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ClassroomWiki is a Collaborative Wiki writing tool with a Multiagent group formation framework. ClassroomWiki provides a typical Wikipedia-like interface to the students where he or she can collaborate with his or her group members to create a Wiki on a topic specified by the teacher.

ClassroomWiki for Teachers

Wikis today are gaining popularity as a tool for implementing collaborative learning for instructional uses.  However, the typical Wikis do not adequately address two critical aspects of collaborative learning: (1) group formation and (2) individual assessment of students.  However, typical Wiki tools used for collaborative writing/learning do not use tracking and modeling of student behavior to form better student groups or to calculate/validate the individual contribution of the students to prevent free-riding.  To address these problems, we have designed and implemented ClassroomWiki.  Using ClassroomWiki, we aim to improve the typical Wikis’ method as a pedagogical tool for collaborative learning, especially in (1) forming groups, (2) assessing a student’s contributions towards his or her group, and (3) facilitating specific and precise teacher interventions by our newly designed and implemented ClassroomWiki. ClassroomWiki provides the following functionalities for the teacher:

1. Automated Formation of Student Groups using Random and MHCF – a multiagent group formation method designed based on collaborative-learning theories.
2. User friendly administration of Wiki assignments
3. User friendly and easy method of grading and commenting on group assignments
4. A detailed and accurate individual contribution matrix for the students to help the teacher convert a group’s grade to individual student members’ grades.

ClassroomWiki for Students
Collaborative Writings are assignments where students work together in a group to write about a specific topic.  While collaborating, the students are able to edit/revise/comment on each other’s work to prepare a coherent final version of the writing assignment to submit as a group.  During this collaboration process, the students have the opportunity to learn about the topic assigned for the writing assignment and to improve their: (1) Writing, (2) Communication, (3) Teamwork, and (4) Critiquing skills.  All of these skills are absolutely essential to be successful in most of the jobs that are available today in the academia and in the industry.  To be specific, ClassroomWiki is a web-based (i.e., accessed using a browser) collaborative writing tool that allows the students to:

1. Edit/revise their group assignment using a user-friendly Wiki-like interface
2. Easily keep track of all editions/revisions through a color-coded history of changes
3. Communicate with their group members using a topic-based forum

System Requirements

ClassroomWiki is a web-base system and the only system requirement for ClassroomWiki is that you use Mozilla Firefox browser.   Firefox is a free web-browser and can be downloaded from http://www.firefox.com

ClassroomWiki Manuals
•    ClassroomWiki Manual for Teachers [Download]
•    ClassroomWiki Manual for Students [Download]

ClassroomWiki Surveys
•    ClassroomWiki’s Wiki-Rating, Peer-Rating, and Team-Rating Surveys [Download]