[IAEP] OERs and collaboration

[Valerie Taylor]

YOU are systematic. It is the rest of us who need help.

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 4:34 PM, Walter Bender <walter.bender at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 2:33 PM, Valerie Taylor <vtaylor at gmail.com> wrote:

>> I think there is merit in having a public repository like the Sugar
>> Labs wiki to encourage educators and others to see what is being done,
>> and build on that in a systematic way.
>
> We are not exactly systematic about it, but Tony links to his most
> relevant blog posts in the wiki. Please see
> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/TurtleArt#Tutorials and
> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/TurtleArt/Using_Turtle_Art_Sensors
>
> As far as how to make these posts have more impact, we are open to suggestions.
>
Good example - the first encounter with the Turtle Art page is a
little overwhelming - Obviously tons of wonderful information with
pictures and code...

Some us need to know "what can it do?" and "why do I need to know all
this stuff?" (rather than "how does it work?"). The Challenges are
great! This is where it starts to make some sense for me.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/TurtleArt#Challenges

Provide a way to showcase and contribute learning objects - basically
challenge descriptions with categories / tags - subject, degree of
difficulty, ... and optional information like learning objectives and
additional information for teachers or students - setup, curriculum
integration, links to more advanced related challenges. There should
be a mechanism for adding reviews to challenge entries, too.

The Turtle Art page is sooo organized that it doesn't invite
contributions or collaboration. If there was a "button" that said "add
your own challenge" or "add a review of this challenge" it would
create a safe way to contribute. A form pops up with boxes to fill in,
including some options, save and it is added to the page in the proper
place without the risk of messing up what is already there.

This would also help educators (and students) find challenges to try
themselves. Once they locate a couple of challenges that seem
appropriate and interesting, then they will be motivated to work
through all the terrific material provided.