Introductory workshop report, die Berater

1. Organization of the workshops

Die berater organized a focus group on the premises of die Berater^®at Handelskai on May 3^rd, 2012. Trainers interested in participating had to register via Email beforehand.

In total, we received 23 registrations for the focusgroup, out of these 23 registrations 16 people participated in the focus group.  The main target group were trainers in adult education.

1.1. Participants

The focus group mainly consisted of trainers in adult education and 2 non-trainers, who work in adult education.

1.2. Settings

The focus group was held by two employes from die Berater^®: Jennifer Ziegler, project coordinator of WikiSkills and Sonja Hager, wiki expert. The room was equipped with a projector and Internet connection, which was used to show the participants examples of wikis.

The focus group took place on May 3^rd, 2012 from 5.30pm to 8.30pm.

1.3. Structure

The focus group was structured as followed:

1. Definition and objectives of WikiSkills project
2. Presentation on wikis in educational context
3. Examples of wikis in educational context
4. Teamwork: examples of wiki-based learning scenarios 
5. Discussion session: definition of needs and interest

2. Identification of users interests and needs

Throughout the focus group participants emphasized their interests and needs concerning wikis in educational contexts.

2.1. Teachers’ current practices

At the beginning of the focus group we asked the participants if they knew wikis. 6 participants answered with “yes”. When asking which wikis they knew, everybody said “Wikipedia”. All of the participants have used wikis before but only 3 participants contributed to a wiki by edited it.  

Trainers opinion: at the beginning of the focus group a few people were skeptical if they would ever need wikis in their educational context. After presenting them examples of wiki-based learning scenarios, all participants were extremely enthusiastic about setting up a wiki for their educational context. Therefore, it is crucial to not only explain to people how wikis work but to present them with examples, especially with examples concerning educational contexts.

2.2. Examples of wiki-based scenarios by trainers

After presenting the use of wikis and wiki-based scenarios we asked all the participants to present us their area of work. After that the participants were divided in small groups of three and each group worked out an example for a wiki-based learning scenario that could be implemented within their daily work.

The four groups came up with the following idea for wikis:

·         Creating a wiki for self-management & self-reflection

·         Wiki for complaints of employees

·         Wiki for project management in courses

·         Wiki for gaining qualification

Creating a wiki for self-management & self-reflection

This wiki is especially meant for the reintegration into labour market. Many young people do not know their strengths and weaknesses. This wiki should bring each participant from the actual state to the desired condition by listing ones obtained as well as missing qualifications. The wiki should also include the participants’ visions on what they want to achieve regarding their professional lives. In order to obtain new qualifications the wiki shall include possibilities for further education as well as branches and sectors possible employment opportunities within different sectors.

Wiki for internal communication (for employees)

This wiki is primarly meant for employees of the same company to share thoughts, needs of improvement and complaints. This wiki would act as a central voice of the employees, where everybody can participate. Possible categories of the wiki would be:

·         Induction Training

·         General ideas for improvement

·         Set of Methodologies

·         Health promotion

·         Activities for team building (i.e. during leisure time)

Wiki for project management courses

This wiki is meant for courses regarding project management. The Wiki shall include the following categories:

·         Guidelines and handbook for project management

·         Content of project management

·         Presentations forms (i.e. Power Point)

·         Ideas for Topics

·         Experiences on projects

·         Best Practices

Wiki for gaining qualification

The participants called this wiki quail-wiki and shall give an overview on what different qualifications can be obtained in Austria. Therefore it shall include the following categories:

·         Who needs what?

·         Who offers the desired courses (when and where)?

·         What does this cost?

·         How long does it take?

·         What kind of Resources do I need to participate?

·         Live Goal: What do I want to achieve in 5 years?

The goal of this Wiki is to obtain better qualification by writing ones goals down.

2.3. Identification of obstacles

Participants identified the following obstacles concerning the implementation of wikis in educational contexts:

• Lack of digital skills: almost all teachers mentioned that their course participants very often only have little experience with computers and technologies.
• Time for setup and administration 
• Administration and Maintenance of a wikis: participants mentioned their fear of not having the skills for maintaining and administrating the wiki

2.4. Identification of user needs

In order to overcome these obstacles, the following needs were being identified: 

• Need for teacher training: trainers have to be informed with the multiple application possibilities of wikis as well as of their simple setup and administration, the fear of maintaining a wiki can also be overcome by having a contact person for wikis
• Need for support by the company:  setting up wikis for educational contexts also needs the support by the company, therefore all  employees as well as superiors have to informed about the advantages of wikis; this also leads to the
• Need for awareness raising of how simple wikis are even with only a few digital skills
• Need for better digital skills: teachers mentioned the lack of digital skills of their course participants

3. Event satisfaction 

At the end of the workshop, teachers were asked to fill out an evaluation form. The following table sums up the results of all 16 evaluation forms.