In the Classroom
Using Chem-Wiki To Increase Student Collaboration through Online Lab Reporting Edward W. Elliott III and Ana Fraiman* Department of Chemistry, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, Illinois 60625-4699 *
[email protected] The Changing Laboratory Environment In the science laboratory, and in chemistry particularly, the mode has shifted from individual work to group collaboration (1-6). Wiki is a Web 2.0 software application that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using Web browsers (7). Wiki allows participants of the groups to add, remove, edit, and change content. Wikipedia is the most widely known wiki (8, 9). The Chem-Wiki project is an extension of the multidimensional Web lab reporting that was previously in place in order to adapt the previous laboratory work model to the new reality of group collaboration (10). This project aims to enhance the process of collaboration by facilitating the sharing of students' ideas at all times. In the past, laboratory assignments in organic chemistry at Northeastern Illinois University were verification laboratories conducted by pairs of students, although the lab report was done individually. Today, the nature of team laboratory work is that the laboratories are conducted in larger groups (six to eight students), and the collection and analysis of a full set of data requires discussion and collaboration among the students. In the last six weeks of the lab of Organic Chemistry 1 (Chem 231) and Organic Chemistry 2 (Chem 232), students work in teams of six to eight students and use the Biodiesel Module developed for CASPiE (Center for Authentic Science Practice in Education) (11). The inquiry- and research-based nature of these laboratories requires that students discuss their results and analyze them as a group and decide together what needs to be done during the following laboratory meeting. These experiments are performed over the course of several meetings, and the ChemWiki allows students to have an increased opportunity to discuss their results and interact with each other outside the lab. At the end of the six-week, research-based laboratory experiment, each team of students submits one compiled report that documents all of their progress, analyses, and results throughout the entire experiment. Team laboratories place new challenges and time constraints on students because successful progress and completion of the research-based laboratories requires analysis during and outside of the lab. While students discuss and analyze their findings during the assigned lab period, time is insufficient to complete data analysis during the lab period. This lab format requires the coordination of six to eight students' schedules outside of the lab, and it is often not easy for the students to find mutually convenient meeting times. This problem is exacerbated in nonresidential institutions where the students are on campus for a limited amount of time during the 54
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week. Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is a nonresidential institution, serving 12,000 students in the greater Chicago area. NEIU is the most diverse university in the Midwest (according to U.S. News and World Report, see ref 12) and a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution. The student population consists primarily of commuting students, many of whom also work full- or part-time in addition to completing their studies. Classes and laboratories often take place in the evening, which leaves little time for on-campus, out-of-classroom collaboration among students. What was needed was a way to allow students to continue to collaborate with their teams after they leave the lab. The previous Web-based, multidimensional lab reports allowed students to post the data they collected but left no easy way for further communication. The solution was to find a way to merge what had been done in the past with Web-based lab reports with the increased communication channels and flexibility afforded by a wiki format. Past Use of Multimedia Software in Laboratory Reporting Using technology to enhance the laboratory experience of students has been pursued before at NEIU. Students in one section of organic chemistry classes have already been using various multimedia and Web-based technologies to construct lab reports for some time (13). The purpose of using technology was two-fold. First, it allowed students to share their lab findings with a broad audience by posting their lab report. Second, it enabled students to use multimedia components to convey their information in a more interesting and nonlinear way using hyperlinks. Since its inception, the technology has been updated but the idea has remained the same. In the most recent formulation, students used hypertext (HTML) to prepare lab reports to post on the Web so that other students can view the lab reports. As traditionally practiced, written lab reports are often constrained by two important factors. First, the written medium generally leads to space limitations. This constrains students' ability to expand the scope of the project. Students tend to exclude references to outside sources, because merely explaining their relevance can often take up vital space in their report. Second, the linear aspect of the report creates constraints in introducing related, but not directly pertinent, information. The wiki format addresses both of these concerns. First, each part of the lab report can be linked to other material the students find relevant and interesting but beyond the scope of a traditional written report. Additionally, the ease of linking to already extant Web material enables students to maintain the coherent flow of
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In the Classroom
their report while introducing interesting sources for the reader. In this way, students are able to create a web of knowledge that mirrors the way that they think across several topics. Second, students can incorporate a wide variety of multimedia content into their lab report that better illustrates these complicated concepts. Finally, connections across topics are often difficult to organize within a written lab report, so the ability to virtually link across subtopics facilitates students' ability to create these relevant connections in Web-based (Chem-Wiki) lab reporting. New Applications of Emerging Web Technology Increased use of Web 2.0 technologies has expanded the ways in which people interact and collaborate. The academic community has begun to adopt many of these tools to achieve various ends. Some educational institutions build wiki Web pages filled with information about the school, and some schools use wiki sites to share information across geography (14). Wikipedia has become a new way to share information across a wide range of topics and for a broad range of uses. Moreover, the Wikipedia model allows users to constantly update both the information available and create links to that information. This technology is now being adapted to fit the changing environment within the lab by increasing student “virtual” collaboration outside the lab. The wiki format encourages sustained student interaction outside of the laboratory, thereby enhancing the learning experience of the students. By bringing lab reporting to the wiki format the students are not only able to construct a database of