Touched base with Anand Ramchand and Elizabeth Koh from the School of Computing this afternoon to discuss their plans for the CS1105 Computing and Society wiki.
On Wednesday, Elizabeth will talk to the students and lay out the parameters for a wiki-based assignment. Students will form groups and collaborate using the wiki.
One of the things that came out of our discussion was that the students should be using the wiki not just to dump their final submissions there. Elizabeth will stress that they will be looking out for collaborative input, particularly in the form of comments. This can only happen if the students put up early versions of their work in the wiki.
So, while the end product should be relatively polished, the comments will show how they students arrived at their submission.
In a way, it is similar to that saying about the journey, not the destination, being important.
Not to say that the destination isn't important in this case... the final submission will account for the majority of the students marks!
On a related note, I want to highlight a blog post by Dr Eric Thompson, an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology. He has been using a Wetpaint wiki for SC2218 Anthropology and the Human Condition. He discusses the issue of grading collaborative projects and how he grades the wiki-based assignment.
Must remember to check if the Most Active Contributors in Confluence takes into account the amount of edits made, rather than just the number of edits (however minor).
Eric Thompson
Hi – your ‘pingback’ post brought me here. I’m interested to see how you are using the wiki format (haven’t looked yet – just this post.
I think successful use of Wiki’s in learning and education – if their full potential is to be realized – needs us to reconceptualize assignments away from the traditional essay submission.
I’ll be continuing to comment on this both in my blog and the SC2218 wiki (I have a wiki for my grad course too. SC6214, though up to this point the undergrad course wiki is more developed.)
Socect
Kenneth Pinto (admin)
Hi Eric, thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I am very interested to see how the CS1105 wiki develops too. Perhaps I can set up a meeting with you, Anand and Elizabeth so that we can compare notes once the semester is done. I’ve subscribed to your blog to follow your updates.
How do you picture this reconceptualization of traditional essay submission?
I’d think at very least, a shift away from the emphasis on the final product. Though this might make be demanding on students who will have to contribute consistently during the course of the semester.