Integrating Gallery Walks and Wikis in a Synergic Instructional Activity: An Exploratory Study of Students' Perceptions

The effectiveness of classroom-based active learning environments in transferring their benefits outside the classroom remains nebulous. We present exploratory results of students' perceptions of a synergic integration of Gallery Walks (an active learning strategy) with a course Wiki (a collaborative Web 2.0 tool). This integration was designed to extend the benefits of active learning beyond the classroom and into a more permanent and accessible digital learning community. An anonymous exit survey was administered online at the end of the course to measure students' perceptions on the impact of this instructional strategy. The survey used an involvement scale for both Gallery Walks and Wikis, and a series of open-ended questions regarding the strengths and weaknesses of these two instructional tools. A one-sample t-Test using the middle of the scale (the lecture involvement) as the test value indicated a statistical significant higher involvement for the Gallery Walk than the lecture. No statistically significant difference between Wikis and lectures was found. These findings indicate that students perceived Gallery Walks as out-of-norm-classroom activities, while Wikis were perceived more as an extension of the classroom activities. Students' open-ended feedback on the two instructional tools complemented these quantitative findings.