MarkIerullo

=Reflection=

Part 1
I've used it before so the 'neat factor' isn't there anymore. However, it still is an effective tool for spreading information throughout the entire class. It isn't so much just an assignment but as seen already is becoming our class homepage instead of needing WebCT or Blackboard. As long as everyone keeps active, the wikispace has so much potential and everyone will surely benefit from it. My expectations for this assignment are the same as any other assignment. Complete the assignment, complete it on time and complete it to the best of my ability. I liked the wiki more for the endless possibilities is can be used for more than the actual assignment itself. Everything you needed to know for the course was posted there. There were helpful FAQs, test info, lecture notes and textbook notes, almost everything you need to be successful in a course all on one site. I plan to contribute as much as I can to the wikispace. I'll of course complete the assignment but also provide maintence and help wherever it's needed to ensure a quality space is built.
 * **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?**

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Part 2
I feel that my spelling and grammar is really well developed so it is one of the first things I will look for on a page. I think that there is a lot of very detailed content on our wikispace and some of them just need to be polished a little to make them even better. If there are grammatical mistakes to correct, I try to find pages I have interest in or some knowledge about. This is where I can add my own thoughts or facts to pages to add a little more content. I don't really have a problem with it. It's part of the assignment so we kind of have to do it. I bet some people will find it intrusive as a lot of people are defensive when it comes to their own personal work. I think in the long run this peer editing is better for everyone. Collaborative work is usually a lot more effective than individual work and we will probably end up with 100 well constructed pages of information than just 100 pages of just OK information. I've just started adding things to the wikispace so I have not experienced this yet this year. However, I used wikispaces last year and I know what it feels like. I think some people just edit for the sake of editing and gaining marks for community involvement. People who do this don't really add anything constructive to the pages, if anything they reduce the quality of it. I think pages should only be edited if you are sure you can add something of value to it and not just do it for the sake of it.
 * **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?**

Part 3
My views regarding collaborative learning really haven’t changed it all. It’s undoubtedly a lot more efficient and results in a lot better outcome than individual learning. The problem is however, the only time I can see myself using wikispaces, at least at this point in time, is for school purposes only. On top of that, in order to get a result such as what we have now in the CCT333 wikispace, other classes as a whole would need to adopt the wikispace, not just a few people. The problem with this is that people who haven’t yet used wikispaces already have the burden of a full course load and learning something new is never very appealing. Aside from that, I think everyone knows a group effort is a lot more effective than an individual one and wikispaces should definitely be included with all courses for collaborative learning purposes. I don’t really think any improvements are necessary. It does what it needs to do and does a good job of it. The only suggestion I can think of for the wikispace itself is the implementation of a spelling and grammar checker. Apparently doing your work in a word processor and copy it over to the wikispace is a daunting task. This results in quite a few contributions that are almost unreadable due to writing errors. Having something built into the site that checks your edits in real-time would definitely improve on the presentation of content on the wikispace. Not to mention it will cut down on the amount of people padding their edit count by running people’s content through spell-check. Study notes!! Thank you to everyone who posted their notes! I’m not a huge fan of reading and taking notes, or reading at all for that matter, but the notes were really nice to have. I also liked the FAQ sections. Not only could we get a response from the course instructors but chances are we would get an even faster response from classmates. Some of the contributions were interesting to read as well, I learned a bunch of stuff that I probably wouldn’t know about if it wasn’t for the wikispace.
 * **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?**

=Edits=

Major Contribution

 * DSDM - November 20, 2006

Minor Contributions
> >
 * Added Course Reflection December 7, 2006
 * Added Test Feedback December 7, 2006
 * Added Wiki Reflection Part 3 December 7, 2006
 * Major Edit of Design Process November 19, 2006
 * Added Wiki Reflection Part 2 November 14, 2006
 * Minor Edit of Norman, Donald. A November 14, 2006
 * Added Wiki Reflection Part 1 October 20, 206
 * Updated Textbook Availibilty October 3, 2006