Supporting collaborative group projects with Web 2.0 tools: A holistic approach

This study seeks to understand how first-year teacher education students in a Hong Kong university employed wikis, together with other Web 2.0 tools, in support of group work. Taking a holistic approach, the investigation included the technological tools designed by the instructor, and those tools employed by students themselves outside the classroom. This study uses questionnaire, interviews, and online artefacts as the main source of data. The results show a departure from the instructor’s intended design of having wikis as the unified group space. The students deployed multiple tools together with wikis based on their needs, strategies, and habits. The study has implications for researchers and practitioners in examining and designing group work with multiple technologies.