My context

I have been thinking hard about this reflection! Previously, at UWC, I've lectured to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th students.  I used surveys and hands on exercises to establish where these students were in terms of their digital fluency and learning approach. I had the added advantage of spending loads of time with these students during practical activities which allowed me to get to know them as people.  This helps to understand what drives them. Now, I'm primarily involved with lecturers.  This involves organising and presenting workshops and seminars.  There is a research component which could evolve to working with lecturers.  I have had many discussions in that regard.

What I would like to do is work with a first year mathematics lecturer who is involved with academic development students.  So this adds an extra 'needs' aspect to the situation.

Maths is in crises in South Africa (and world wide).  Of those who pass, many struggle to use the maths in other areas and in higher level maths courses. A key aspect of this is the context in which the students view the material and how they engage each other and teaching staff.  For many students language is also an issue. They also need to develop a reflective approach to learning as a life long habit. 

The lecturer concerned has taught at school level and is passionate about teaching. He is prepared to try new things but requires support on the technology side and the pedagogy or teaching with technology.

One way to address this is to extend engaging "material discussions" using a wiki.  This can be used in the context of a collaborative glossary, collaborative problem solving and projects relating to history and applications.

From my side I realise that I need to learn more about using mathematical notation in a wiki environment (options, requirements etc.), I need to know more about the students as well as the assessment aspects of wikis.  Also there is the design component to ensure student involvement. Knowing where to use the wiki tool is also important e.g. inside an LMS or not?

A key here is to understand the digital access levels of these students and their digital fluency skill levels. It will also be useful to capture their attitudes towards maths and details of their learning approaches.  This type of information can be accessed by a combination of surveys and interviews.

Another interesting possibility is having a collaborative text/note book.  Here students can raise questions about the material, add interesting examples linked to their field etc.

A wiki is not the silver bullet but should be used together with relevant tools and good assessment practices to develop the students on multiple fronts.