March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA1 Using a Wiki for Out-of-Class Discussion and Collaboration: A History of Computing Course Katherine Deibel Computer Science and Engineering University of Washington, Seattle

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA2 Course Description (1 of 2) A History of Computing – Autumn 2006 An overview of the history of computing from Blaise Pascal through today Gordon Bell Butler Lampson Armando Fox Steve Wozniak Burton Smith Ray Ozzie John Markoff Bud Tribble Christos Papadimitriou Mike Koss 11 week course Met one evening a week for 3 hours Lectures (frequently by guests):

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA3 Course Description (2 of 2) Course goal: De-emphasis on memorization of facts Emphasis on analyzing the historical process Evaluation: Participation (20%) Expert for a week essay (25%) Course project (team or individual)(55%)

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA4 Four classroom locations University of Washington Microsoft Campus UC Berkeley UC San Diego Three universities Connected through real-time video and audio via ConferenceXP A Monster of a Course: Locations Microsoft Campus, Redmond, WA UW Campus, Seattle, WA UCSD Campus San Diego, CA UC Berkeley Campus Berkeley, CA UW

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA5 Three instructors: Ed Lazowska, U. of Washington Computer Science & Engineering Steve Maurer, UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy Geoff Voelker, UCSD Computer Science & Engineering One graduate teaching assistant: Kate Deibel, U. of Washington Computer Science & Engineering A Monster of a Course: Staff Microsoft Campus Redmond, WA UW Campus Seattle, WA UCSD Campus San Diego, CA UC Berkeley Campus Berkeley, CA

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA6 70+ students U. of Washington Professional Masters Program students (CSE) Some PhD students (CSE) UC Berkeley Some undergraduates (Public Policy) Masters students (Public Policy) Phd students (Public Policy) UCSD Masters students (CSE) PhD students (CSE) A Monster of a Course: Students Microsoft Campus Redmond, WA UW Campus Seattle, WA UCSD Campus San Diego, CA UC Berkeley Campus Berkeley, CA

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA7 Teaching Challenges & Opportunities Meet only once a week Students are distributed across locations Diversity of student backgrounds and perspectives Limited time and opportunity for in-lecture discussion Difficult for students at other campuses to collaborate

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA8 The Course Wiki Dedicated installation using MediaWiki Each week has its own wiki page Links to readings and presentations Weekly expert essays Talk page used for discussion Students expected to participate in the weekly discussions Students otherwise permitted to freely use the wiki

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA9 How’d it go? Wiki Successes: Ease of administration Rich discussions Community building Project collaboration

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA10 Wiki Successes: Easy Administration No spam or vandalism of wiki pages Observations Require registration to edit wiki pages Simple security prompt to defeat spam bots

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA11 Wiki Successes: Rich Discussions Rich weekly discussions: Multiple participants including instructors Debates, answering of questions, asking new questions Inclusion of links to other information, graphics, etc. Observation: Seed talk pages with an initial set of questions Avoids making a student start the discussion

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA12 Wiki Successes: Community Building Wiki permitted communication between all campuses Discussions mentioned in lecture Allowed weekly experts to discuss differing opinions Students added pages on non-lecture topics: Influence of Fiction on Computing History Antikythera Mechanism Recommendations for books on computing history Observation: Avoid restrictions on how to use the wiki

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA13 Wiki Successes: Project Collaboration Project teams composed of members from different campuses Wiki used to propose project ideas and form teams Wiki used to organize team efforts Outlines of papers / projects Shared links to references Entire papers written collectively on wiki Observations: Wiki allowed remote students to work together Different teams used the wiki differently

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA14 Seriously, how’d it go? Wiki Successes: Ease of administration Rich discussions Community building Project collaboration Wiki Frustrations: Comfort level Signatures and IDs Grading the discussions

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA15 Wiki Frustrations: Comfort Levels Not all student comfortable with using wikis Wiki syntax can be clumsy Observations: Include a lesson or provide a tutorial on using the wiki Give a wiki usage assignment early in the quarter Register a login Create a page Add text and an image to the page Add a comment to a talk page

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA16 Wiki Frustrations: Signatures and IDs Difficulty mapping wiki IDs to student names Students (and instructors) forgot to sign their comments in the discussions Observations: Set a policy for choosing a wiki ID or a procedure to map who is who Adjust wiki software to remind users to sign comments

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA17 Wiki Frustrations: Grading Discussions Discussions ongoing throughout quarter Difficult to grade week by week Hard to determine the “when” of comments Difficulty tracking individual participation Talk pages became long Comments become threaded and separated Observations: Need for wiki tools to aid grading Tracking of individual contributions Chronological views of page edits Viegas et al. CHI2004

March 14, 2008SIGCSE 2008, Portland, OR, USA18 Conclusions A monster of a course became a great course The wiki was a great communication tool Lessons were learned Course links: