready extension packages (e.g. tools for assessment)

• Need for extension packages: for teachers setting up wikis, for the most commonly used platforms.

Gameification methods

• Need for gamification: tools to reward participants who help build in the commons.

Contracts need to allow releasing material under free licenses

• Some private institutions have contracts with their employees thatnput obstacles in the way.

ICT resources

• Need for better technical resources: some teachers mentioned that there are few computers available in the centers, and that connectivity can be an issue.

Teacher's networks

• Need for using existing wiki-projects: learn about the possibilities of participating in already existing projects, instead of only emphasizing on the creation of new projects.
• Need for opportunities for debate and reflection: have the possibility to think and debate about the relevant ways to use wikis.
• Need for face-to-face meeting opportunities among the wiki communities  
• Need for sustainable networks: if working in teams, and / or among different centers, collaboration among teachers / trainers should be continuously enhanced and motivated in order to be maintained and not fail.

Wiki sandboxes

5. WikiSkills training approach and concepts (UB, DieBerater, CESGA, EA)

The WikiSkills project will train teachers and trainers from different educational sectors (Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci and Grundtvig) so they can learn how to use wikis in their teaching contexts. They will learn about the different possible educational uses of wikis, and create wiki-based learning scenarios that they will apply with their students. 

This section aims to define the WikiSkills training approach and concepts. On the basis on the previous sections, it identifies a set of key competences that are promoted through the use of wiki environments in educational settings, and that the project training approach should target.  Afterwards, it defines the project approach to collaborative learning. Finally, it formulates a series of recommendations to be applied in the definition of the training methodology. 

5.1. Developing and assessing wiki key-competences (UB)

In order to obtain a set of competences specific to wikis, the different frameworks of 21st Century skills were analyzed (see section 2). Afterwards, the skills that can be promoted through the wiki-based learning scenarios were gathered in a specific set of skills.  

In order to classify those skills, the KSAVE model (Binkley et al., 2010) was adopted. Indeed, their list of ten skills is sufficiently broad and comprehensive to accommodate all the approaches proposed by the different existing frameworks. Furthermore, this model enables to take into account the differences among the frameworks, in terms of the nature of their content. Indeed, some frameworks seek to define student behaviors (e.g. an aspect of creativity might include “openness and responsiveness to new ideas”), while others refer extensively to skills (e.g. an aspect of creativity might refer to the ability to “develop innovative and creative ideas”) or to specific knowledge (e.g. an aspect of creativity might be “knowledge of a wide range of idea creation techniques”). Thus, to accommodate and reflect these differences in approach, the authors have designed three categories:

• Knowledge: references to specific knowledge or understanding requirements.
• Skills: abilities, skills and processes that curriculum frameworks are designed to develop in students and which are a focus for learning. 
• Attitudes, Values, Ethics: behaviors and aptitudes that students exhibit in relation to each of the 10 skills.

The set of wiki-skills are presented in the table below.

Table 2: Wiki key-competences 

5.2. The WikiSkills approach to collaborative learning (UB)

In order to foster these competences in learners, the project will promote collaborative learning strategies. 

The wiki-based learning scenarios will provide students with a context for working collaboratively in order to achieve a common learning task. Through a wiki environment, students will coordinate their efforts in order to achieve a specific task. To do so, they will co-write and co-edit web pages, as well as communicate in an asynchronous way through the wiki platform. The expected outcome of the scenarios is the shared construction of knowledge among students, as well as the creation of a tangible learning outcome, i.e. the wiki pages. Collaborative learning activities will include collaborative writing, group projects and joint problem solving.

The application of wiki-based learning scenarios will imply a change in the roles of the instructor and students. Indeed, instruction will be student-centered and will provide opportunities for student-oriented collaboration. They will have the opportunity to learn expressing their questions, pursuing lines of inquiry together, teaching each other and seeing how others are learning. The instructor will act as a facilitator as needed. 

