Collaborative e-learning environments enhanced by wiki technologies

E-learning environments have met rapid technological advancements in the previous years. Nevertheless, current elearning techniques do not adequately support student interaction and collaboration, resulting in decreased student progress and motivation. In this paper, a blended technique combining collaborative forums and wiki technologies is proposed. Through collaborative forums, students discuss course related topics assigned by the tutors to produce new educational material. This materia] is then stored in the wiki platform for further use. The proposed technique was applied on an e-learning course provided by the National Technical University of Athens and its effectiveness was evaluated using student activity data and questionnaire analysis. Results showed that the technique adequately supported teamwork, increasing student motivation and progress while simultaneously producing satisfactory level educational material.