Reflections - Mobile Phone Wiki

AMENDED POST - upon reflection (and assistance from fellow students) of the activity I have been made aware that the post to the blog was to not be the actual task but to be a reflection of the task.


I have an overall negative assessment of this activity. The reading was informative and interesting, although would have thought Australian-specific research, if available would have been more useful. In my opinion the wiki was ineffective as there were numerous posts by other students that were similar thus creating a lot of reading for other wiki users. This caused uneasiness and a reluctancy in posting something myself - the reason that I did not post my opinions on the wiki was because they were already covered by other students. There are a few alternatives to improve this activity:

• De Bono's hats are divided up amongst students providing them with a singular perspective to consider when reading the mobile phone text
• A like/dislike/comment system not dissimilar to facebook or even forums. That way if another student agrees with a statement they can still contribute to the wiki. If they disagree or have something to add to the statement then there will be facilities to do that also. This provides for a more user friendly wiki and encourages participation from all students

The task was constructivist in nature - the students were to construct their own learning through posting on the wiki in the format of De Bono's hats. They also were to construct their own learning by working collaboratively with other students to develop thorough ideas. This was ineffective as it appears that people posted without reading prior postings and, therefore, collaboration was not achieved to the extent it possibly could have.

Behaviourism played a major role, i believe, in the activity. Some people posted, some people didn't, some people posted the same as other people. Behaviourism, as I understand it, is behaviour affecting ability and process of learning which in turn affects behavioural changes. Previous experience, personality and self-confidence has affected the participation, and type of participation, in this activity. For example, I did not post - I did have views and have completed the activity - because my views were seemingly very similar to those already posted and, therefore, did not see the advantage of posting something that was already clearly expressed by one of my classmates.

This task was proven to be connectivism through the use of wikis, blogs for reflection and moodle for initial reading download. Using ITCs effectively, I have learnt, that this engages the student and enhance connection between the student and their learning.

Disappointingly, this activity did not cater for a range of students. It reminded me a little of high school group work - the popular, smart or extraverted students would be the voice to the rest of the group which is perfectly fine as long as the other students are being encouraged to participate in other ways. Another way to look at it is in a classroom situation where an ineffective learning environment has been created the student who keeps calling out is constantly called upon for their opinion due to his dominant personality. People with different personalities are left feeling that their view is unimportant. That is why I suggested that the task be broken down into smaller groups, this is where a smaller voice can be heard.

Overall, this task could have been a lot better structured had a few key changes been made. I enjoyed working with De Bono's hats. They were interesting and effective in looking at different perspectives, and therefore learning different viewpoints, of the one topic.