Wiki+Assignment+Feedback

=Wiki Assignment Feedback=

As the Wiki Assignment comes to an end, I believe that it is important to provide feedback based on the student's experience with this new form of the Web 2.0. Although we are going to submit a written report based on our experiences, I feel that it is equally important to provide feedback online.

How did you enjoy this assignment? Would you like to do it again? Do you feel that the class benefited from an online Wiki and would you like to see more professors offering Wikis as a class homepage?

Feel free to post any comments based on your experience with this assignment. The questions above provide a starting point to your feedback, but please feel free to expand upon them. Please separate your comments with a horizontal rule and place quotation marks around your comments followed by your **bolded** Wiki screen name.

"I really enjoyed the outline of this assignment and the numerous abilities that this type of assignment opened up for its students. The fact that we were given a broad topic outline at the beginning of the class caused some confusion about the process of completing this assignment, but I feel that as this assignment trailed on the ideas of many students has transformed this wiki space into a wonderful resource for our digital innovation class. As a student, I would love to have another opportunity to complete an assignment such as this. I would highly recomment that professors provide wiki spaces for their students as an online collaboration tool for course content."
 * Marjorie

"When I first heard about this assignment, I was very confused and did not understand what we were supposed to do exactly. Once I actually sat down and read the guidelines and talked to some friends and started actually working on the assignment, I realized that it was not that confused or difficult. It was definitely a learning process and I am glad I had the opportunity to work on a project like this because it was a good experience and allowed everyone in the course to critique and add on to each other's work and to help each other throughout the assignment process."
 * Lauren Luke

"This is actually one of the few assignments that I truely enjoy throughout my university career. Wikispace allows students to build up a community in which everyone will make contribution to it. This not only provides users with the ability to navigate information, it also allows them to contribute and modify information as well. I really enjoy this mutual communication of information in which there is interaction between the author and the viewer. Definitely, I think Wikispace is a great tool to be used as a course homepage in which students can share information about the course. As well as, I think wikispace is a great learning tool in which students can share and learn from each other more effectively and efficiently through this collaborative writting."
 * ack08048 (Paul Peng)

"When i first heard of this assignment i was very confused and clueless. I heard of Wikipedia, but WikiSpaces....just drawn a big question mark in my head. I found that there has been lots of overlapping with classes in the higher level of the CCIT program, but this assignment is a totally new experience to me. At first I did not find this assignment attractive, because i basically thought that it is a discussion board, where you post your own opinions. As I continued to spend more time and help maintain this wikispace, i found it more interesting. I would read about topics that I would never would have researched on my own or read in my spare time (via Internet or in magazines). Therefore, my knowledge about digital innovation has widen because of this assignment, and I find more interest in learning about "boy topics" such as video and online gaming. Overall, I think this assignment was a positive experience and should be done in future classes."
 * Laurelau (Laureen Lau)

"I had heard of a 'wiki' site before this assignment, but i never truly understood what it meant that anybody can edit it....I do now!"
 * selliott

"Yes, likewise. After working with it intricately you really understand how it works and realise how much of a collaborative and fun environment it brings forward. It is not hard to work with and is very user friendly as many people have already stated. This should definitely be continued in future classes as it is a way to combine knowledge and peer input in a friendly way."
 * Megha

"The idea of using a WIki space for courses is an excellent idea. It offers communication between students and it allows for a stronger academic output as students' work can go through a collaborative process. It gets students involved and interested in their courses, at least for me. With wikis such as this, students can gain a stronger understanding of their courses and it allows for diversity, rather than being blankly assigned sole assignments that do not necessarily require editing or collaboration."
 * Jaina Tharakan

"I also liked the Wiki assignment. After I learned how to use it, and saw what came out of my page and other pages, I felt really proud of what we all made. I compared it to the actual 'Wikipedia', which I thought was a very professional encyclopedia before I learned what Wiki's were, and thought our 205 Wikispace was quite up to par.

