Online Wiki Collaboration By Teachers of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

Ashared understanding of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and a coordinated approach to teaching diagnosed students is essential because of the complex learning needs of this cohort. This research examines the ways in which special educators used wiki technology to create a working document and to share and develop their perspectives about fundamental autism constructs. The teachers appreciated the flexibility and convenience of wikis in a postgraduate course and collaboratively authored a working document. This suggested the wiki facilitated the development of a community of practice. Analysis of wiki comments further showed that, despite considerable experience in face-to-face communication, the teachers did not construct transparent protocols to guide the online decision-making process so did not fully exploit the capacity of this technology. Teachers had confidence in the privacy of a password-protected site but did not consider that the collaborative e-learning tool would be gainfully used by students on the spectrum because of their social and communication deficits. Nevertheless, teachers envisaged potential benefits if wikis were to be adopted by school staff.