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Wiki‐supported learning and knowledge building: effects of incongruity between knowledge and information
Author(s) -
Moskaliuk J.,
Kimmerle J.,
Cress U.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of computer assisted learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.583
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2729
pISSN - 0266-4909
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2009.00331.x
Subject(s) - knowledge level , knowledge building , knowledge management , computer science , mathematics education , psychology
This study describes the empirical test of a theoretical model of knowledge building with wikis that was recently introduced by Cress and Kimmerle. The underlying assumption of this model is that both learning (as an internal, individual process) and knowledge building (as the creation of public knowledge) are based on the interplay between an individual's knowledge and the information available in the wiki. Incongruity between individual knowledge and the information contained in the wiki will lead to learning (through the acquisition of factual and conceptual knowledge) and to knowledge building (through assimilation and accommodation). In three conditions, the experiment provided the participants with different levels of incongruity between their individual knowledge and information in the wiki by varying the amount of information that was contained in the wiki, while the amount of information that the participants possessed was kept constant. As predicted, the results confirmed that a medium level of incongruity between an individual's knowledge and the information that a wiki contains will best support learning. Moreover, a medium level of incongruity leads to more accommodative knowledge building despite the fact that high and medium levels of incongruity will result in similar amounts of assimilative knowledge building. The implications of these findings were discussed in the concluding remarks.