Joseph+Ticar

Pages made: - Ergonomics - Chindogu - Guitar body shapes - Ubiquitous computing

Pages edited: - James Bond gadgets - Added "AI In Popular Culture" to Artificial Intelligence

Analysis and Reflection (5%)
Students should outline their contributions to the wiki and share their reflections, concerns, and suggestions for future Wiki-makers. This will include at least 3 separate entries of 1-2 paragraphs each throughout the term :

1. When first encountering wiki at the beginning of the course. > > >
 * What do you think/feel about this collaborative learning environment?
 * What are your expectations for yourself ?
 * If you have previously used wiki in another course, then describe what you have previously learned and how you want expand your understanding.
 * What can you contribute as an experienced participant?

2. Think about the following and answer to the best of your ability: >
 * How do you choose which postings to contribute or change?
 * What are your thoughts on adding, editing or re-arranging other people's work?
 * Do you regularly check your own postings for alterations? Has anyone changed your work and how have you felt about it

3. As a final reflection on your experience with the CCT333 wiki, look back and read your first entry. >
 * Have your views changed in regards to collaborative learning while participating in this wiki?
 * Are there any ideas, suggestions or comments you could share for possible improvements?
 * Things you thought were most productive or helpful about using wiki?


 * Part 1**

Collaborative learning is often underestimated; however, using wikispaces within this course, and others, has changed my perspective. This is because the amount of research put into each article, along with the collective efforts to correct, edit, change, and enhance each posting allows for quality content. I like to think that my expectations are reasonable, and I set them by looking at the quality of the posting that is done, and I set them slightly higher. Thus, I attempt to gradually improve my own postings and the postings of my fellow classmates.

Having used a wiki last year for another CCT course, I found that it was reasonably confusing as a first time user. The functions were slightly alien to me, and there are still some things I don't know. I would like to expand my understanding of wikispaces by interacting with other users in different wikis. However, as an experienced participant of wikispaces, I believe that I can contribute help for first time users. Content-wise, I believe that a basic knowledge of the interface in the editor will allow me to create better posts, since I can spend less time worrying about aesthetics and put more time into enhancing the quality of what I am writing.

Usually I choose postings to edit or change based on how much content has been written. I find that if there has been a lot written about a topic, there has usually been a lot of work done on it, and many things have already been written about. In contrast, small stubs have a lot of material that has not yet been covered.
 * Part 2**

Adding, editing, and re-arranging the work of a fellow classmate is not an issue for me. This is necessary sometimes to preserve the quality of an article, and I would expect someone to re-write, edit, or add on to, one of my posts if there was room for improvement.

I regularly check my postings for changes, and to have people modify it interests me. To a lesser extent, the collaborative learning environment allows for a visualization of how concepts and ideas evolve and change over time. I feel that the opportunity for modification allows for a genuine chance to "learn from your mistakes", since I am able to take the modifications that have been applied to my postings and apply them to other postings that can use them.

My views of collaborative learning have definitely changed since starting this wiki. This is because I have learned that collaborative learning, in some cases, can result in a small chunk of people doing the work, while some do nothing at all. Thus, I have learned that collaborative learning does have its limits.
 * Part 3**

Suggestions that I would make for possible improvements in the future use of wikis as a collaborative learning tool would be aimed towards making the use of wikis more efficient. For example, in using wikis as a group work tool, I think it would be more effective to have users hand in a paper copy of their work in tandem with posting other items on the wiki to encourage them to avoid doing last minute posts on wikispaces.

One of the things I found productive about wikispaces was that edits could be done at the same time by multiple individuals. Additionally, the ability to post collaborative study notes and chapter summaries helped in gathering material to study for the tests.