nancyniu

Contributions:
1. Created the Google article in the Table of Contents - Nov.5 2. Started the Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design article - Nov.5 3. Edited and added content to Meta Tags article - Dec.3 4. Posted Final Test Study Notes covering Weeks 1-4 - Dec.7 5. Added a small paragraph under "Color and User Experience" in the Colour page - Dec.7

Analysis & Reflections:

 * 1. When first encountering wiki at the beginning of the course.**

I felt that using the wikispace was a very efficient and effective way to get students to collaborate and share their ideas about the course and what they thought to be relevant content. It is a very accessible way for all students to constantly update their input and see what changes others have added. I expect myself to remain as active as possible within this wikispace because it will benefit both my peers and I in terms of our learning process in this class. This is the first time wikispaces has been introduced to, but the concept of it is nothing new. Last year in my computer science course, I wrote an article about our school’s BikeShare Program at UTM in the form of a wikipedia article, and it was optional whether or not you wanted to post it onto wikipedia and I did. It was really exciting to see something I wrote become part of an online encyclopedia that is used worldwide. With the small amount of experience I have had, I think what I most importantly contribute is editing mistakes other have made in terms of content and fixing up formatting and organizational structures.


 * 2. Think about the following and answer to the best of your ability.**

Usually when I first sign onto wiki, I go through the table of contents to check if anyone has added new topics. And while I’m doing that, I always come across something new, or sometimes something old that sparks my interest. Those are usually the articles I like to contribute to. I also look for topics that are very vague, such as Network or something, which encompasses a broad spectrum of topics and those topics usually need people to add more specific content to it. I think adding, editing or re-arranging other people’s work is completely acceptable on the account that you have the intention of improving the article, as opposed to just entirely deleting someone else’s work. I regularly check my own postings history out of curiosity because I like to see if what I said was accurate or not, or if someone else liked what I wrote about and decided to extend on my topic. No one has yet to change my work, only added to it.

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 * 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?

I used to think "collaborative learning" could be defined to the extent of students posting on discussino boards or forums discussing questions about the course content because they were solely seeking answers or responding to some mandatory request from the teacher. After wikispace, I have started to perceive the term to be much more broad in terms of a community in which everyone genuinely contributes content that is helpful to all students. I think collaborative learning encompasses an array of shared information, whether it be academic content or content that is purely for fun and personal interests. After having had used wiki, I think there are some simple improvements that could benefit all wiki-users. When someone is editing a page, it would be a lot more convenient to change font size, hyperlinnk text, and so on if the tool bar at the top of the Edit page were to be replicated at the bottom of the edit box. Whenever I was editing content, I kept having to scroll up to change my font, hyperlink and so on which I found really annoying and inefficient. Despite this attribute of wiki, the content generated by everyone in cct333 was very helpful. For example, if there was a concept or idea covered in class that I was unclear about, most of the time I was able to go onto wiki and find clarification. If I was not able to, I could simply post a discussion or announcement that would surely be responded to within a day or two. This, I felt was a very important aspect of wiki because by me asking another student a question or vice versa, someone's knowledge of the course and related matters are being reinforced. Another aspect of wiki I really enjoyed was how everyone was able to access their peers' work in progress. Espeially during the process of completing our Technology Redesign Project, to be able to see what other groups are doing not only creates a more interactive environment between students, but also one that encourages innovation in idea and solutions.