Exam Question One

Question 1: 

a)    www.thehed.pbwiki.com

b)    Discuss five of the key issues you had to struggle with to get this project to work 

Upon completion of the project, when working in set groups, the group came across an abundance of difficulties. When working in groups it must be remembered that everyone is different and portrays unique qualities. Although this set trait could be viewed as an advantage, it was not without its cons.

1.    The most prominent struggle was Absent people: there were four set people allocated in completion of this task. However, by the end of the project, the group size reduced to three. This is due to the fact that one of the group members failed to place any effort into the completion of the task. It must be remembered that when working in groups, sharing the work load is the key to success

2.    Logging On; Technology is not without its difficulties. The program we used in completing the task, pbwiki, was difficult to log onto. I found it a real problem that not everyone was able to log on at the same time. This caused numerous problems and people had to be allocated set times to complete the task

3.    Format Difficulties/ setting: While in the actually document the settings where perfect, when you went to save your changes, the pages  format was altered. This in essence caused time problems, as everything was changed numerous times

4.    Group Timing: Everyone has other issues to deal with, however we had to constantly allocate times where everyone was available. In whole, this created numerous barriers to compete the task.

5.    Privacy Issue: privacy was also a problem. With the wiki, no personal information can be displayed, as anyone is able to access the information in which you display. Furthermore, as we asked for both parent and student input onto the wiki, this creates a problems. Parents will become reluctant to place accurate comments onto their Childs work, as everyone is able to view the constructive criticism.  

 c)     Evaluate the worth of the collaborative nature of this project in light of the motivation that comes from within the project. 

The new-generation Web 2.0 solutions are easier and more engaging to use, and they are proving to have a larger impact on collaboration and communication in the classroom than complex technologies of the past. The very nature of the project is such that it has changed the way communication has taken place in the classroom setting and hence will have a real impact on the learning. However will it is a refreshing change for the educator, it is also an important motivator for the students. 

In essence the very nature of the project is a motivator in itself. It involves much interaction where by all students are presented with the opportunity to share ideas and information with everyone else. Interaction in this way not only involves sharing ideas and information, but it is very much social as it simply allows one to also receive feedback.

Dreikus, a key figure in classroom management, simply states in his Democratic Discipline model that people are basically social in nature and hence have a innate drive to belong to a social network. In the project in which we have created, this is clearly in fact the set up of the task, and hence students are much more likely to from and intrinsic motivation. The collaboration of the task engages groups of people in not only sending and receiving feedback but working together for creating building and editing.

 The collaborative nature of this project also appeals exactly to the theory of Dreikurs; that human beings are social in nature and that one of our inherent needs is to gain a sense of belonging. This project creates an environment like this because all students are needed to complete the project; they are all connected on the internet as well as with their families. The students are motivated to complete their part of the project by their being part of the group, they do not want to be the only one to let the group down, neither do the parents, so the parents are motivated to keep their children on track with the project so as not to be embarrassed in front of the other parents. Students are intrinsically motivated to be a part of the group and gain that sense of belonging, by trying to make their part of the project the best and the most interesting in terms of web 2.0 technologies, this increases their use of these types of software and motivates them to make a quality wiki/blog. 

Simply as both teachers and students are granted the opportunity to simply sign up and drive, access is ease and it offers an ease of use, the completion of the task is going to present much motivation through a collaborative environment.