Final Self-Assessment for PIDP 3240 Social Media Assignment #4 Blog

PIDP 3240 Social Media

Blog site AVAM3101.blogspot.ca  (A Career in Aircraft Maintenance)

Assignment #4 Resource Blog Self- Assessment

A.

Before the start of this PID I was quite apprehensive about the topics we were to cover during the 8 weeks.  Although I was comfortable on the computer and use one every day, my experience with blogs and wikis was nil.  That being said, I come from a background in aircraft maintenance and on an almost daily basis I was confronted by technical snags for which I had no immediate answer.  I would study the faults, read the manuals, consult co-workers and inevitably get the problem resolved.  Dealing with blogs and wikis could not be any worse; in fact I could be warm and dry with a hot pot of coffee at home while I figured it all out.

Once I began the process of assignments #3 and #4, my worries faded away and I realized how simple creating this site was.  All the information and tips were on-line, usually via YouTube.  I thoroughly enjoyed creating my blog and in fact had to stop myself from going in and tweaking it daily, changing this and that.  I found it simple to use, edit and post information, no worse than the PowerPoint’s I create for my own classes.  I found myself thinking often about information and saying “Oh yeah, this would be great on my blog”.

I quite enjoyed watching Ray Tessiers’ blog.  This wasn’t just because we both teach at BCIT Aerospace, but more due to the fact the Ray had a completely different career in aviation than I did. I enjoyed watching his site grow, seeing the photos and having a peek into what his experience was like in aviation, except from a military background.  I enjoyed watching what he included of value and comparing it to what I put an emphasis on for content.  I also liked Emeldas’ blog because we chatted often about the technical issues she was having and her fear of the computer.  I encouraged her to keep chipping away at it, telling her that before this course I had never worked on a wiki or a blog either.  I felt comfortable on the computer and perusing the internet, so it was interesting and rewarding to see Emeldas’ blog grow as she figured things out.

I see the blog being used as a motivational tool for the students and a source for additional information I may not have time to provide in class.  I encouraged my students to visit the blog and let me know what they thought.  I included photos from my career and interesting video links about gas turbine engines and aircraft.  Aviation is such a huge, broad industry that graduates could end up working in places and on machines they could never have predicted in school.  My ten years as a mechanic and supervisor in the industry was short compared to most of my peers, but I enjoyed it from start to finish.  I wanted to try capture some of this in the blog.  When a student asks me what fishing has to do with working on airplanes?  I know they have checked out my site.  Then there is a story to every picture. 

Many students are still unsure as they close in on graduation whether they will even work in the industry!  Some are taking the education just to appease parents; others haven’t yet decided where they will focus their job hunt or if they want to travel away from the city for work.   My hope is that the blog will provide them with a little window into my career and how much fun I had, the experiences I gained by not being afraid to travel around.  They are after all going into an AVIATION career!  As well, posting different links for work resources, educational material and maybe given the time a current events area could all serve the purpose of helping students learn more and discover more about their chosen career path than I can possibly teach them in class.

As my blog grows, I would like to include video of assignments from the course I teach.  Once again, given the time I would enjoy recording an engine being disassembled by the student over their 3 week shop project.  This video could then be edited, given a voice over and posted on my page.  Not only is it interesting seeing how a gas turbine works, its’ internal parts and the disassembly, re-assembly process; student could use this video as a preview for the project to come; or students in earlier levels could have a peek at what they get to do in Level 5 with Mr. German.  Once again the biggest issue is time to get these ideas completed.  Also at BCIT, while I am teaching gas turbines today, there is no guarantee that in the new year I may be moved and end up teaching hydraulics for 6 months.  My blog would then have to shift over to focus on brakes, landing gear and wheels, my ideas for gas turbines on hold till a later date.

In the future, should I create another blog my main issue is that I will have no fear and could probably get one up and running in a matter of minutes.  What I do differently would depend on what I wish to post and present to the world?  A blog highlighting my passion for sport and fitness may include photos and videos I have taken from trips and events worldwide.  It could include links for food, nutrition, gear and travel sites.  I could also provide links to other blogs such as my wife’s massage therapist page, physical therapists and other sports medicine areas.  I would like to have a video that might play on the main page immediately as you log in but haven’t yet figure out how to link up a video to something I would post on YouTube.

