Abstract

Students are expected and encouraged where possible to explore as much of the literature pertaining to their field of study as possible. Using this literature to enrich their knowledge and improve their assessment submissions. This acquisition and discovery of literature is usually gathered during a student's self directed study period. It is therefore the case that multiple students could be searching for the same materials and resources. Whilst in itself this is not a concern, by effectively crowd-sourcing the research more in-depth and diverse sources could be discovered. In addition, this information, source location and relevance to a topic is lost after the students submission of their assessment. This paper presents an on-line peer collaboration tool called DIVERSE (Development and Integration of Varying Educational Resources and Student Engagement) whose aim is to develop active participation, research and sharing of knowledge between students themselves. It is hoped that the use of such a collaborative tool can improve student research, engagement and attainment with their studies. Within this paper DIVERSE is discussed with regard to its application to student collaboration of research and literature materials and its use throughout the pedagogical experience. Results from the use of DIVERSE with trial modules topics are also presented.