Wikiography Sharnjit Moondi University of Ontario Institute of Technology Principles of Learning EDUC 5001G Dr.

Bill Hunter

Introduction:
As part of the EDUC 5001G Principles of Learning course at UOIT, our class was assigned to working on an external wiki created and edited by four previous sections of this course. This is a continuous assignment that began in September and the assignment is due at the end of November, this is not to say thats where the contributions to the wiki end, we will be able to contribute to this wiki for however long we would like. Previous year students still access the wiki and edit work that is done on it by sections of this courses after them such as our class. It is an assignment that is about collaborating with other classmates and working on individual contributions as well. I took part with two separate groups that were helping to make the wiki better by the addition or editing of something. I worked collaboratively with Heidi Milovick and Ruth Zomer in having the pages consistent with table of contents on each page. I also worked with Michael Martin, Stephanie Thompson, and Asha Hossain in the creation of new pages and reviewing one anothers pages. I began this assignment on focusing on what I would like to accomplish at the end, I wanted to learn as much as I could on using a Wiki and be able to contribute as much as I was capable of. I decided that I would focus on improving one particular section more then the others, which was the Theorist section.

Collaborating Team:
Equal collaboration is something that is not easy to achieve at all times, especially when you cannot work face-to-face with other classmates. From this Wiki assignment I have learned that collaboration is definitely achievable whether you are working face-toface or through synchronous or asynchronous communication online, as long as there is a motivation to get things done. In a task such as a Wiki where some individuals will know how to work with it and others not so much, collaboration helps each individual achieve something higher then they could have imagined. The individuals that know how to work on a Wiki have the ability to teach those that do not know how to and they have the ability to enhance their knowledge even farther by experimenting with new ideas on the Wiki. Previous users of the Wiki will also be able to think even more critically about each of their new pages created and all other existing pages. The new users will obviously benefit in the fact that they will learn how to use a Wiki. When I read the Wikiography assignment on the course outline, I thought about how I would contribute to a Wiki that had been worked on by so many previous students. I thought to myself; would there even be any new pages to add? how will I learn how to work on a Wiki? and etc. This was all made easy through asking others in the class and looking at other pages created on the Wiki. I had established that this was a definite learning experience. On October 25th, I formed a group with Ruth Zomer and Heidi Milovick for looking at each page and ensuring that there was a consistent layout on each page, which meant that each page should contain a Table of Contents. I wasnt even sure how to achieve this exactly until I spoke to Heidi Milovick in the General Room, we both talked about how to do certain things on the wiki and she told me a bit about adding Table of Contents on the pages. I took on the task to make sure that the Table of Contents was on each page listed on the Theorists main page. There were a few pages that I had difficulty getting a Table of Contents on but for the most part, I was able to get them all. We communicated with one another and the rest of the class on Webct to let everyone know what was done on the wiki already reducing the time spent by others figuring out what had to be completed and what was remaining. On October 26th, I formed a group with Michael Martin and Stephanie Thompson to add some pages that Michael had suggested. We met after class on November 3rd where we were joined by another

member Asha Hossain, who heard that we were working as a group for a bit of it and wanted to contribute. It was great at our meeting; we delegated each of the new pages and then set a date that we wanted to meet again to update one another, which was precisely a week later on November 10th. We also got one anothers e-mails so that we could communicate by e-mail as well. Collaboration is a great asset when it comes to the review of work done. Being in a group ensured the fact that someone will check over each page for accuracy and further suggestions. It was a great way to catch some small mistakes in spelling and grammar as well. We communicated with one another quite frequently through e-mail to review one anothers work from November 4th till now. Michael, Stephanie and I communicated very well with one another, we e-mailed our entire group with our new updates about our pages as often as possible and we would check out the pages, make any changes that we felt needed to be done. We also e-mailed each other back to make sure that we knew what changes were made or any suggestions for addition to the page. There was a high amount of communication between Michael, Stephanie and I but unfortunately Asha did not e-mail us at all during our work and she also did not begin her page till November 26th. At our meetings online, she did not inform us that she was going to start her page so close to the assignment deadline because it doesnt allow us much time to review over it before our written Wikiography and the page is not exposed to the rest of the class unless? our classmates intend to contribute to this Wiki throughout their Masters and/or after. I do intend to review it when it is completed to give her any suggestions that I may have about the page. From this experience I noticed that collaboration is not perfect all the time but it does always work out still because the rest of us communicated with one another frequently and ensured that our pages were great. I enjoyed working as a group with many different people. As mentioned above, there were two main groups that I worked with but I did complete tasks that I saw that other people on Webct were mentioning they wanted help with, such as linking each page to the appropriate main page. Some people were able to take the leadership role in their groups enhancing their leadership skills, by learning how to delegate tasks appropriately and keeping everything and everyone organized, whereas some people were able to learn lots about how to build a Wiki. Mostly everyone worked in small groups within a large group, at the end we all collaborated with not only our own groups but with the entire class through commenting to each others messages on Webct with suggestions and opinions on topics raised. Therefore, it

was a learning experience for everyone.