B.

I feel my blog is very strong.  I am not going to say it has weaknesses because I have never created a blog before.   As this is my first attempt I am quite proud of the work I have done.  I have put a large amount of time and effort into creating an interesting and useful site.  While reading through the rubric, I can say that I have targeted all the points essential to obtaining a Level 4.  I have posted all the required material such as our Tech and Trends articles plus Web 2.0 tool summary; I have posted five (Death by PowerPoint was also included) journal entries which all show significant thought and insight; I have touched on all the points as per the expectations in the course assignment outline; I have contributed a significant amount of my own photos to provide a visually interesting page; I have also linked videos that should be of interest to not only my students but the casual visitor as well. 

My entries to the blog are categorized and well titled with an excellent links page.  My links include not only VCC but BCIT and the Aerospace link as well.  I have a list of the reading material required in my course and in fact the whole program.  Should the student be closer to graduation I have links to job boards and Transport Canada for their license requirements.  Additional information and little teasers are provided in the form of links to web sites of some of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world today.  A visit to any one of these sites could provide hours of reading and information for even the most basic aviation buff.  My writing has been triple checked for grammar and spelling and I feel the look of the page is very clean, neat, organized and professional for a first attempt at a blog.  For all these reasons I have stated my mark should be a minimum of an A, falling in the range from Level 3 (9) to Level 4 (9.5).

Final Self-Assessment for PIDP 3240 Social Media Assignment #3 Wiki

PIDP 3240 Social Media

Wiki Page Copyrightlawspidp 

http://copyrightlawspidp.wikispaces.com/home

Assignment #3 Wiki Self- Assessment

A.

Before beginning the PIDP and group assignment #3 I had my apprehensions.  I have always felt and experienced that group projects can be an inordinate amount of hassle.  These problems are usually the result of one or more people failing to contribute or “pull their weight”.  Another issue that has arisen in the past was communication and direction.  Communication can be very lacking or non-existent and as a result group members do not stay on track.   Nothing is worse than carrying out research and writing for hours or days only to find out as per the rest of the group that this work is of no use.

Even within the gas turbine engine course I teach at BCIT, my feeling is that there are too many group projects.  The main problems I see within my own course and its’ group projects are students hiding behind other students.  Maybe one of the group is weak and the other members cover for this fact after being together for almost a year now; individual members and their personalities may bully others into carrying out the majority of the assignments; students with weaker English skills may choose to do the research but have the other members ask the questions and perform the hands-on skills.  Luckily I am a very hands-on instructor and watch everyone carefully.  Should any of these issue be the case, on the next project (there are three) I will mix the groups as I see fit.

When it came to our wiki group of four I could not have not have been more happy.  We contacted each other on the forum and chose times to meet via ooVoo.  Using ooVoo or the forum as well as text messages and e-mail we fine-tuned our ideas and got the ball rolling.  After this point, within the first couple of weeks the wiki took on a life of its’ own.  Adele was the first to set up the wiki and get everyone invited and listed as organizers.  From there on in it came down to meetings discussing content and what we wished to include or remove. 

All of us had our issues along the way.  Emelda had a number of technical problems and an overall fear/stress of the whole project.  When we meet aside from the wiki group I did my best to alleviate her concerns and let her know that we all had different issues.  The point of this project was to confront those problems and push our boundaries.  The rest of us, Anna, Adele and myself also had various computer or access problems, crashing servers, strange glitches and my entire laptop got a virus and died, costing me days of time.  Along the way all the work got done.  Everyone pulled together, we encouraged each other and the wiki grew with great content.  Overall I was impressed with how a group that was never to meet in person became organized, found some common ground and helped each other get the most out of social media.  Some great ideas were brought up and discussed, once again showing that one of the things I value most in these PIDs was the networking that happens.

