Use of a wiki to enhance group projects

Group projects can be useful teaching tools, but there are challenges involved. Assessing individual contributions to a group project is difficult for the instructor, whereas assembling individual pieces into a coherent final form is difficult for the students. A group of five honors students collaborated for a group project for a first-semester biochemistry course at Western Kentucky University; the project involved a thorough investigation into Alzheimer’s disease from several perspectives (biochemistry, clinical outlook, effects on society, etc.). Using Netcipia, a private wiki was established so that the students could add individual contributions into the growing project; other group members would then have immediate access to the updated project. Assessment of individual contributions is aided by the preservation of previous versions and the ability to compare versions to see what each individual added. The use of the wiki provided several benefits as well as some challenges.