Wikifolios and Participatory Assessment for Engagement, Understanding, and Achievement in Online Courses

Abstract

This paper presents new insights from ongoing design-based research of graduate-level online courses in a school of education. This research has been refining the use of widely available wikis and online assessment tools to deliver broad learning outcomes. The research started with a general goal that reflects current situative theories of instruction and assessment, and resulted in five general design principles and course features used to enact those principles. Reflecting the first two principles, each student articulates the relative relevance of chapter concepts for a personally meaningful problem context and then engages threaded discussions within and across networking groups via comments placed directly on wikifolios. Reflecting the third principle, wikifolios and comments are not directly graded; rather, they are evaluated using student reflections placed directly in their wikifolio. Reflecting the fourth and fifth principles, conceptual understanding and aggregated achievement are discreetly assessed with timed exams using conventional items. Examples and learning outcomes from two recent courses are presented.