User:JimTittsler

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Jim Tittsler

Website:

Starship Python
LinkedIn profile

Employer:

OER Foundation
Otago Polytechnic

Occupation:

computer weenie

Nationality:

United States of America

Country:

New Zealand, but usually Japan

email

This user is a WikiAmbassador
for WikiEducator.

I am a software engineer for the OER Foundation, part of the International Centre for Open Education at Otago Polytechnic. I am investigating ways to better make open educational resources (OERs) interoperable between systems, specifically between Connexions and WikiEducator. I am a developer of the eXe eLearning XHTML Editor project. I am promoting adoption of WikiEducator by teachers in New Zealand as a way to both (1) produce open educational resources that can be freely used across NZ schools and (2) strengthen networks of peers through collaboration in that development.

I'm experimenting with different ways to deploy WikiEducator content. I've prototyped a web service that allows exporting a collection of pages as an IMS Common Cartridge or IMS Content Package.

I am also experimenting with small tweaks to OpenOffice's MediaWiki export so that it can take advantage of the WikiEducator pedagogical templates.

On IRC I generally monitor the #wikieducator channel on irc.freenode.net. You can chat with other members of the WikiEducator community using the Web chat link in the community section of the left sidebar of each page.

I was lucky enough to attend the Heywire8 Think Tank which discussed a New Zealand Open Educational Resource initiative. I've made a few notes on the event.

About Me

I am one of the founders of the Tokyo Linux Users Group and a long time Python programmer (and one of the administrators of the Starship Python). In real life I am an active radio amateur (ham radio operator) (ZL2IA, 7J1AJH, AI8A). I also enjoy hiking and swimming.

I've lived in several places in the United States. I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, went to school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I worked in southwestern Michigan, Los Angeles, and Silicon Valley. Moving to Tokyo, Japan in 1990 got me closer to many of the components and manufacturers that I was working with and I enjoyed living there for about 16 years. I've moved to Gisborne, New Zealand (map) for a couple of years to participate in the eXe project, and now the Open Education Resource movement and WikiEducator. It is quite a change from living in a sea of concrete to living along the beach.

I currently live in Makorori, a single beach-side street of houses about 10km north of the Gisborne, New Zealand business district.

Photo of Okitu by Sandy Britain from his paraglider