Robert+Mazur

Analysis and Reflection
September 25th: Started the Graphic Novel page September 26th: Added name to Alias page October 5th: Made my Analysis and Reflection page November 15th: Added middle reflection to Analysis and Reflection page November 30th: Extended content to Satire News, re-listed the page from "Television Satire News" to "Satire News" on the table of content page December 7th: Added "Originality in Hip Hop" to the History of Hip-Hop page December 8th: Added final reflection to Analysis and Reflection page


 * Beginning Reflection:**

This collaborative learning environment or this wiki is the third one that I am part of. I feel that this type of an environment is an idea that looks better on paper than in function. I am not saying that the wiki is a bad idea, I think that a place where everyone in the class can gather together to ask questions and share information is great and very useful. It has worked very well as that during the year. People would share class notes, share interesting work or information, and as we see with this wiki, people are asking and answering question. However, to have it as an ongoing assignment, I am not too sure if it does more harm than good. My expectations for myself are to try and fulfill the requirements of the assignment to the best that I can.

What I have learned in the past is that there are a few students who participate throughout the assignment, while the majority of the students take the last few weeks to do the assignment. As I was in the latter group, I would like to move out of that group and maybe not be in the former group, but not leave anything to the last few weeks. As an experienced participant, I would like to make fewer but more informed posts. I am not saying that my entries are of the best quality, nor do I expect my posts to go unchanged. I value the changes that are made, especially the posts that change spelling, grammar, or paragraph structure. I feel that looking at the changes is like getting a classmate to edit your assignment, and as I student, I feel it is that feature of the wiki that is beneficial to me.


 * Middle Reflection:**

My “wiki routine” if you may call it that, is the check the wiki daily and go to the “recent changes” section to see what people have done. If one of the recent changes is a topic that I have interest in or have some knowledge of, I will go to that page to see what has been done, and what possibly could be added. I believe that re-arranging people’s work is a good thing if the re-arranging will better the page. If all the re-arranging does it make it look like you have kept up with the wiki than I think it holds not merit to the assignment. I do not go back at my postings to see if there were any changes. Unless my page was on the “recent changes” page, I don’t see the point in going back. I am sure many people have changed my work, and I am okay with that. The most reassuring part is that not matter what the change is, better or worse, I can always go back to my original piece if need be. So to get caught up in all that mess or deleting this and that seems silly to complain about because all of it is recorded and therefore is open for all to see. The reasons this is short is because I have already done it for CCT333. Please go to that site for more reflection.


 * Final Reflection:**

Well, yet again it is the end of a term, the end is getting there, slowly but surely. At the end of the day my view of the wiki has changed slightly. I still believe that the wiki as a community building or interactive class assignment is not as good as it sounds. My biggest challenge is the up keeping. Most people, my self included, like to finish an assignment and that's the end of it. So once my main post or posts were up, that is all. However, the assignment invloves up keeping and continually checking or maintaining the space. I'm not going to lie, laziness was a big factor, but at the same time, everyone has other things going on, so to have an assignment that streches over the entire semester is probably not the best. Not to mention the pain you guys have when it comes to marking it and the multiple cases you have had where people say "so and so did this...yada yada yada (a little Seinfeld for you)" So it just creates extra headaches for you guys.

On that note, I did like how the final assignment/project, call it what you wish, was wiki based. I liked how we didn't have to hand anything in (obviosuly until the end), but the intermediate things we could post of the wiki. Not only is it environmently sound, with the paper saving and such, it just makes life easier for all. I have yet to hear of a dog eating a computer, so excuses for it being late are almost out. Also, because only the members of the group add to the wiki and you are marking it as a group, you can enjoy the site a little more because you no longer have to worry about who did what.

Also, I know one of my weak areas is and will be the community building and maintance. I am not one to go searching for spelling mistakes or little typos. It does not seem worth it to fix a capital letter or add a period at the end of a sentence because it was left out. To be honest I have better things to do, and at the end of the day, those littles things make no difference to the content of the site. One thing that I have noticed is the level of participation. A lot of people were in CCT205 last year with the wiki and are in CCT333, also with a wiki. For CCT205 you were saying that you got likt 8000 edits. It is 5:32, so what like 6 and a half hours before the deadline and 5213 edits. Maybe we will get 3000 in the next few hours, maybe not. I think the thing to realize is maybe people are losing interesting have to do a wiki for a third time in 2 years and twice in one year. Like I said, having the wiki for the assignment is fantastic, makes things a lot easier, but not as a assignment its self.

Perhaps instead of having the assignment as it stands now, students could pick their own topic and make their own wiki about it, similar to the idea of the wiki in assignment 3. That way there would be no community involvement, so once content is done, its done and there is no looking back and each student will be seperate so there is no hassel about who did what.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your holidays and maybe I will see you at the Abby Jones!

Rob signing off for the last time!