Liang+Zi-Xiao

=Contributions so far:=

1. Modern Tactical Stealth (Video) Games
This is my genre analysis.

2. [|Contribution for "Console Wars"] - Oct 18
Wrote a response

3. [|Table of Contents entries] - Oct 19
Added "newgrounds"

4. [|State of Media Industry] - Oct 19
Wrote an article.

5. [|Hierarchy of Media Genres Banner] - Nov 10
Added a graphical banner.

6. [|Wiki FAQ] - Nov 11
Answered a question

7. [|Final Thoughts] - Dec 8
Added my two cents about the course

=Analysis and Reflections:=


 * Question set 1**

Q: What do you think/feel about this collaborative learning environment? A: Well, in my other classes (CCT325) the professor tried to do an ice breaker where he asked students to state their name, the reason they took the class and what they hope to learn from the class. After recieving the answer "I had to take this class as a requirement, and I dunno what I hope to learn" from the first consequtive people, the prof gave up and moved on to the first lecture. I would expect a similar scenario in most of my classes including CCT300. That said, I expected inititive and/or contribution in the learning envrionment although I believe the idea itself is rather rewarding. I only wish I had more time to contribute to the wiki - a full year class utilizing the wiki as a learning tool would be much more enjoyable. I find that wiki's in general however have been a valueable collaboration tool for my other courses.

Q: What are your expectations for yourself ? A: Despite schedule conflicts, I expect myself to give it all I've got. The fact that we're studying comic books in this class is pretty attractive and should motivate me to give the class more attention.

Q: If you have previously used wiki in another course, describe what you have previously learned and how you want to expand your understanding. A: I have never previously used any type of wiki.

Q: What can you contribute as an experienced participant? A: I am not an experienced participant.

Q: How do you choose which postings to contribute or change? What do you look for? A: I generally look for something interesting to me. The console wars thread for example; I'm an active game developer who has a few recognizable titles on the net and as an independent developer I am qutie intruiged by the professional development scene. Intruiged in a bad way however; professional game developers are, for the most part, devoid of creative life. Other than that, I generally try to help out so if there is something where I find my two cents would be helpful, I'll contribute.
 * Question set 2**

Q: What are your thoughts on adding, editing or re-arranging other people's work? A: Alot of people have very bad writing thus I try to avoid editing and re-arranging; I get enough of that when playing grammar nanny on group assignments. I don't mind adding stuff on however. I also don't have any particularly interesting comments to make regarding appending to someone else's contributions.

Q: Do you regularly check your own postings for alterations? Has anyone changed your work and how have you felt about it? A: If by regularly you mean every 2 or 3 weeks then yes, I check them regularly. No one has changed anything of mine except for people responding to the console wars thread. I find most responses to be expressed opinions that are not respondant to arguments that I or the previous authors have made; something that happens alot on forums I attend. In online communities that have little patience for useless comments, such responses would normally be deleted or the author banned but in this case, neither options would be appropriate. It still bugs me however, but I have neglected to respond because I simply don't feel compeled to.

Q: Challenges or limitations you experienced while working collaboratively on wiki A: My lack of Inititive and time were the biggest problems. Because it's an on-going thing, the average person (I'm using myself as a reference point for 'average' here) puts off contributing too easily. Furhtermore, when compared to major assignments from other classes, an on-going assignment usually tends to get put off on one's list of priorities EVEN THOUGH it may be worth MORE than the other assignments; someone will stress over a 10% assignment but disregard the 25% wiki project... not me but someone else I know.
 * Question set 3**

Q: Advantages or benefits from participating in this wiki Q: It's a liberating way of learning. It's much more fun compared to some of the other tasks in other courses. Q: things about the course you thought worked well and/or suggested improvements A: Because of the problems I mentioned above, the wiki doesn't become as alive as it should/could be. I mean, we are trying to make an online community. However, people usually join online communities because they share a common interest in them; people naturally want to read/write/learn about things they are interested in. If you visit http://www.airsoftcanada.com, everyone in that community is interested in either guns, airsoft, or milsim. However, no one in CCT300 (at least not many people) is interested in media criticism; they're taking this course because it's (much) better than the alternative required courses. In other words, not many people would have joined this community voluntarily. Therefore, the contributions and activies are strained because they are not out of interest but out of neccessity (for the marks). I therefore believe there should be more concrete guidelines for wiki contributions; a minimum amount per week/month would be helpful.