The WikiSkills approach will promote connectivist learning strategies, through which students will learn by connecting with each other and with technology. Their ideas will evolve through an iterative process. They will seek out various sources of knowledge, and create and sustain learning communities and networks. From this perspective, learning will consist of retrieving and producing information from self, others, and Internet, collaborating to create knowledge, and applying information to current contexts. 

Wiki-based learning scenarios will enable different groups of people (i.e. teachers, students, and educational communities in general) who share educational concerns to collaborate and interact regularly. They will build relationships of mutual engagement that enable them to learn from each other, by sharing resources, experiences, stories and tools. 

5.3. A scenario-based approach (UB)

In order to design meaningful wiki-based learning activities, teachers and trainers should consider many aspects. Indeed, the wiki should be perceived as embedded in a learning scenario that takes into account the different parameters of the teaching / learning context. While planning their learning activities, teachers should take into account the specific characteristics of the learning audience, the specific learning objectives, the evaluation approach, the time-space resources and the technical requirements. Moreover, the step by step organization of the learning activities (i.e. structure of the activities before, during and after the wiki) should be planned.

5.4. Recommendations for the definition and the organization of the WikiSkills training >> UB + CESGA + EA (2-3 pages)

As an outcome of the different tasks conducted in the context of WP2, it is possible to provide a set of recommendations to be taken into account within the next steps of the project, i.e. T 3.1 (Training Curriculum and Scenarios), T3.2 (Definition, Creation and Adaptation of the Online Environment for the Courses) and T3.3 (Trainings Content Development). Indeed, the study enabled to identify the preferences of educators regarding learning subjects and modalities of training, as explained below.

5.5. ECVET

Definition and aims
Countries around Europe are increasingly emphasizing the need to take account of the full range of an individual’s knowledge, skills and competences – not only those acquired at schools, universities or other formal education and training institutions.
The European Parliament and Council of the European Union describe ECVET as being intended to facilitate the transfer, recognition and accumulation of assessed learning outcomes of individuals who are aiming to achieve a qualification. This will improve the general understanding of citizens′ learning outcomes and their transparency, transnational mobility and portability across and, where appropriate, within Member States in a borderless lifelong learning area, and will also improve the mobility and portability of qualifications at national level between various sectors of the economy and within the labour market; furthermore, it will contribute to the development and expansion of European cooperation in education and training (OJ C155 2009).
Wikis are used within educational settings to promote collaborate learning activities and to foster participant’s social, cultural and professional skills. The European project WikiSkills promotes writing skills, critical thinking, digital literacy as well as creativity. To transfer, recognize and accumulate these competences and learning outcomes, the technical framework ECVET can be applied. ECVET therefore aims to give people greater control over their individual learning experiences and make it more attractive to move between different countries and different learning environments.

ECVET tools and methodology comprise the description of qualifications in units of learning outcomes with associated points, a transfer and accumulation process and complementary documents such as learning agreements, transcripts of records and
The system aims to facilitate the validation, recognition and accumulation of work-related skills and knowledge acquired during a stay in another country or in different situations. It should ensure that these experiences contribute to vocational qualifications. ECVET aims for better compatibility between the different vocational education and training (VET) systems across Europe and their qualifications.
The development of ECVET began in 2002 after the Copenhagen Process emphasized the need for a credit transfer system for VET. National governments and the European Parliament gave their final approval to legislation in June 2009.

Implementing ECVET
ECVET implementation is essential for the development of VET and qualifications systems, but its complex and challenging implementation process has to be considered.

The 2009 European recommendation (European Parliament and Council, 2009) invites all EU Member States to gradually implement the European credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET). The implementation phases include preparation for ECVET implementation until 2012; gradual application of ECVET, with the first European evaluation in 2014; and full implementation of ECVET to VET qualifications at all levels of the European qualifications framework (EQF) over the long term (cedefop 2012). In 2014 the European parliament and the Council will review and evaluate the first stage of ECVET implementation and will readjust their recommendations if required.

ECVET is part of the development of common European tools for education and training: the European qualifications framework and the related national qualifications frameworks, the European quality assurance reference framework for VET (EQAVET), and Europass. All these tools promote learning outcomes as a key principle in the definition and description of qualifications, and they all emphasize quality assurance as a condition for improved European cooperation in education and training (cedefop 2011).

