[IAEP] OERs and collaboration

[mokurai at earthtreasury.org]

On Fri, May 13, 2011 7:07 am, Valerie Taylor wrote:
> YOU are systematic. It is the rest of us who need help.

It isn't just that. We are talking about producing several hundred
subject-matter OERs for all subjects at all levels, plus local content in
history, literature, health, agriculture and so on, in perhaps a hundred
languages, in both student and teacher editions, where the teacher's
edition will not be distinguished by having the right answers to the
problems, but by having lesson plans for each topic in a variety of
styles, as Muska Mosston put it, From Command to Discovery. And then
permitting remixing and matching to state, province, national, or
subject-matter-expert curricula. Among other things.

> 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 will need a proper Free Software document repository built on a
sufficiently powerful database engine to support all of the requirements
mentioned above.

>> 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

Very nice. I have some to add.

>> 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...

There are many OLPC and Sugar Labs Wiki pages with lots of good
information and almost no guidance on how to use it. I used to do the kind
of documentation we need for a living, but there is only one of me. We
need a team.

> 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

Which one of these meets my needs with the least fuss?

> 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.

For the experienced Wikiist, the Edit button is sufficient invitation, but
it takes people a while to believe it.

> 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.

We need to make some pages with just challenges and hints. I have been
working on the idea, off and on, at

http://booki.flossmanuals.net/discovering-discovery/edit/

and more recently

http://booki.treehouse.su/discovering-discovery/

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-- 
Edward Mokurai
(默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر
ج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://www.earthtreasury.org/