COETAIL Course 2 Project Reflection

'Thai-ing in'

For my final project I wanted to create a wiki that attempted to follow the theme of 'mass collaboration'. The first challenge is how do you start mass collaboration? Answer: one link at a time. The other major issue is when does mass collaboration become 'mass' collaboration as opposed to collaboration amongst a few people? Wikipedia defines the key difference of mass collaboration to normal collaboration being 'that the collaborative process is mediated by the content being created - as opposed to being mediated by direct social interaction as in other forms of collaboration' Perhaps this assignment was an attempt at 'mini-mass-collaboration', m-m-c. Sure the content is under constant creation, especially in the social aspects of the wiki, however some would argue this isn't really mass collaboration.

The purpose of the wiki is to help Integrate new staff into ISB, our community and Thailand, no easy task alone, hence the idea of mass collaboration works perfectly. If all people are able to contribute, edit, add and are aware of their ability to change the course of a wiki to suit the needs of all, then the final product is better off and more effective in achieving it's original goal. The wiki isn't just for the new staff coming in this school year. The idea is that it can grow, evolve and become a site which is a one stop new staff member site for all future ISB teachers.

Setting up the project using wetpaint was easy, however I still get frustrated at their little bug which causes you to appear to be signed in as someone else (requires a refresh to fix). In order to set up the wiki effectively I ensured new staff signed on first to introduce themselves, then collegial partners (who are still signing on). The next step is to invite all other staff to join the wiki to enlarge the possible contributions. The wiki is evolving as we speak, new pages, comments and updates seem to be added consistently.

I have enjoyed registering the page with Google Analytics, which is giving me some pretty awesome feedback. From this data I have been amazed that each day the site is receiving between 15 and 25 logins daily, averaging 7 minutes a session on the site. This kind of information is inspiring me to keep on improving the site.

The issues that I encountered fall around the fact that the site needs to be 'invitation only' as some of the information on the site is of a private nature with regard to individuals and the school. This limits the potential collaborative size of the site. The second issue has been getting people on board with the wiki when they don't have the technical skills to do so. In order to assist people in overcoming their phobia of technology I created video help guides using Jing (a fantastic screen capture tool by TechSmith. The reality is that many people still need one on one guidance in setting up their wiki, here again is where collaboration can occur with our fantastic Tech Team: Jeff Utech, Chad Bates, Dennis Harter and Kim Cofino.

Overall the process of setting up the wiki has been well worth it. It has taught me the technical skills I need to moderate a wiki, it has reminded me of the different abilities of new and present staff when requiring people to use technology to collaborate. Finally and most importantly it has inspired me to use Technology more to connect real people in the cloud so that their feet can stand on a firm foundation when they meet in reality.

For a link to more about how my wiki fulfilled my project requirements please go to my project write up.

Final Reflection for my COETAIL course...

So this is my final reflection for the COETAIL course one I have been taking... late, but as I often (too often) say, better late than never! I have found this course really interesting, and can say now, looking back on it that I have used a lot of technology and learnt a lot in doing so. I have picked up a variety of skills that I feel have culminated in my final project.

I know I have picked up some great IT skills that will eventually save me time, and help me to develop more as an educator. Using GoogleDocs is a huge time saver for registration of athletic events not to mention surveys for kids and collaboration prospects in the classroom. Blogging on Blogger has been an easy technical skill to master, although I still struggle to blog regularly. Using my Google Reader has taught me a great deal in how to manage the endless amounts of information continually arising on the web and participation within the class wiki on wetpaint, has been a great chance for me to understand through participation what a wiki can do, and the collaborative potential it holds.

I have gained an understanding of a few of the issues that are surrounding the integration of IT into education, and needless to say I am concerned about some of the outcomes of diving in deep into Information Technology. I am more firmly grounded on a few key principles:

• IT is one of many tools that assists learning.
  
• When IT begins to draw us away from reality we are becoming too hyper-connected, this is a dangerous state.
  
• IT has to help our lives. It has to free us up more to do the important things in life.
  

I see a great potential in integrating IT into Physical Education and I am looking forward to researching more and continuing my blog to help enlighten any willing readers to understand ways they can integrate IT to improve student learning in PE. I can't wait to implement my multi-cultural games unit to my grade 8 students and see them collaborate with a class from another school. This has huge potential for inter-cultural understanding and appreciation.

Thanks to Kim Cofino and Jeff Utech who have been our mentor lecturers during this course, you have done a great job with a class of over 50! I have been challenged, extended, frustrated, excited and dismayed, but most of all I have learned.