T2++GoogleDocs+vs+Alternatives

=**Tool 2: Google Docs and MediaWiki**=

=Google Docs=

Greg and David


 * COLLABORATIVE TECHNOLOGIES: WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SUGGEST?**
 * The use of collaborative technology in an educational context enhances active participation through content creation, increases students' engagement with course content, and enriches the learning process (Parker & Chao, 2007).
 * Students’ involvement in learning activities viac ollaborative tools improves their final course grades (Ravid, Kalman, & Rafaeli, 2008).
 * Better outcomes were obtained with Wiki collaborative technology as opposed to asynchronous forums(Levin-Peled & Kali, 2008).
 * In educational contexts, collaboration through editing each others’ text is usually perceived as a desired learning method (Tal-Elhasid & Meishar-Tal, 2007)
 * The development of new knowledge often takes place in small groups or teams of people facing common problems or with common interests. (Hall, W., et al., 2010)
 * It is comparatively easy to form such teams within well established organizational frameworks or research disciplines where potential members probably already know one another and have much in common, but knowledge building in these circumstances is normally only incremental On the other hand, major innovation often takes place in groups comprised of individuals crossing organizational, disciplinary or geographic boundaries. (Hall, W., et al., 2010)
 * Mastering collaboration skills prepares students for contribution in the workforce and society. An effective instrument certainly can enhance the process of collaboration. Social-networking Web 2.0 technologies such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and blogs are applications for exchanging thoughts and communicating via the Web with no time and place restrictions.(S. Chu., Kennedy. D., 2009)
 * As early as 2009, there were no "as yet, fully operational examples" using Web 2.0 technologogies, those that supported a virtual research environment. (Myhill, M., 2009)
 * The development of new knowledge often takes place in small groups or teams of people facing common problems or with common interests. (Hall, W., et al., 2010)
 * It is comparatively easy to form such teams within well established organizational frameworks or research disciplines where potential members probably already know one another and have much in common, but knowledge building in these circumstances is normally only incremental On the other hand, major innovation often takes place in groups comprised of individuals crossing organizational, disciplinary or geographic boundaries. (Hall, W., et al., 2010)
 * Mastering collaboration skills prepares students for contribution in the workforce and society. An effective instrument certainly can enhance the process of collaboration. Social-networking Web 2.0 technologies such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and blogs are applications for exchanging thoughts and communicating via the Web with no time and place restrictions.(S. Chu., Kennedy. D., 2009)
 * As early as 2009, there were no "as yet, fully operational examples" using Web 2.0 technologogies, those that supported a virtual research environment. (Myhill, M., 2009)
 * Mastering collaboration skills prepares students for contribution in the workforce and society. An effective instrument certainly can enhance the process of collaboration. Social-networking Web 2.0 technologies such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and blogs are applications for exchanging thoughts and communicating via the Web with no time and place restrictions.(S. Chu., Kennedy. D., 2009)
 * As early as 2009, there were no "as yet, fully operational examples" using Web 2.0 technologogies, those that supported a virtual research environment. (Myhill, M., 2009)
 * As early as 2009, there were no "as yet, fully operational examples" using Web 2.0 technologogies, those that supported a virtual research environment. (Myhill, M., 2009)


 * BUILDING KNOWLEDGE FRAMEWORK: WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? (Hall, W., et al., 2010):**


 * 1) Rapidly discover and review relevant formal knowledge and mechanically link this with work in progress.
 * 2) Facilitate articulation of the knowledge in explicit and readily shareable formats.
 * 3) Enable rapid asynchronous exchange and discussion of work in progress among widely distributed collaborators.
 * 4) File locking or other conflict prevention capabilities.
 * 5) Support real-time dialogs via text and audio
 * 6) Workflow management capability.
 * 7) Keep a record of the creative process.
 * 8) Support informal and formal publishing processes.
 * 9) Provide easy access to formalized publications

In recent years, collaborative learning, which has been shown to benefit students in terms of enhanced knowledge acquisition and better interpersonal skills development (see research above), has become an important aspect of of classroom teaching. (Coyle, 2007; Oxford, 1997) Google Docs, which is also a Web 2.0 technology (see illustration below), is a free web-based application that allows users to create and to share online documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and forms. It was first released on October 10, 2006 with web-based word processor and spreadsheet features.
 * GOOGLE DOCS for COLLABORATION: WHERE DOES IT FIT?**

Fig 1. Example of Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0 (from [])


 * BUILDING KNOWLEDGE FRAMEWORK: HOW DOES GOOGLE DOCS RATE?**
 * 1) Real-Time Document Sharing
 * 2) Ability to Export and Import Multiple File Types
 * 3) Adding Comments to Documents
 * 4) Ability to View Document Revision History
 * 5) Ability to Email All Collaborators of a Document
 * 6) Access and Share and publish Documents from //Anywhere//


 * OVERVIEW OF GOOGLE DOCS**
 * OVERVIEW OF GOOGLE DOCS**

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 * PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF GOOGLE DOCS**

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=**MediaWiki**= Wikis were first developed and named by Ward Cunningham in 1994, and released to the public in 2002. A wiki wiki was a shuttle that ran between terminals at the Honolulu International Airport. Cunningham used this term to replace the name of ‘quick web’ The essence of the Wiki concept is that all users can edit any page or create new pages within the wiki Web site, using a basic Web browser without any extra add-ons (Cunningham & Leuf, 2001). There typically is no approval process or review for modifications to the wiki.

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MediaWiki is the open source software that was originally created for Wikipedia. This software runs the Wikipedia site, but because it is open source It is commonly installed on servers to power both private and public wikis. For a listing of many of the English language sites that use media wiki, click here. In order to utilize MediaWiki, one must download the program and install and configure it on a server. This requires a level of technical skill that the average user does not have, or the hardware required. With the software being open source, it is constantly being developed and enhanced. MediaWiki outlines some of the limitations on their website:

However, for users who are utilizing the MediaWiki technology on already existing sites and servers, there are many collaborative features to it, making a good choice for some collaborative projects. MediaWiki sites are usually more aesthetically pleasing than wiki sites built using other Wiki software and are easier to navigate. MediaWiki allows many users to contribute to a document, however, only one user can make changes at a time, unlike in Google Docs. The ability to create a whole collaborative site is one of the positive features that using MediaWiki in a collaborative environment offers.