Just a question of curiosity, why are people posting assignment related material under the Topics of Interest in the navigation bar? Because some of the links seem like they were meant for the assignment. I don't think the material under Topics of Interest count as part of the Wiki assignment mark, although i does contribute to the Wiki in general."
 * Candice Jay

"This assignment has definitely provided me with the confidence I needed collaborate with other students in an online community. At first I was completely confused and intimidated by the entire assignment, but as time progressed so did my understanding. I have been able to navigate through this website easily and efficiently and recommend that more courses involve this type of online, interactive learning and knowledge sharing among students. This was a great assignment and I recommend further use of it for other CCIT students in the future."
 * Sadaf Kharal

"Wikispaces has given our class an opportunity to voice opinions and attitudes within an academic realm. The assignment doesn't have any mundane guidelines that must be followed, which is common to many university courses. Consequently, that is why this assignment has been so well-received, because it is very flexible for us and allows us all opportunities. I strongly recommend that all courses, not just CCIT courses, make an effort to create assignments similar if not exactly like this one."
 * Misha Shaal

"This assignment is actually really fun. It is probably one of the most creative ways I have ever had to render a paper in university. I think you should definitely keep this assignment a part of the CCT205 class agenda. My only suggestion is that in tutorials you leave more time for students to explore wikispaces.com in class, in between your initial presentation of wikis. I feel this way because wikis are still quite unusual, at this stage of things, and I think that if we were forced, in a way, to explore possibilities in class, then things would not have been so intimidating at home when we had to do the assignment on our own. Personally, this is the reason I put it off until later. I still got a lot done, but I wish I had started earlier because I am positive that there will be much more that I would have wanted to write and elaborate on. On a seperate note, I realized that wikis really are a sort of community. It's so nice when people add to your article!"
 * asantama

"As we progress further and further into an 'interconnected' environment, from WebCT, initially, to Wiki spaces, there becomes more room for communication, expression and collaboration. I find it interesting how technology that may appear superfluous, superficially, can actually bring people together to share, learn and grow. The possibilites of these types of applications in educational institutions are endless!

I am glad that we have had such an opportunity to create such a dynamic environment. The course material is quite extensive where it becomes difficult to get explore the multifaceted components of the various topics (indeed, each topic could be a course or program in itself!). This forum has allowed us to research and share our knowledge and information with others, which has added tremendously to the content of this course."
 * Stefanie

"I really enjoyed this assignment. I am new to wikispaces, and due to this the concept was hard to grasp but with adding small stubs, i have expanded on the information posted by others and have succeeded in writing a full piece myself as well. i was confused about the fact that when one is working on their page, and at the same time if someone removes their work or part of their work, wouldnt that be a waste of time and effort for the user?. Is it appropriate to have a "do not edit until finished" stub on top of an "in- process page"?. Apart from these quetsions i think wikipedia is an excellent example of a collaborative space which makes learning fun and educational at the same time."
 * Hina Afzal

"Alas, the Wiki space is shortly coming to an end; I agree along with many others that this assignment was quite enjoyable. It provided students a great opportunity to interact and colloberate ideas, all within the boundries of an educational experience. The Wiki served as a great referencing tool for course information, along with all surrounding information in general. This space evoked thought, and sparked creativity among peers. Peers were encouraged to post ideas, and expand on others already posted. This all played part in the enjoyable learning experience of the project. Lastly, the site served as a great source for clarificaton of information, while also leaving room for comments, and thoughts. In my opinion I think the Wiki spaces are a great idea, and they should be considered in all courses."
 * Ashley Vieira (ashleyvieira)

"I actually really liked this assignment.It was pretty cool seeing it evolve from what it started out as to what it is at the moment. The wikispace has gotten to the point where the CCT205 WebCT site is pretty much obsolete. The fact that it could have so many features yet be so easy to use at the same time is more than enough reason for courses to use Wikispaces as their homepage. I also liked how we could actually see the work people submitted to the site. It was kind of reassuring knowing that I'm not the only one who didn't know how to properly cite from the Internet. All in all, this assignment was a really good idea and hopefully we start seeing Wikispaces used more at UTM."
 * Mark86

"This assignment was very informative and interactive. I like editing pages and adding to people's thoughts. It just goes to show how well CCIT students work together. Even though we're marked individually, I feel as if this is a group project. Great job, CCIT'ers!"
 * Thomas Lee (tomthlee)

"At first I had no experience with all with Wikispaces, so I was kind of worried about how the whole learning process would be- would it be long and torturous or would it be easy-going? It turned out to be an easy-going learning experience; after playing around with some of the things a bit, working on the Wikispace got a lot easier. I’m honestly glad for the experience- we made our own little Wikipedia sort of thing which is awesome in itself, and it didn’t take days to learn to use."
 * Deepika Riyat (Pika)

"A great way to socialize and interact with other students; affiliating with individualistic works, opinions and editing. It all comes down to show how well most people can work together and how efficient Wiki spaces actually are. If your sources or anything pertaining to an error is found, it can be found quick and be edited as soon as possible"
 * Fahad Rana (FahadRana)**

