Case description
The TWEAK project set out to improve the relationship between educational tasks, collectively oriented tools such as wikis and teacher support. We argued that the rationale was found in the knowledge society's requirements for people to take on challenges too demanding for the individual. Wikis make it possible to coordinate individual agency with small groups as well as larger collectives, and we argued that such coordination needed to be addressed in the classroom in order to prepare learners for future work and societal participation.
We wanted to develop new designs and models that balanced learner exploration and negotiation with more goal directed efforts to bring knowledge advancement more up front in the subjects: English and Modern History.
Partly, we have addressed the above concerns by analyzing and supporting activities where learners engaged individually and collaboratively. Also, we have designed wiki features for teacher participation within the wiki environment.
This relationship (pedagogical - technological design) is under-researched but vital for understanding how learners and teachers orient themselves towards shared learning goals.
Our achievements can be summarized as follows:
- we have matched collectively oriented tools (wikis) with tasks that require collaborative efforts. This includes analyzing and tweaking wikis for the advancement of knowledge.
- we have created a space for a teacher's participation in the wiki so that he or she can better support online learning activities
The added value emerging from the two issues above represents a combination of:
- Research publications where amongst other issues future models for education is described, analysed and discussed
- Design principles and developments of a wiki
- Innovations related to our partner schools and beyond (e.g. in the shape of video productions, teacher collaboration, conference contributions, and impact on teacher education).
The project has drawn on a long term research at two senior high schools in Norway. The research started in the fall of 2005 using wikis for development of collective language production in the school subject English as a Second Language (ESL). The experience and findings from this wiki research were brought into the TWEAK project. The TWEAK project is still ongoing.
Partners
- Ullern Upper Secondary School
- Stovner Upper Secondary School