Evaluation of a wiki for lesson reflection in the project “Kolumbus-Kids” at Bielefeld University

Abstract

This article deals with a concept helping to reflect on teaching practice in the project “Kolumbus-Kids” at XXX University. Lesson reflection aims at the mediation and training of certain teaching competences of student teachers with the help of a wiki. In any case, self-reflection after one’s own teaching should be promoted by using the newly developed reflection wiki, its videotaping and reflection tasks.

The theoretical approach behind the reflection wiki harks back to the theory of the Reflective Practitioner by D. A. Schön (1983). Further, theories of Dewey (1933 and 1951), Zwiebel (2001) and Hager (2008) help to emphasise features of self-reflective thinking and means of their promotion. There will also be an overview of current research in the areas of self-reflection and videography, with the latter being an effective way for improving reflection.  

The study presented in this article evaluates the reflection wiki based on data that were gathered in the context of the users’ affective-emotional state. Apart from that, the users’ deliberate assessments are recorded via a questionnaire which presumably helps to improve the teacher trainees’ reflection competence and teaching skills. As the results show, the positive affects, particularly motivated and interested, were significantly higher developed than negative emotions. It could also be found that the students considered the wiki user-friendly and as a means of engaging more deeply with their teaching skills and reflection videos. The evaluation questionnaire’s interpretation brought to light some improvement suggestions. In general, however, the evaluation underlines the wiki’s high quality from the users’ perspective. All the findings recommend continuing the use of the reflection wiki in the “Kolumbus-Kids” courses.