"I wasn't too sure how to approach this assignment. Honestly, I thought it would be more tedious and repetitive than entertaining. Surprise, surprise, I really enjoyed this assignment! I enjoyed reading other people's pieces and how my own pieces could be developed even further. However, as a format perfectionist, I kept on going back to my same pages over and over again to fix the littlest kinks. I wonder if another level of a template was available this would help create a standardization among the pages."
 * Melissa Angela Cabillan (macabillan)

"This assignment has taught the true power of collaboration. When i first logged on CCT205 wiki site there was not much on it but I quickly saw how much great information we are capable of when we work together. This has been one of the best assignments I have worked on in University."
 * Nick Basile (nbasile)

"When I heard that we had to do this assignment in a wiki, i was scared because I have never used it before. But after figuing out how ti use it, it didn't seem hard at all and I think it's a great way to share informantion with classmates and other poeple. I really like this idea and it should continue in future years."
 * Navraj Singh (NavrajS)

"This assignment has given many of us the opportunity to learn what a Wiki serves, and how to operate space on the internet. As many others, this was the first time I had taken part in online collaboration like this one, and enjoyed it very much. The amount of information posted for everyone to see came as a great study and information tool. Without online wiki's there would be a great amount of information loss online. Overall, this activity has been the most enjoyable. We had the freedom and time to add our contributions which was nice. I wish all of the CCIT classes had their own wiki page."
 * Deana Chadillon


 * "At first i had no idea what we had to do. I've used wikipedia before but never wikispace. So i made it my goal to familiarize myself with it for the whole reading week. I thought that it would take longer. But turns out it only took me a few hours until i found topics that were of my interest and I was able to bring my own interest and get the feedbacks and added info. It feels great to contribute and vice versa."
 * mylenegarcia
 * mylenegarcia

"I thought the assignment was boring at first and I had no idea what we really had to do. But I think it is fun once I got started to work on it. Actually I am quite enjoy creating a wiki space together with classmates. It joins all our knowledges together. In addtion, the wiki space also offers me a good opportunity to know more beyond the textbook."
 * Chen-Wen Chen

"I think this assignment is a lot harder for people that started it late because those who started it early have the advantage of picking any topic that they want to discuss. However, I still really like the idea of a wiki space. Another thing I was thinking is that hopefully this wikispace will be up for a while because it's a great place to get information from."
 * Marta Szczepanska

"This assignment was alot of fun. First day, I posted some stuff on Blog and Wikipedia but thats it. After that, I was lost and didn't know what topic I should chose. The topic I chose was already taken. In fact, I also wrote some stuff about it and then realized it was already taken but not visible on the table of content. But I moved onto another topic and wrote quite a lot of interesting facts on it. It is long, but it is not nonsense. The day I worked on my assignment, I sat for more than 9 hours just typing and looking around and lost track of time. By the end of it all, I realized I was done. I didn't really have any problem navigating and organizing content. I just figured it out by checking edit pages by seeing what others did and tried to follow the footsteps. I think it would be a great idea to do something like this again because it is really easy to work with and I think I enjoyed it. First assignment I ever enjoyed."
 * Salma Aziz**

"I found this assignment really fun and unique." It requires teamwork and effort. It is unique because it invovles the whole class contributing to the wikis. I gained knowledge from editing the wiki entries because I would need to read the contents before editing or adding to them. It does require alot of time and it cannot be done overnight."
 * Wyann Leung**

"The wiki assignment was a great way to create collective notes on concepts learned in class. It also created a brief overview of various thinkers' main ideas and theories, exposing students to thoughts they were not familiar with or else reiterated some existing knowledge and presented it in new ways."
 * Martyna**

"I found this project really addictive. It turned into more than just getting a mark for me. I kept thinking of articles I wanted to write about and stuff I wanted to edit. The format really worked. I noticed about 100 edits an hour last night, and that's with only 150 people! Heck, we students created and posted the study guides, FAQ, analysis and reflection page, and even this feedback section all by ourselves. This is stuff that's usually posted by a (paid) teacher, but here we are making this wiki better by putting it in. This was a great idea."
 * Philip

“I really enjoyed this assignment although it was challenging and different it was a good experience. I never knew what a Wiki was until I did this assignment and now I really like them and believe they are a good teaching tool. I would definitely enjoy doing this assignment again, would have loved to start a lot earlier and spent more time learning how to use Wikispaces. I strongly believe the class benefited from the online Wiki as students started to post summaries for the readings and other helpful things such as reminders of what is due and course information. I would strongly recommend professors to offer Wikis as a class homepage as it obviously was very helpful for all students who used this Wikispace in CCT205.”
 * Dulku

