Wikipedia talk:Education program archive/Texas State University/Introduction to public administration (fall 2014)/Timeline

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"Wiki work days"
If you’ve enjoyed being a part of an effective team, consider yourself quite fortunate. Negative group experiences are, unfortunately, all to common. Students report that scheduling (finding a time outside of class to meet) and unequal distribution of workload (the “free rider” problem) pose major barriers to creating a well-functioning team. This assignment addresses those concerns. Wikipedia is designed for online collaboration; the creation/revision of an article does not require face-to-face meetings. It is also built to maximize transparency. The article “history” page logs every contribution/change that is made on Wikipedia.

The Wikipedia platform, then, helps alleviate some of the problems that groups encounter by increasing accountability. But Wikipedia alone can’t solve the underlying issue; professors often assume that students possess inherent knowledge of the principles of effective teamwork and skill at applying such concepts. Operating under this premise, students are assigned group projects but given little or no instructional support on how to work with others. In the syllabus, I promised you a chance to develop/practice collaboration skills. Because this is one of the main learning objectives of this course, I believe that working on your group project in class is a valuable use of our time together.

Every Friday this semester will be a “wiki work day.” Our class will meet in the political science computer classroom (UAC 342) for groups to complete important tasks/assignments on the project timeline.