A Collaborative space for tutorial groups in 2nd year psychology course

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A Collaborative space for tutorial groups in 2nd
year psychology course

• IS Applications Lunchtime Seminars
• September 2007
• Lorenzo Vigentini, Department of Psychology
• l.vigentini_at_ed.ac.uk

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Psychology _at_ Edinburgh the case
Y2 Heavy practical load with stats research met
hods one 3-hours session per week Fairly large
class (between 150-200 every year)
Diverse background and curricula (both MA and
BSc) Large teaching team (12 Lecturers 17 Tutor
s)
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Psychology _at_ Edinburgh organization

• Practical class run in parallel to the lecture
  series, focus on experimentation
  
• Classes of max 16, 3/4 students per cubicle
• Steep learning curve
• Research methods,
• Statistics theory,
• Use stats in practice

Run their projects
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Psychology 2 adds on
The course is using heavily the VLE and in
practice the material included

• Course admin resources
• Lecture material
• Practical material
• Academic writing Turnitin
• Survey Tool
• Students space (WIKI)

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Psyko-WIKI why?

• A collaborative space for all
• Building knowledge together
• Share material as well as information
• Create a permanent common repository
• We tried personal web pages on a shared network
  drive and it proved to be too difficult
  
• 1) Messy html, 2) learning curve too steep, 3)
  difficult to index and search
  

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Psyko-WIKI how?

• Seamless connection via WebCT (integration
  semi-private access)
  
• Wider support system (tutors beyond the class!)
• Little instructions needed, but templates
  provided
  
• Most accessed the system to edit their bits (only
  2 students never accessed the wiki)
  
• Accommodate different degree of confidence and
  customization for users
  

Thanks to Stephen Vickers!
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How did it work?

• 176 users, 42 project groups
• 155 students users
• 21 sysop (tutorsteaching team)
• Most tried 99 not forced out by HTML
• Feedback overwhelming result as 83 of students
  said the wiki was useful/very useful (n115,
  M3.7)
  
• Projects with better depth and originality

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Our Evaluation

• It is NOT less work for the teaching team!
• But the work is worth the effort
• Clear and permanent record of activities
• Ease of interaction with tutors and peers
• Tutors can evaluate individual students effort

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Summing up the achievements

• Engage the learners in the learning process
  (while they work) via interactivity
  
• Develop new IT skills and knowledge (not just
  reading the book, reflective strategies
  discussion)
  
• Encourage independent learning skills and take
  responsibility for their work (transferable
  lifelong)
  
• Improve students performance with better
  projects
  
• Ensure students satisfaction
• Where next? University central system WIKI pilot
  with Confluence