Modalities of training (UB + EA)

During the focus groups conducted by the project partners, teachers and trainers have expressed some wishes regarding the pedagogical approaches. On this basis, the following recommendations can be formulated: 

• Provide an initial face to face training: teachers and trainers need opportunities for practical hands-on sessions during which they will be able to directly interact with wiki environments;
• Provide ongoing guidance during the design and implementation of wiki-based learning scenarios: teachers and trainers will need support and assessment while they will create their scenarios, but also when they will implement them with students;
• Provide practical examples of wiki-based scenarios: educators need to study, in-depth, different practical examples of wiki-based scenarios, and the way they were applied in the classroom step-by-step;
• Provide opportunities for debate and reflection: teachers and trainers should have the opportunity, during training sessions, to think and debate about the relevant ways to use wikis in their specific contexts;
• Inform of existing wiki-projects: teachers and trainers should learn about the possibilities of participating in already existing projects (e.g. Eduwiki, Viquiescoles, Viquilletre, Eduwikilab, etc.), instead of only emphasing on the creation of new projects;   
• Provide tools for awareness: provide educators with tools to inform their communities of the usefulness of wikis, and the validity of wiki approaches. 

Training curriculum (UB + EA + CESGA)

The European state of the art, as well as the user needs analysis, enabled to draw a first picture of the training curriculum to be taught through the project. 

Technical training (CESGA)

Educators need basic ICT skills in order to be able to make a relevant use of wikis. Thus, the WikiSkills training should include a short introductory training unit in order to ensure to ensure a minimum digital literacy level for all participants. This training unit should include the following contents (or refer to already made materials available in the web):

• Basic use of Operative Systems (Windows, Linux or Mac), such as file management, software installation, etc.;
• Web navigation (use of a web browser, saving  of files, Internet security and privacy issues, installation of basic plugins, etc.);
• Basic e-mail skills (sending and receiving emails, attaching files, etc.);
• Basic use of text editors (Libre Office, Ms Word, etc.).

Regarding the use of wikis, the WikiSkills training should include both theoretical and practical approaches. Indeed, participants should be able to practice with several wiki platforms, and to learn the following:

• Create wikis: Teachers should learn how to create a wiki. Furthermore, they should know about the possibilities of hosting a software solution in their own servers (e.g. MediaWiki) and using a web-based service (e.g. Wikispaces). Participant should have the opportunity to compare different wiki applications in order to gain expertise to be able to choose the most appropriate one for their specific settings.
• Use wikis: Participants should become familiar with the different functionalities of wiki environments, in order to use them and maintain them in a relevant way:
  • Create and link pages;
  • Edit texts (format texts, establish hierarchies of titles and sections);
  • Insert multimedia contents (add images, videos, widgets, etc.);
  • Manage users and groups; 
  • Apply usability criteria to their wikis.

Pedagogical training (UB + EA)

Besides of technical skills, educators should learn how to create a feasible wiki-based scenario, and about the teaching methodologies that wikis can support, more specifically:

• Evaluation methodologies: teachers and trainers should become aware of the different ways of evaluating their students through wiki environments;
• Classroom management: educators should learn how to manage their classroom and students in the context of wiki-based scenarios. To do so, they would need to learn how to organize roles among students, how to define the role of the teacher, how to teach students about wikis, how to use the history functionality; 
• Creation of collaborative "inter-schools" scenarios: the training should encourage teachers creating feasible scenarios among different teachers and schools, and teach them how to work in a team in an effective manner;  
• Security and follow-up: teachers and trainers should know how to teach students to work with wikis under safe, ethical and responsible behaviours; 
• Lesson plan and programming: educators should learn how to integrate wiki activities within classroom activities, within time resources and within curricular topics, as well as learn how to evaluate students in the context of a wiki-based scenario;  
• Intellectual property: teachers and trainers should learn how to deal with intellectual property issues of texts and graphical resources. 

Definition, creation and adaptation of the training online environment (CESGA)