Hi Leigh, I think one of the biggest challenges facing OERs -- particularly with regards to the peer collaboration model are the technical silos which exist between and among projects. As OER projects, there should have a technical environment that enables all the OER projects, WMF, WikiEducator, Connexions and appropriately licensed OCW projects to mix and match content. We still have a ways to go before the technical issues are resolved.
We need to spend a lot more time figuring out how we can promote seamless integration and interoperability among free content projects. RSS is a great way to remix small bits of stuff together -- but it's not ideal for large content chunks and users who have very limited bandwidth. For example -- try loading our RSS eLearning blog feed on a slow dialup connection :-( -- http://www.wikieducator.org/ELearning_Blogfeed Answering the question of the best fit for content from a pedagogical perspective is not a simple distinction. (See for example the discussions over time between Wikibooks and Wikiversity regarding the distinction between content allocations between these projects.) In asynchronous learning environments their is a blending between content (i.e. what to teach) and form (how to teach it) thus making it more difficult to decide, for instance, whether this is a Wikibooks of Wikiversity related project. Moreover -- I think that education has a far more interesting and exciting challenge regarding OERs, and that's what I call the reusability paradox. Education is contextually bounded -- and the more pedagogy you build into a resource, the less reusable it becomes in different contexts. I'm very keen for WikiEducator to start pushing the envelope in finding workable solutions to these challenges. It would be great to see WikiEducators around the world putting our forward looking disposition into action -- by implementing technical and educational innovations for the future. I see the OER "texbook" initiative as an exiting opportunity. Frankly -- I don't care where the content resides -- but I go care about the priorities of educators and how we collectively can add value into making the world a better place. Cheers Wayne On Dec 3, 9:17 pm, "Leigh Blackall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Well, it may not be competition, but it is duplication. > > If we were to focus this energy into Wikibooks, then the success stories > would go to Wikibooks and help it to strengthen and grow - such as Otago's > Anatomy and Physiology of Animals and soon 2 more texts. I've always > considered Wikieducator to be something quite different to text books, and > that Wikibooks had that well covered. I still hope to see Wikieducator and > Wikiversity join some way... > > Anyway, its your project and you'll take it were you need to with this > feedback. I appreciate the effort you've gone to in explaining why Wikied > again.. I seem to bring this question up at least twice a year, and your > answer seems to get more detailed while remaining essentially the same :) > > But you're right, the licenses will solve the first problem between the two, > the next problem is the use of templates... > > Regards > Leigh > > On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 1:42 PM, Wayne Mackintosh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > > > > > > > Hi Leigh, > > > Good question --- Why not use Wikibooks as an established platform? > > > First off -- WikiEducator is not in competition with any of the > > freedom culture projects, including all the projects hosted by the > > Wikimedia Foundation. Rather, we are working collaboratively with all > > the OER content developers in the world. Hopefully in the near future > > -- assuming the discussions and pending decisions regarding WMF's > > migration to a CC-BY-SA license -- we'll see more remixing and mash- > > ups among our respective projects. > > > WE already has an established history of both meaningful and > > successful collaborations with WMF. A good example is the Mediawiki > > Collections extension which produces pdf collections. The Commonwealth > > of Learning co-invested in the development of this open source > > technology as a collaboration between WE and WMF. In fact, Wikibooks > > launched the beta test of the wiki to odt export before WikiEducator! > > Any work which WikiEducator will be doing in the future to refine the > > Mediawiki software and or develop new extensions that better serve the > > needs of educators will be released under the GPL --- so our work does > > not have an exclusive WE focus. > > > As active members of the open source and OER community we encourage > > and support the essential freedoms -- and that includes the freedom > > for educators to host their content developments with those projects > > which best meet their needs. > > > That said, there are