My Contribution:
Everyone in the course has contributed a great amount to this course Wiki. I can say for myself that I tried to contribute as much as I possibly could. Since I did not know much about a Wiki, I started off on September 25th by creating my own author page on the Wiki. I had a great time creating this page but definitely experimented with the tools to learn as much as I could with this small task. Creating the author page was a wonderful way to minimize the fear I had of working on the Wiki and learning more about the codes needed to make it look attractive. On September 25th, I also noted something that was written on Stephanie Chisletts author page, she had written something about not knowing how to change the size of a page on the page. When I read that on her page, I didnt even know that you could change the size of a picture on a page, so I took it upon myself to figure out how to do this. I found it so fascinating that I wanted to find out and help her fix that on her page and also change mine. I looked through a few author pages that were already created to see if they had something else in their picture coding, if they did I tried it on Stephanies to see what would happen. After a few tries I figured it out and I was incredibly proud of myself, making me even more motivated to learn more. When I was figuring out how to resize pictures, I noticed that a few pictures also had text to the left or right and did not need to be centered, I found out what was different and tried that out as well. These little basic applications that I learned about the Wiki helped me throughout my entire Wiki experience, I was able to use what I had learned on many other pages on the Wiki. I decided that after this I would try and look through all the sections on the Wiki and see what I could add to the Wiki. I realized then that it would be a good idea to start small and then go to something as large as creating my own new page to the Wiki. I started off the process of working on the rest of the Wiki by editing Jean Piaget page on October 21st and 22nd by adding more to the Stages that Piglet stated in his theory. This allowed me to understand more about how to add more information to a page in a couple different ways, one being by editing the entire page and second being by editing just the section that contained the stages. After learning a bit more about how to use the Wiki, I had

difficulty coming up with what I could add, so I decided to go on Webct and see what others in the class were thinking of doing from the list of tasks that Dr. Bill Hunter gave us in class. On October 25th, I decided to join Ruth Zomer and Heidi Milovick in creating table of contents for each page and for making all headings on a page bold. As mentioned above I decided to take on the task of ensuring that there was a table of contents and bolded headings on each theorist page. This made me very comfortable with the Wiki, which was shown when I realized that I could combine my new knowledge of bolding headings with my knowledge of formatting a picture. From that point on I started to bold headings and format pictures, if there was no picture, I added one to the page. Towards the middle of the entire theorist main page, I learned how to add bullets, and then I decided to also add bullets to any page that I thought would look more attractive with them. As soon as I finished all the pages, I let everyone in my group know what I had done. On November 10th, I noticed that Giovanni had mentioned how it would be great to have someone link each theorist page to the main theorist page. I discovered how to do this by looking at another page that already had that feature on its page. I decided to take on the task and add that feature to every theorist that didnt already have that feature I completed all the pages that had already been created on November 11th and messaged on the Webct discussion post to let everyone know that it had already been completed. This I would identify as being my peak point for my learning process of the Wiki. At this point is when I fully understood how to use a Wiki. On November 10th, I also began my Marshall McLuhan page as part of my group project with Michael, Stephanie and Asha. I also edited David Weinbergers page that was done by Michael. I worked on Marshall McLuhans page till November 21st. On November 22nd and 23rd, I began and completed Harold Innis and Harold Lasswells pages. During this time I also tried to edit other work completed by my group members and other classmates such as Malcolm Gladwell and Albert Einstein. While working on my own pages, the only difficulty I had was creating a link for my new pages on the main theorist page and I asked Michael at one of our group meetings after class, which cleared all confusion away from me. My own contributions towards the course Wiki was in the Theorist section because I felt as though it would be best if I took on a particular section of the Wiki for consistency. A few individuals in the course argued against consistency and the change in the way someone has structured their page because they felt as though that was the purpose of a Wiki, to show your own creativity and thought. I

felt that was accurate to a certain point because at the same time I felt that consistency brings more organization, attractiveness of the actual site and much less confusion. Anyone can open up the Wiki and understand where they can find what they are looking for. I feel that it doesnt take away all the creativity because individuals creating pages still have the ability to add any pictures they wish onto the page and add the information they feel. The only thing that would be kept the same is the actual structure of the page. I feel very proud of the contributions that I have been able to make toward this course Wiki.

