A case study of wikis and student-designed games in physical education

This paper reports on the incorporation of wiki technology within physical education. Boys from two classes at a school in the United Kingdom were divided into small teams and given the task of creating a new game in a same genre as football, hockey, netball or rugby. Each team had a wiki on which were recorded all the plans and developments of this game as it was being devised and refined. The teacher, an outside games expert and the school’s librarian also had access to the wikis, which allowed for constant interaction between the participants outside class time. Interviews with the teacher, the librarian and the students revealed that the 24/7 classroom enabled by the ICT, together with an extended community of practice, resulted in a higher quality learning experience in physical education for the participants. Indeed, it was the belief of all concerned that the quality of the end game products would not have been possible without the ICT component.