Social network analysis of student wikis for collaborative projects

Abstract

This study analyzes Wikis of 47 secondary student groups from a social network perspective. Student co-editing and modification networks were extracted from the change histories of each group's Wiki pages. The network meaures were then analyzed in conjunction with teachers' intervention, student perceptions on the usefulness of the ICT tool (Google Sites), and assessment scores in students' information literacy. The results show that teachers explicit participation and comments were important for students' collaborative learning, and networks with higher equality are more desirable. Such findings not only contribute to the literacture but also provide practical suggestions to teachers.