Evaluating Wikis as an Assessment Tool for Developing Collaboration and Knowledge Management Skills

Pierre Benckendorff James Cook University, Australia In the knowledge-based digital economy the ability to harness digital technologies to capture and manage information is a critical skill for tourism professionals. This article examines the use of wikis as a teaching and learning tool to help students develop a range of knowledge management skills, including creative collaboration, consensus-building and technical literacy. The purpose of the study is to provide an exploratory analysis of student attitudes toward the use of wikis as a collaborative assessment task. The results indicate that wikis are perceived to be a flexible, convenient and fair pedagogical technique for collaborative learning. Many students readily understood and exploited the collaborative and reflective nature of wikis. However, some students did not spend enough time on the task and did not appear to gain as much from the learning experience. This impacted on the extent and quality of collaboration in some groups. It is suggested that a staged wiki assessment might overcome some of the perceived shortcomings reported by students.