"This assignment I would have to say was one of the most fun, exciting and worth wild one I have done in my years at UTM. I think this was a great way for students to learn, interact with one another and most important of all develop as a significant and powerful online user."
 * Jasveer Brar

"I really enjoyed working on this assignment. I got off to a quick start but then got swamped with some other courses and took a couple week hiatus from it. I hope the evaluation reagaring constant updates don't kill my grade...I have been trying to make up for it but then, it is the last weekend before it is due."
 * MikeIp

"It's times like these that I'm happy with the CCIT Program. I have been using wiki's for quite some time now and to be reintroduced to it and take a theoritical approach in understanding the concept was what I really hoped for and received." This whole notion of Web 2.0 is something I wasn't familiar with but learning it as we go on in this course."
 * Milads



"I've seen and read a lot of information from wikipedias before but never actually posted on a wiki so this is also my first time. I must say this was a fun experience. I liked how we go around adding what we know to all the topics instead of working on just one topic. Everyone has different knowledge of everything and I'm glad everyone is sharing it on this wiki site. I have to admit though, that if I had started this even earlier, with more time, this would have been a lot more fun. I also like the fact that people post summaries of the required reading which makes it easier for us as well when studying for tests and such. Thanks for introducing wiki to this course!"
 * yan86**

"Its an interesting assignment to say the least, to me personally, it didn't even really feel like an assignment due to its different than the usual UTM project format. The site has really been built up as we reach the deadline, as more and more people are beggining to realise that there isn't very much time left! Why do we need quotations? Yarrr!"
 * njagiello**

"I found this to be one of the most beneficial assignments I have done so far in the CCIT program. I think it would be great if Wiki's could be intergrated in every course. It is a really good extension of what we learn in lectures and readings, and allows us as a class to collaborate information we have gathered from lectures and research we have conducted for each specific topic. I must admit that at first I was skeptical as I found it confusing and somewhat disorderly, and didn't like the idea of people editing my work or me editing there work, but as people began to add their input you realize that there is room for everyones information. As long as everything is well-organized and sources are cited; everything I have read up until now flows well and is quite informative. Really beneficial assignment!"
 * Amira Shaal

As this wiki assignment comes to an end I must say that this wiki space idea was facinating. Before our first test I was running around trying to define all the terms that Gail Benick had given us on our test outline. I then went onto our CCT 205 wiki space and found many of the terms defined already. This wiki benefits me and im sure others as well. It is informative, easy to use, easy to follow and somewhat organized. The way the assigment was organized allows the students to contribute, but also learn and read about things at the same time. A student can find helpful information on here for a test, as well as contribute to the wiki, which is a requirement of the assigment while still learning. Its great!
 * Marteena

"I feel the wikispace project on the whole has been a good collaborative experience and helped broaden our technical horizons but more importantly, promoted teamwork. it helped us build our knowledge and challenge each other's opinions and we can participate and voice our opinions wherever we might be or say whatever we want to. perhaps this can make it slightly confusing as contradictory information can come up and sometimes whatever work you have done can be deleted or questioned but i think that makes us ready to hear other people's opinions and makes us open to new ideas. i think wikispaces is fairly user friendly and easy to navigate through and there are directions too, although i couldnt find past work intiially and was a little apprehensive of using it. but yes i would love to learn more about wikispaces and continue doing it throughout the course."


 * megha kumar

" I feel that this wiki project has taught me the true value of contributing to a wikis. Throughout our own individual postings and collaboration with other people I believe our perspectives expand with the knowledge of others. Too often are we confined to our own mindsets and thus think in our own bias, with wikis, it is great since everyone collaborates together to build on top of one eachother's knowledge. Ultimately I think Wikis in the aspect of informing is extremely accurate since we are not dealing with individual knowledge but more of a community. In addition it has taught me the importance of maintaing information, how it grows, and also how everything inter-links - especially in this digital innovation aspect of culture. "


 * Brandon Fong -** //"Brando"//

“My first reaction towards this assignment was not very positive, as this assignment was my first interaction with wikispaces. My first few times interacting with wikispaces left me a little bit frustrated, and I found this assignment to be irritating, but as I got more and more involved with wikispaces, and started contributing and collaborating with other students work, my view about this assignment became more and more positive. At the end of it all, I found this assignment to be very educational as well as a great learning experience. One thing which I found a bit disturbing was the amount of time this assignment required, and having to keep up with other courses other than this course, can be a bit overwhelming at times for the student. Overall though wikispaces was a fun experience."