Conclusion:
All previous sections and the current class of EDUC 5001G have shown a great deal of time and dedication to this course Wiki. This can be noticed by looking at the Wiki itself, it is very well organized and contains many Theorist, Theories, Learning Strategies, and much more. I am very appreciative that I had such great classmates that I could collaborate with for a project that I felt was impossible at first. After the collaboration I feel confident that if I was asked to do another Wiki project I would not hesitate to say yes. It was a great privilege to work on this course Wiki and establish a great set of tools that I can use towards other projects involving Wikis or something similar and for future classes of my own. I feel that a Wiki is a great skill builder for teamwork/collaboration of work along with independent work. I will definitely want to continue working on this Wiki long after the completion of this course.

References:
Christian, W. (2011). Harold Innis. Retrieved November 22, 2011, from The Canadian Encyclopedia/ The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Common Questions. (2011). (T. E. McLuhan, Producer) Retrieved November 12, 2011, from Marshall McLuhan:

http://marshallmcluhan.com/biography/ Communication Theory/ Propaganda and the Public . (2010, August 4). Retrieved November 23, 2011, from Wikibooks: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Communication_Theory/Propaganda_and_t he_Public#Harold_Lasswell_.281902-1978.29 Finley, M. M., Muth, M. F., & & Muth, R. (1990). Harold D. Lasswell: An Annotated Bibliography. New Haven Press. Gordon, T. (2002, July). Marshall Who? (T. E. McLuhan, Producer) Retrieved November 12, 2011, from Marshall McLuhan: http://marshallmcluhan.com/biography/ Harold Innis. (2011, November 20). Retrieved November 22, 2011, from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Innis Harold Lasswell. (2011, November 18). Retrieved November 23, 2011, from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Lasswell Liukkonen, P., & Kuusankosken, A. P. (2008). (Herbert) Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980). Retrieved November 12, 2011, from Books and Writers: http://kirjasto.sci.fi/mcluhan.htm Marshall McLuhan. (2006, February). Retrieved November 12, 2011, from Caslon Analytics Biographies: http://www.caslon.com.au/biographies/mcluhan.htm Marshall McLuhan. (2011). Retrieved November 13, 2011, from University of Toronto Faculty of Information: http://mcluhan.ischool.utoronto.ca/mcluhan-program/marshallmcluhan/ Neill, R. (2010, February 5). Harold Adams Innis. Retrieved November 22, 2011, from EH.net Encyclopedia: http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/Neill.Innis Old Messengers, New Media: The Legacy of Innis and McLuhan. (2008 23-December). Retrieved 2011 10-November from Library and Archives Canada: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/innismcluhan/index-e.html Ralon, L. (2011, February 1). The McLuhan Legacy Network. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from Figure/Ground Communication:

http://figureground.ca/2011/02/01/the-mcluhan-legacy-network/ The Medium is the Message. (2011, November 5). Retrieved November 14, 2011, from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Medium_Is_the_Massage VMMI. (2010). (Sumscorp LTD) Retrieved 2011 12-November from Virtual Maastricht McLuhan Institute: http://www.sumscorp.com/ (vmmi)_virtual_maastricht_mcluhan_institute/ Zingrone, F. (2011). Marshall McLuhan. Retrieved 2011 11-November from The Canadian Encyclopedia: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm? PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0004993

