Ashley Carr
September 9, 2007
Aims and Objectives:
One of the goals that I set out for myself this week was to complete each assignment for CD 315 succesfully and correctly before the weekend began. As you can see, it is Sunday, and I am finishing my last two assignments. Even though I would have rather had these assignments finished on Thursday, I still was able to watch my HERD play a great game on Saturday against our in-state rival West Virginia University, and also I got to see all of my friends from WVU that went to high school with me.
Another goal that I had set for myself this week was to successfully create a wiki and come up with an interesting research question. After reading those articles on collaborative editing, research, and how to use a wiki, I now feel like I am well-informed and ready to begin the research process.
Declarative Knowledge:
I learned a great deal of information in this week’s readings that dealt with basic information on wikis, collaborative editing, essential questions, and how to develop a research question. I now understand what a wiki is and the basics of having one. Prior to this week, I had never heard of, nor had I used a wiki in my previous experiences on the Web. A wiki is a way to share and collaborate from any location that has access to the internet. The use of a wiki is as easy as just pressing “edit” then “save” to have the information saved to the wiki-based site the way you would like it. A wiki is not only used for educational purposes, but it is also used for people in the workplace. A wiki is a way for people to collaborate in a way that might not have been available in the traditional setting. Next, I also gained information on collaborative editing. Collaborative editing is a way for a group of individuals to edit a document within the same time frame. This type of editing is used essentially for classroom purposes, but it also can also be used within the workplace. People who are verified to edit that document are given a color so that the orginial user can see who is editing what. This would be a great tool to use within the classroom while taking notes. Again, I had never heard of this type of editing until the readings this week. Finally, this week I also learned about framing essential questions and the process to follow when developing a research question. Essential questions require students to evaluate, synthesize, and analyze the topic before choosing it to research. These are simplified steps from the traditonal way of looking up information on the topic in the school library. I learned that essential questions contain real life problems, and they may take a lifetime to figure out. Essential questions went along with the way in which we form a research question. The article on developing a research question gave the reader eight steps to follow to develop a thorough topic/question. By using essential questions and the eight steps given in developing a research question, I feel that after reading the information on this articles I will be able to create a topic that will become a successful research project.
Procedural Knowledge:
One of our assignments this week was to create a wiki of our own that we will use collaboratively with our classmates. I began creating a wiki by visiting our class wiki at (http://cd315.pbwiki.com). On this site I clicked on “create a new page” that was on the right hand side of the home page. This took me to another page, where I then entered a wiki password that was given to me within our class e-mail. On this same page, I entered my full name along with my Marshall e-mail address and checked the box that would notify me of changes. Next, I clicked the “login” button at the bottom of this page. This took me to another page where I had to enter my full name, and then click on the “group project” option at the bottom of the page. After finishing all of these set-up standards, I then pressed “create new page” which then successfully created my very own wiki. Along with setting up this wiki, I also read all articles on wikis, collaborative editing, and research information. I am also now familiar with eight steps to follow when developing a research question.
Conditional Knowledge:
The information that I learned over this week of assignments will be beneficial to me as a student, a citizen, and as a professional. The use of a wiki will be beneficial to me in this CD315 class, and possibly with others in the near future. I feel that it is a great way to collaborate with your professors along with other classmates. Also, a wiki is something that can be used as a citizen. If you are knowledgeable in a certain area and are looking at a wiki but dont agree with information on a topic, you have the right to change it to make it more accurate. As a professional, wikis can be used within business meetings to add to notes or for other collaborative purposes within the work environment. Collaborative editing would be helpful within the educational or business setting. This is a great way for students and professionals to all have the same information when taking notes. People can edit simultaneously so that everyone is on the same track and understands an equal amount of information. Along with learning this extensive technological information this week, I also feel that the basic questions to ask oneselft when devloping interesting research is a skill for anyone at any age to know to be successful. Throughout this week, I learned an immense amount of information that I previously did not know even existed. I feel that knowing this information will help me be a more literate professional and/or citizen in the future.
