Matthew+Spina

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 * Contributions:**
 * Created the Unmasking Super Heroes article describing the evolution of comic books and superheroes as an art form and influential media medium. Invited people to contribute their thoughts and opinions on the subject matter.
 * Contributed to the Alternative Rock genre with media and insightful commentary

The learning environment is an effective tool for organizing a mass amount of content. Students from various technical backgrounds can share their knowledge and experience with others creating a thorough learning enviornment. This type of learning tool is also effective for answering questions related to class material. It can act as a database for answering questions, in some case a Prof. isn't always available to answer questions related to class material. Students can post answers to questions that a Prof. has already addressed so that they are not being asked 20x. It creates a database of class knowledge to enhance the experience.
 * What do you think/feel about this collaborative learning environment?**

I expect to contribute and create content for the wikispace. I expect to check that majority of the content and monitor the subjects I am most knowledgeable about and make sure the content being uploaded is accurate and complete.
 * What are your expectations for yourself ?**

I had previously used the wikispaces forum in CCT205 in last years spring class. I learned from previous experience that it is important to check content that was uploaded by myself to make sure that it was still present upon the completion date. I had the unfortunate incident of having a person remove my content before the due dates, when in fact the person who removed mine could have simply added onto my work rather than removing it entirely. I would like to expand my understanding in different subjects that I am not well versed in, such as new trends in technology and music genres.
 * If you have previously used wiki in another course, describe what you have previously learned and how you want to expand your understanding.**

I specifically look for content that interests me (music, technology etc.) and view the content and assess whether it is accurate and complete or simply needs to have some of the thoughts or opinions finished. Often people post subjects as intentionally incomplete to promote community building and encourage people to contribute to their space. I also look for some suspect information and determine on whether or not I think the content is accurate.
 * How do you choose which postings to contribute or change? What do you look for?**

I don't mind adding to peoples work if it is intentionally incomplete. If the author wants to encourage people to add to the source they will not complete the material. I feel somewhat uneasy about changing someones completed work, as it might undermine or question their knowledge and depth of research they went into in their research/ data gathering techniques.
 * What are your thoughts on adding, editing or re-arranging other people's work?**

I check my postings occasionally, because I would like to see if people are contributing to my thoughts and opinions and correcting them if they are incomplete or need some touching up. The idea of the wiki is to be collaborative, you can't really accomplish this by constantly checking your own posting and reverting them back to their original content.
 * Do you regularly check your own postings for alterations? Has anyone changed your work and how have you felt about it?**

I did not experience any limitations working with the wiki, aside from some technical issues in inserting multimedia content, but those issues were rectified in tutorial. However, in one incident I had someone upload an image of the same name as a file I had on my page, which replaced the image on my space. I easily renamed my original file and reloaded it onto my page.
 * Challenges or limitations you experienced while working collaboratively on Wiki**

There is an increased sense of class community. People are more inclined to participate when they can remain somewhat annoymous. Rather than speaking up in class to ask questions, people can post their questions for an entire class to view and help answer. it provides the opportunity for class content to be discussed and accessed in an easier manner at any time during the day.
 * Advantages or benefits from participating in this Wiki.**


 * Things about the course you thought worked well and/or suggested improvements.**
 * I thought the concept of using a wiki as an interactive class tool worked well and is a valuable resource for finding information on class related material. I would improve on the deadlines for submission for wiki content, rather than have a final date for the content to be posted as a lump sum, I would prefer to see scheduled intervals of submission dates to ensure that contribution is a more steady process and less of a huge last minute effort.**