A Case Study of Wikis’ Effects on Online Transactional Interactions

Increasing interactions between learners and instructors is critical to help learners attain learning outcomes in online learning. Wikis, among a suite of Web 2.0 emerging learning technologies, are suggested to be effective in enhancing online interactions by mediating collaborative knowledge development processes. To enable online instructors to confidently utilize wikis to enhance online interactions, existing online learning theories must be applied to examine learning activities in wikis. Therefore this exploratory case study, grounded in transactional interactions, observed a graduate level learning module on (1) what activities learners experienced and (2) how they interacted with their peers and the instructor in an educational wiki. The collected responses indicated that learners perceived a significantly higher level of online interaction with their peers than did with the instructor. Their responses further revealed their activity patterns in accomplishing the weekly wiki assignments. The study suggested that the role of interactions in the wiki might differ from those seen in other online learning tools (e.g., e-mails, online discussion forums) due to its unique utilities. Online instructors also need to implement strategies that consistently support learners’ wiki activities while allowing learner autonomy in order to support authentic wiki collaboration experiences.