Working with Wikis: Collaborative Writing in the 21st Century

Overview & Synopsis

Students in primary schools have been asked to construct both written and multimodal texts for assessment purposes for many years. However these texts have been created on paper usually as individual project. This paper reports on a multiliteracies project involving students collaboratively creating a multimodal information report using the affordances of a wiki. Students found the experience very rewarding, rating the change to the process of learning, the content (Antarctica) and the use of technology as the best aspects. Working with wikis provided the opportunity for students to engage with 21st century literacy practices. It also provided a space in the classroom to trial changes to a conventional pedagogy, curriculum and assessment practices.