Design and evaluation of a wiki-based collaborative learning environment for colleges computers compulsory education

Collaboration becomes an essential competency in the current knowledge society. College computers compulsory education, which aims to train and develop students from non-computer science disciplines computer application skills, is one of the most important parts of higher education in china. Although a lot of advanced technologies and learning platforms over the past years have been introduction in this field, most of them however just focused on interactive, personalized instruction effectiveness and little attention has been given to examine how collective learning can be offered, coordinated and assessed. As one of the most popular web2.0 technologies, wiki is believed to have large potential for fostering collaborative group work and creating learning resources. In this study, a Wiki-based collaborative learning environment for one college compulsory course entitled “Visual Basic Programming Design” was presented. Three important learning strategies including collaborative and knowledge sharing, monitoring learning process and individual accountability were adopted to assist the development of a collaborative learning community. Evaluations results showed that wiki-based learning environment can effectively contribute to group collaboration, coordination and monitoring learning process. And it can help to control of organizations or instructors to individuals (students).