Using Wikis and Weblogs to Support Reflective Learning

An observation and a pedagogical challenge often found in project-based design courses is that students see what they have produced but they do not see what they have learned.

Use of weblogs and wiki environments to facilitate student integration and synthesis of learning in Designing the Human Experience.

This study explores how the combination of this innovative pedagogy along with these new forms of social software can positively influence students’ knowledge, awareness, and skills in design engineering.

Folio Thinking is an instructional method grounded in the process of students creating learning portfolios.  The Folio
Thinking pedagogical approach is designed to enhance self-awareness by enabling students to make their knowledge explicit and visible for themselves as well as for others. Folio Thinking also deepens learning by enabling students to make meaningful connections.

By linking the process of design to the process of creating a learning portfolio, students have a concrete context in which they can openly and consciously engage in reflection. Creating a portfolio also prompts students to physically juxtapose learning experiences that are otherwise separated by time and space and make meaningful connections among those experiences that can lead to powerful new insights about themselves and their learning career.

Hypothesis that the combination of Folio Thinking practices with the wiki and blog technology will increase: 1)
awareness of what is learned and 2) articulation of connections between learning and the design process. Folio Thinking will enhance the interactive nature of wikis and blogs by encouraging students to make their knowledge explicit and visible not only for themselves but also for course instructors, team coaches, and their peers.

Using Wikis and Weblogs to Support Reflective Learning