With only one week to go on PIDP 3240, I have only managed to gain entry into the wiki of Ray, Angela and Pamela, Copy Right Not Wrong.  The other wiki for Option B students is not yet available to be looked at.  Having read through this groups’ wiki I was impressed by the content and simplicity.  The wiki is easy to navigate, information is plentiful, the links work and the layout is clear.  My only problem with doing this sort of review before course end is it now shines a light on your own work.  I am happy with the wiki project of our group and my contribution to the project, but looking at someone else’s work always forces you to re-think your own.  I saw a few different things that made me go, “Oh, why didn’t I do that?”  I have found both the wiki and the blog to become a bit of a time consumer as I would constantly go in and tweak this and that.  Inevitably you ended up right back where you started from before the fiddling began.   In any event this wiki gave me more ideas for how I could do my own better in the future if I had complete control.

I would love to assign my class a wiki project on day one of the course, maybe breaking everyone into groups of 2 or 3 but contributing to the same wiki.  By level end at 8 weeks it would have to be unveiled to me via the address and worth a certain percentage of their final mark.  During the final level to the Aircraft Maintenance Engineer program, students are expected to create their own AMO or Aircraft Maintenance Organization.  They must organize themselves and appoint a Director, QA Manager and various supervisors.  They are expected to find a site for a base and hangar, decide on their market and which aircraft they will operate.  Each member of the class is expected to participate and contribute.  Should I have the opportunity to teach Level 8 I would use a wiki as the site to carry out this project.  Students could work at the school or on their own time at home or library.  The point being that everyone would have to get organized and communicate.  Each person would be expected to contribute and team building skills are essential.  Just like in the industry, you may be handed a project for which you have no experience to reference.  You are assigned a team, a deadline and expected to produce.

Next time I create a wiki I would hope to have more time to invest in it.  That being said we as a group put a huge amount of time and effort into the content of the wiki.  Looking at the wikis of previous classes we found many to be awfully skimpy on the information, almost a bare minimum.  Having a time limit to get organized, research material, post it, vet it, edit it, discuss it, and edit it again put us all under the gun so to speak.  Should I endeavor to create another wiki on my own it would be more of a slow paced and methodical evolution.  I would research more on sites such as YouTube for the ideas on how to link different visual aids into the site.  Having a group of four people was also a challenge to arrange schedules and ideas.  I saw communication and finding slots in four different peoples schedules to have a quick chat the most difficult aspect to organize.  Once these meetings were held, everyone got on with the work and built the wiki into a huge resource.

B.

As a group none of us had ever dealt with wikis before, except for sites such as Wikipedia.  We came together and gelled well, using the forum to get organized and make decisions as to when we should meet.  OoVoo became our second major source for communication but initially caused a few technical bugs.  As a group everyone participated equally and contributed excellent quality and quantity of content. We all had our various troubles, glitches and learning curve issues along the way but helped each other through the foggier patches.  Having gone from zero on the knowledge scale to creating and filling our own wiki gave me an excellent sense of accomplishment.  From a site of blank pages to one filled to the brim with writing, photos and links I felt we earned a top mark.  After multiple reviews of our site and the rubric I believe as a group we should earn nothing less than an A as per Level 4-5, 9-9.5. 

We have a variety of content, interesting links, good grammar and spelling.  During the research for our wiki we all spent time looking at previous classes’ wiki sites and found many to be fairly slim on content and imagination, a bare minimum at best.  In comparison ours was overflowing with information, enough that we decided during one of our many ooVoo sessions to cut back.

The biggest problem in my eyes was remaining organized with the amount of information we had.  Keeping topics clear and the pages flowing was a challenge as was having group members edit each other’s’ work.  The whole point of a wiki was the ability to go in and edit the pages, but I found we were all hesitant to edit pages that we had not created.  This caused more back and forth with communication rather than just making the changes and moving forward, saving time and energy.  As a group we all learned a huge amount about wikis as well as topics such as hyperlinks, editing, copyright materials and social media for communication on ooVoo and the VCC forum.  Time spent working on this wiki will be of invaluable use in the future for not only myself but my students as well.