reasons why educators may choose to host with > > WikiEducator -- for example: > > > 1) WikiEducator is a community of educators rather than a general > > public wiki -- 73% of our registered users are teachers. lecturers and > > trainers working in the formal education sector. As educators are > > needs are more focused on educational priorities within the day-to-day > > operation of educational institutions which are not necessarily the > > same as those of a general public project > > 2) WikiEducator is better positioned to respond to the unique > > institutional requirements associated with traditional peer review, > > which would be more difficult to implement in a project like Wikibooks > > 3) We are better positioned to prioritise the development of Mediawiki > > extensions for the needs of educators. For example, WE makes extensive > > use of structured pages and WE has implemented an extension which > > enables us to easily change the display title on a wiki page -- see > > for example: > >http://www.wikieducator.org/Template:MyTitle. Flagged Revisions is a > > Mediawiki extension that shows considerable promise in assisting with > > peer review of content -- (See: > >http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:FlaggedRevs > > ). However, in both examples we cannot expect or request the WMF to > > refine these technology features for the specific requirements of > > educators. > > 4) In building a sustainable eco-system for published OERs -- we will > > need to engage and negotiate with the academic publishing industry -- > > it is unlikely and unreasonable to expect that the WMF will prioritise > > these kinds of arrangements in their operations. > > 5) WE does not make an arbitrary distinction among the form of > > educational "content". We include a range of forms, including > > "textbooks", research papers, learning activities, handouts etc. In > > the case of WMF projects, if you're developing an encyclopaedia > > article -- that goes to Wikipedia, If you're developing a book -- that > > goes to Wikibooks etc. There are benefits to having a focused > > educational project which host multiple forms of educational > > resources. > > > Given my experience in the academy -- I do see numerous benefits for > > WikiEducator having a clear focus on building a sustainable eco-system > > for educational "texts". > > > Cheers > > Wayne > > > On Dec 3, 1:26 pm, "Leigh Blackall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Why would we use Wikieducator to develop "text books"? > > > > Seems to me that Wikibooks is already established as the platform for > > this. > > > > Perhaps your proposal isn't to specifically use Wikieducator but to use > > > multiple platforms. But it does sound as though it will be a Wikieducator > > > focus... > > > > On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 7:38 AM, Maria Droujkova <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > wrote: > > > > I'd like to ask a naive question: why use the "genre" of textbook at > > all? > > > > Isn't the very genre a bit... outdated? > > > > > A definition from Wikipedia: "A *textbook* is a manual of instruction > > or a > > > > standard book in any branch of study. They are produced according to > > the > > > > demand of educational institutions." > > > > > A standard implies something long-term (permanent?), constant, closed. > > The > > > > demands are also centralized. > > > > > Do textbooks allow per-student customization, semi-automated in smart > > > > social ways (at least as well as Amazon does for book recommendations)? > > > > Daily or hourly, dynamic changes of content based on who creates what > > in the > > > > world? User-generated content in general? Interactivity? Sound and > > video? No > > > > and no and no. And the question is, if we get "all that" from other > > places, > > > > what is the place of a textbook, then - if any? > > > > > I see two somewhat modern parts in Wayne's list of generic questions: > > peer > > > > collaboration and print-on-demand. > > > > > -- > > > > Cheers, > > > > MariaD > > > > > Make math your own, to make your own math. > > > > > naturalmath.com: a sketch of a social math site > > > > groups.google.com/group/naturalmath: a mailing list about math maker > > > > activities > > > > groups.google.com/group/multiplicationstudy the family multiplication > > > > study > > > > -- > > > -- > > > Leigh Blackall > > > +64(0)21736539 > > > skype - leigh_blackall > > > SL - Leroy Goalposthttp://learnonline.wordpress.comhttp:// > >www.wikieducator.org/User:Leighblackall > > -- > -- > Leigh Blackall > +64(0)21736539 > skype - leigh_blackall > SL - Leroy > Goalposthttp://learnonline.wordpress.comhttp://www.wikieducator.org/User:Leighblackall --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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