knowledge, they can also work together in teams to analyze and synthesize the data recorded in the laboratory. Our Chem-Wiki project is a place for groups of students to discuss, collaborate, and report on work performed in the laboratory. (See ref 15 for examples of students' work done using the Chem-Wiki.) Advantages of the Wiki Format Using the Chem-Wiki space offers the team of students the opportunity to extend collaboration in a more effective way outside the lab. The increased online collaboration also provides a place for teachers to answer student questions or redirect a group's discussion as work progresses without the limitations of formal office hours. By moving the laboratory discussion and reporting to the Chem-Wiki site, students are able to make their individual contributions without rigid time constraints and attain the benefit of discussing their contributions with their team. A discussion page attached to each Web page facilitates this type of collaborative environment. Here, the students can divide up the work to be done, ask questions, or exchange data between everyone in the group even when it was not possible for the group to meet in one place at one time. When a student works on a page their edit is immediately available for all the other group members to view, comment on, and then in turn edit again. Additionally, the Chem-Wiki format creates a record of all members' contributions and allows one to see the collaboration between individual students that eventually leads to a report. The record of all contributions is maintained, and a history is then constructed showing the page at each stage of construction. The professor and other group members are able to see not just the final product but how each member of the team contributes to
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the report. This can also be used to examine how the group reaches their final conclusions and allows for individual evaluations as the professor sees fit. One of the most promising additions brought about by transitioning the students to the Chem-Wiki project is the student glossary. The Chem-Wiki provides a space for a student-constructed glossary to be linked to from within their lab reports. These definitions are not simply copied out of another reference book but built up more specifically as the words are used in the laboratories. Optionally, the glossaries from each group of students can be kept and added to over time so that a comprehensive, subject-specific dictionary can be compiled. This enables students to become more familiar with laboratory terminology, procedures, and concepts in their own words and elaborating on specific areas that they may find more difficult. The students build their own “Chem-Wiki-Pedia”. The Chem-Wiki project also proves to be particularly well suited to the needs of students on nonresidential campuses. By providing a place for discussion outside of the lab, collaboration can continue unimpeded after the lab is over. Additionally, irrespective of schedule conflicts, students increasingly use the Internet to communicate and aggregate knowledge, so this is a medium with which they are familiar and comfortable. In light of these trends, the wiki format will increasingly become second nature and will facilitate sharing of knowledge without temporal or physical constraints. Chem-Wiki shows itself to be very student friendly as well. No external software is required to edit the Web site. Resources can be created in a variety of external applications and uploaded to the site. The reporting process is therefore not tied to any particular version of software. Every step of the process from uploading new resources to editing or creating pages can be done from any computer with a Web browser and Internet access. Our goal is to provide students with new tools without burdening them with spending more time learning new syntax. The wiki format allows students to begin editing pages at once after a single brief demonstration of the interface by a trained student. Summary Web-based, multidimensional lab reports offer several advantages over traditional paper lab reports. First, whereas paperbased reports are generally one-dimensional, Web-and wikibased lab reports allow students to map their knowledge in a unique, nonlinear way by using hyperlinks. Because the ChemWiki pages can be edited continuously, these links can be updated and changed and the report is dynamic until the end of the semester when the group pages are locked. The ease of continuous updating data is especially beneficial in team- and research-based lab experiments. Second, the lab environment has changed and is continuing to move toward increased team collaboration. Chem-Wiki provides a way to meet the demands of this new environment by providing a dynamic space for discussion and reporting. This increased collaboration extends the discussion about the lab work outside of the laboratory, allowing each individual's knowledge and experience to be efficiently and effectively shared with the rest of the team. Third, the Chem-Wiki project ultimately enhances the learning experience of students through opportunities for increased group collaboration. This format is endlessly flexible as it
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can be organized and reorganized in a countless number of ways. This makes the wiki format a powerful tool for learning, as students' different viewpoints are shared and a deeper understanding is integrated into the report. Most importantly, the students decide how to link this information together, making it more useful as a reference guide for themselves in the future. Acknowledgment We would like to thank Radu Purtuc for his knowledgeable input into the creation and implementation of the Chem-Wiki project and Keren Fraiman-Stieber for her invaluable help in editing this paper. Literature Cited 1. Horowitz, G. J. Chem. Educ. 2007, 84, 346–353. 2. Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) Home Page. http://new.pogil.org/ (accessed Oct 2009). 3. Center for Authentic Science Practice in Education (CASPiE). http://www.caspie.org/ (accessed Oct 2009). 4. Alexander, B. Educause Rev. 2006, 41 (2), 32–44.
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5. Minol, K; Spelsberg, G.; Schulte, E.; Morris, N. J. Biotechnol. 2007, 9, 1129–1140. 6. Cooper, M. M. An Introduction to Small-Group Learning. In Chemists' Guide to Effective Teaching, Pienta, N. J., Cooper, M. M., Greenbowe, T. J., Eds.; Pearson Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2005; pp 117-128. 7. Wiki 2.0 Home Page. http://www.wiki.org/ (accessed Oct 2009). 8. Wikipedia Home Page. http://www.wikipedia.org/ (accessed Oct 2009). 9. Warlick, D. Technol. Learning 2007, 11, 36. 10. Jenkinson, G. T.; Fraiman, A. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76, 283–284. 11. Curtis-Palmer, V.; Fraiman, A. Biodiesel;A CASPiE Module (2007; in revision) http://www.purdue.edu/dp/caspie (accessed Oct 2009). 12. Morse, R. Which Colleges have the most Student Diversity? U.S. News and World Report, August 27, 2009. 13. Tessalee, P.; Fraiman, A. Virtual Laboratory Reports. 18th BCCE, Iowa State University, July 2004. 14. Villano, M. Campus Technol. 2007, June, 29–33. 15. Web Page of Chem-Wiki Sample Lab Reports Created for Organic Chemistry I. http://www.neiu.edu/∼chemdept/OPfraiman.html (accessed Oct 2009).
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