WIKI entries for preparation of Wikiography EDUC 5001G

By: Sharnjit Moondi Student #: 100467957 New Pages 1. Marshall McLuhan: http://wiki.apa.uoit.ca/EDUC5001SEP10/index.php/Marshall_McLuhan 2. Harold Innis: http://wiki.apa.uoit.ca/EDUC5001SEP10/index.php/Harold_Innis 3. Harold Lasswell: http://wiki.apa.uoit.ca/EDUC5001SEP10/index.php/Harold_Lasswell Added to the 1. All my new pages main 2. Malcolm Gladwell (group members page) theorist 3. Andrew Keen (group members page) page Contributed 1. Jean Piaget content to 2. Adult Learning Theory Added 1. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi pictures and 2. Sigmund Freud formatted Formatted 1. Jim Cummins 5. Robbie Case pictures 2. Jacques Derrida 6. Robert Mager (resize, 3. David Kolb 7. Donald Schon moving up 4. Stephen Kreshen or down) Formatted 1. Mihaly 25. John Calvin 47. Robert M. the Page Csikszentmiha 26. Walter Dick Gagne (bolding lyi and Lou Carey 48. James-Paul headings, 2. Yrgo 27. John M. Gee using Engestrom Carroll 49. Andrew bullets) 3. Michel 28. John Amos Gibbons Foucault Comenius 50. Haim 4. Paulo Freire 29. K.P. Cross Ginott 5. Sigmund 30. Jim 51. William Freud Cummins Glasser 6. David 31. Edward 52. Thomas Jonassen DeBono Gordon 7. David Kolb 32. Jacques 53. Fritz Heider 8. Stephen Derrida 54. John Keller Krashen 33. Stephan 55. Kurt Koffka 9. Jean Lave Downes 56. Alfie Kohn 10. A.N. 34. Rudolf 57. D.W. Leontev Dreikurs Livingstone 11. Pierre Levy 35. Kieran 58. John Locke 12. Kurt Lewin Egan 59. Robert 13. Albert 36. Albert Mager Bandura Einstein 60. Robert 14. Wesley C. 37. David McRuer Becker Elkind 61. M. David

15. Carl Bereiter 16. John Branford 17. Andrew Meltzoff 18. George A. Miller 19. O.Hobart Mowrer 20. Nicholas Negroponte 21. Alan November 22. Alan Paivio 23. Chris Argyris 24. David Ausubel Addition of Return to Theorist link for each Theorist page 1. Chris Argyris 2. Richard C. Atkinson 3. David Ausubel 4. Albert Bandura 5. Wesley C. Becker 6. Carl Bereiter 7. Benjamin S. Bloom 8. John Bransford 9. Jerome Bruner 10. John Calvin 11. Walter Dick and Lou Carey 12. John M. Carroll 13. Robbie Case 14. John Amos Comenius 15. K.P. Cross 16. Mihaly Csikszentmiha lyi

38. Erik Erikson 39. John H. Flavell 40. Gordon Pask 41. Roy Pea 42. Marlene Scardamalia 43. Donald Schon 44. Patrick Suppes 45. John Sweller 46. Edward C. Tolman

Merrill 62. Michael Merzenich 63. Lev Vygotsky 64. David Weinberger 65. Bernard Weiner 66. Etienne Wenger 67. Roxana Moreno 68. Richard Mayer 69. Greg Kearsley 70. Ben Shneiderman 53. D.W. Livingstone 54. John Locke 55. Robert Mager 56. Abraham Maslow 57. Robert McRuer 58. M. David Merrill 59. Michael Merzenich 60. Andrew Meltzoff 61. George A. Miller 62. Maria Montessori 63. O.Hobart Mowrer 64. Nicholas Negroponte 65. Alan November 66. Alan Paivio

25. Albert Einstein 26. David Elkind 27. Yrgo Engestrom 28. Erik Erikson 29. Leon Festinger 30. John H. Flavell 31. Michel Foucault 32. Paulo Freire 33. Sigmund Freud 34. Robert M. Gagne 35. Howard Gardner 36. James-Paul Gee 37. Andrew Gibbons 38. Haim

17. Jim Cummins 18. Edward DeBono 19. John Dewey 20. Jacques Derrida 21. Norman Doidge 22. Stephen Downes 23. Rudolf Dreikurs 24. Kieran Egan

Ginott 39. William Glasser 40. Thomas Gordon 41. Edwin Guthrie 42. Fritz Heider 43. David Jonassen 44. John Keller 45. Malcolm Knowles 46. Kurt Koffka 47. Wolfgang Kohler 48. Alfie Kohn 49. Stephen Krashen 50. Jean Lave 51. A.N. Leontev 52. Pierre Levy

67. Jean Piaget 68. Barbara Rogoff 69. Martin Seligman 70. John Sweller 71. Greg Kearsley 72. Ben Shneiderman 73. Peggy McIntosh 74. Jack Mezirow 75. Spencer Kagan

Spelling and Grammar edited

1. Michel Foucault 2. All the ones from my group (Malcolm Gladwell, David Weinberger, Andrew Keen, Albert Einstein)