In week 3 we looked at wikis as a tool for collaborative learning. Our focus was on OPSI educational technology standard 1.2 and the use of digital media and environments to communicate and work collectively to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Not surprising that the tag of the week was collaboration.
Beaufait, Lavin, & Tomei (2008) offer many defining tenets of collaboration such as: process oriented, learning groups, mutual responsibility, syntheses, and interdependence. Collaboration implies a high level of interdependence between learners; this interdependence is defined as “a dynamic of being mutually responsible to and dependent on others” (pg. 443). Wikipedia (the wikiest of wikis!) defines collaborative learning as “methodologies and environments in which learners engage in a common task in which each individual depends on and is accountable to each other.” Beaufait et al. believe that collaboration requires equality in participation, with genuine interactions between participants, and the synthesis of work into a unified whole. Used appropriately, a wiki can provide the framework for unification the authors describe. Wikis are collaborative environments by design; their structure is shaped from within rather than imposed from above (Engstrom & Jewett, 2005).
Benefits of collaborative learning include increasing the intellectual capacity of learners, critical thinking, and social and job skills (Beaufait et al., 2008). Critical thinking is a huge buzzword in nursing education and nursing is by nature a collaborative profession. Nurses are an integral part of a healthcare team and as such must be collaborative. I think a wiki for nurses and/or nurse educators would be a valuable tool. And guess what?! I discovered a nursing wiki 
that is touted as a free multilingual wiki project for healthcare and nursing information that anyone can edit. The wiki is driven by the nursing community and concentrates on nursing-specific content. This wiki is still fairly new, but a sponsoring “sister” wiki in Germany (PflegeWiki) has more than 5000 articles about different nursing topics. For example there are entries with concrete instructions (how to put on sterile gloves), special procedures (replacing a tracheal cannula), profiles of well-known nurses, information about diseases and anatomy, as well as nursing theories, nursing models, and articles about nursing science. Many articles contain photographs or other visual aids, which can also be freely used on home pages as well as for lectures as long as credit is given to PflegeWiki.
The collaboration of many nurses and nurse educators enrich the wiki with their specific expertise and experience, which are often missing from common nursing textbooks. Nursing students can publish their class notes and papers on the wiki and find the necessary information to prepare for exams or clinicals. Patients and their families can find information and share experiences. The wiki can allow users to develop new knowledge that is “shared and constructed rather than transmitted one way from teacher to students” (Beaufait et al., 2008). Collaborative teaching allows students and teachers to work together to “discover, create, and expand their understanding and skills. This is collaborative learning the wiki-way.
References
Beaufait, P. A., Lavin, R. S., & Tomei, J. (2008). Online collaboration: An overview. Education for a Digital World. Retrieved October 14, 2009, from http://www.colfinder.org/materials/Education_for_a_Digital_World/Education_for_a_Digital_World_part5.pdf
Engstrom, M. E., & Jewett, D. (2005). Collaborative learning the wiki way. Tech Trends, 49(6), 12-16. Retrieved October 16, 2009, from http://www.columbia.edu/~yc2154/013007/out-4.pdf
