1. Please describe your overall experience in this course? Was the course effective in getting you to "learn about constructivism by doing and experiencing constructivist instructional methods?”
Overall, I think my experience in this course was good. I felt a little uneasy at first because I, like most teachers I think, like to have a structured, well-laid out plan with clear, solid expectations, and this course was more fluid and flexible. It’s kind of like we dictated the curriculum, within certain parameters of course, and this made me very scared. However, after getting used to the structure and set-up of the course, things got better and I got more comfortable with it. As for “learning about constructivism by doing and experiencing constructivism”, I think this class was very successful at that. Through our hands-on/minds-on learning process, I feel like I’ve learned and retained more information about constructivism than I would have been able to learn and retain using traditional teaching methods.
2. Please evaluate the emphasis on collaboration in writing the WikiBook Chapters.
I thought the collaboration in writing the WikiBook Chapters was effective, but difficult to implement at times. The collaboration process was effective because I felt like I made real connections with my classmates through collaborating, but it was difficult because I felt like everyone in the class didn’t have the same agenda (i.e. some people dropped the class without their group members knowing which left some groups in a bind when it came to authoring and publishing the chapters). However, I feel that we have worked together as a class (collaborated in other words) to overcome these challenges and difficulties.
I also liked the collaboration process because I liked hearing my classmates’ ideas and points-of-view on certain topics. Through working and conversing with my classmates during the collaboration process, I gained a further understanding of all the topics at hand.
3. Please comment on your experience of others (e.g. WikiBook editors, external experts, other Internet surfers) observing and / or critiquing your writing in the WikiBook.
Having other people read/observe/critique my writing was definitely an eye-opening experience. First of all, since I knew others would be reading my writing, I tried very hard to make my ideas very clear and easy-to-understand-- especially my blog reflections because they were posted for the general public to read. Moreover, since the writings we created were being viewed by the general public, I felt like I was writing for an authentic purpose, which gave the whole project more meaning and value for me. I was more motivated and excited about completing the writings because I knew they would serve a real purpose and be read and used by people other than my professors.
4. Please compare the experience of doing research and authoring a textbook for a class (like this one) versus the traditional way of reading and studying an assigned textbook for a class.
I feel like I have learned more and have become more familiar with the material at hand by using the researching and authoring process than I would have learned using traditional instructional methods. The learning process we used in this class required me to interact with the material in a closer and more intimate way than I would have interacted with it using traditional instructional methods. Had this been a traditional instructional method class, I probably would have briefly skimmed the readings and superficially learned the information at hand long enough to regurgitate it back on a quiz or test. However, the researching and authoring method we used in this course challenged me (in a good way) and required me to go way beyond what was written in a premade textbook. This class required me to work hard to acquire and build my own working knowledge of the concepts at hand, and therefore, I appreciate and value the information I learned in this course way more than I would have in a traditional instructional method course. Overall, I feel a strong sense of ownership over the learning I have done in this class.
5. As a result of your experience in this class, are you more likely or less likely to assign collaborative wiki writing assignments in your teaching situation? Please explain the reasons you are more or less likely to do so.
As a result of my experiences in this class, I would have to say that I would be more likely to assign collaborative Wiki writing assignments in my classroom if I were at a school that allowed access to Wiki resources. I would use collaborative Wiki writing assignments, set up similar to the way we completed the Wiki Chapters in this class, because children are social by nature and I think they would be very motivated to complete a group project like this. However, I will be unable to use Wiki writing assignments in my current classroom because our network prohibits access to any type of blog or Wiki document/resource.
6. Please comment about building quizzes and answer keys, and on grading your peers. Did you learn or gain anything valuable from these experiences? Please explain.
Overall, the quiz-building process helped me learn how to develop clearer and more precise assessment items. It also helped me learn how to create higher-level assessment questions that prompt students to think deeper and synthesize their learning. The process of creating answer keys was the same as creating answer keys for the assessments I give in my classroom. The quiz grading process, however, was very interesting. Through grading my peers’ quizzes, I was able to see what they had learned from me and how well I communicated the points I aimed to communicate while authoring the chapter. Overall, I liked reading what my peers learned and their opinions about the topics at hand.
7. What are your suggestions for improving the design of this course?
Even though we started out a little rocky at first, I think the overall idea and design of this course was good. The only thing I would change is the role descriptions for each person’s job in the Wiki Chapter groups. I would make the role descriptions a bit clearer because I think there was a little confusion about who was responsible for what at first. However, once we (the class as a whole) got the hang of the whole process, things seemed to proceed smoothly. I don’t know what could be said to make the role descriptions clearer, but the role descriptions that exist now confused a lot of us at first.
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