 * Maryam Rana

The collaborative learning method definitely enhanced my learning experience. It was good to see the great amount of information added by students to the Wikispace. I think it helped a lot of people on test one as well as everyone who participated in maintaining the space. We learned a lot through the process of doing research, adding interesting topics, contributing thoughts to others people's pages. I really liked the way that everyone worked together to share knowledge.


 * John J. Zhu -** "Just JZ"

"This was a great assignment! Through working on Wikispaces, I got more knowledge of it. This was the experience that I could not get from the books or lectures. It gave me three benefits: 1. I can discuss my opinion with the fellow students. 2. I can review the course contents from here, it is an alternative besided textbook and lecture notes. 3. It inspired me to build my own Wikispace, for example, for a certain interest group."
 * dli

"Wikis are a great way for people, and especially students to maintain a line of communication between them. It provides a forum for them to express their thoughts on topics that offer useful information. I think that every course should have a resource like this available to its students, as it helps them to communicate effectively and share amongst their peers. Even though I don't like it as something we are highly graded on, because I see it moreso as somehting students should be left to use at their disposal rather than having shaping a huge lab project around it."
 * patriciar

I feel this project is one of the most good collaborate experice I have done so far in the University. I hope it could be intergrated in every course. It is a really good extension of what we learn in lectures and readings, and allows us as a class to collaborate information we have gathered from lectures and research we have conducted for each specific topic. Really beneficial assignment!"


 * Carly Zhang**

"Throughout my university experience I have never done anything working with hundreds of other CCIT students. It gives a chance for other's to feed off other people's knowledge and trutly appreciate the contributions that everyone has made. This assignment is a lengthy process but defiantely an experience."


 * MyaSoSerious**

I have gotten information from Wikipedia.com before yet had never learned about the collaborative process of Wikis. It has been great to see the ccit205 Wiki grow and expand to showcase a wealth of knowledge posted by fellow classmates. This is a good way to learn and share knowledge. The Wiki Assignment is the right type of assignment for a Digital Innovation and Cultural Transformation course.


 * Georgia**

As someone who isn't very technologically inclined, and who had never done a wiki entry before, I was confused about the nature of this assignment at first, as well as how I would ever be able to produce good work. However, I found the straightforward format of this site to be very helpful, and I quickly became used to the idea of creating wiki entries. While definitely a lengthy assignment, I found it to be quite interesting, and I had fun while doing it.
 * Jovan

I thought this was a great assignment to do in Digital Innovation and Cultural Transformation class and tied in perfectly. I found it to be very interesting, as well as fun, and allowed me to learn something new, that in the beginning I really had no idea about. I also think that it was very beneficial; it put forth all this information right in front of us, and slowly, as we would read over our work, as well as others, this info was absorbed and we were able to get new ways and ideas to think about these concepts; A GREAT STUDY TOOL!
 * KathyS**

I thought that this project was pretty creative and interesting as opposed to writing just another essay. I'd never worked with a Wiki or even Wikipedia before, so this was a good learning experience for myself. I believe this is a great tool for course information and studying purposes as well, and i'm hoping it will be kept up through the duration of the course. It was somewhat difficult finding a topic as most of the obvious ones were picked up very early into the project. But all in all, a good project.


 * drewseph

"First time I encountered this assignment, I was unsure of what to expect. I thought it may have been difficult to understand or to work but actually working with wikispaces was a good experience that was easy to work with and easy to understand. It's an amazing information database that was created entirely by students for students and was an amazing experience."


 * Diddy**

"Coming to the end of our Wiki contributions, its great to see how many good ideas and topics came up during the month which everyone had sufficiently researched and posted. I think a Wiki is a great learning tool as it provides everyone with a chance to contribute to whatever topic they may want, along with others editing their work. I do feel however that the Wiki being constantly ongoing, it was quite time-consuming and lengthy, but it was necessary I guess if we were to learn from others and allow them to edit our work and vice versa. Over all, it was a pretty good experience from a creative and educational point of view and definitely an enjoyable and addictive assignment."


 * faiza

This was the a whole new experience using wikispace, the project never really had a beginning or ending the space just closes on the 28th. Looking at our own space now with over 8000 updated the whole class should be proud what we all accomplished. Good luck to all.


 * Kamil



At first I was a bit skeptical and unsure about this whole “Wikispace Assignment”. I got a bit thrown off when I added a list of topics and few of those topics were being filled before I had the chance to add in my own content after completing some research. However, after collaborating my information with the work of others I found the experience to be very useful. In fact, I am so “hooked” to the CCIT205 Wikispace that I feel like adding more and more information...I miss coming on Wikispace and adding/editing content...I wish this assignment wasn't over :(


 * Sarah Dean (SarahD)