User:Sandgroper

Hi, my name is Andrew. I am excited to be part of this group and am keen to see what potential this resource has for educators at all levels.

A bit about myself
I am a 29-year-old from beautiful and sunny Perth, Western Australia. My background is originally in IT&mdash;I studied it at TAFE in 1998, graduated a degree in Business Information Systems in 2003 with a minor in Chemistry, and for many years I worked in customer service, support and user training. Eventually I realised that I wanted to spend more time with people than machines and preferred those parts of my job, and in 2006 I left the IT industry, moving into the education sector. I've spent most of the time since in full time education, and in June I graduate a Certificate in Training which will allow me to teach in TAFE and business colleges.

Music
I sing and play guitar, and I love modern progressive rock made by bands with unusual names such as Porcupine Tree, Dredg and Opeth, although my tastes are very wide.

Politics
I study Australian politics and history in my spare time and am generally viewed as centre-left in an Australian, Canadian or European context.

Others
I also am an admin at Wikipedia&mdash;I work there on mainly Australian topics, but I also try and resolve disputes. I also love travelling and walking when I can&mdash;even when I have almost no money, I can still somehow end up in another place and being just somewhere else mentally and physically.

Why Wikieducator?
I think this project bridges a number of gaps on the education scene. Teachers and educators in the modern day are placed in the position of having to "keep up", but with very little assistance from the system to do so. Students are going out into a more uncertain world than in many cases we did&mdash;it's a daunting challenge! Knowledge is global and personal at the same time - combine a great educator with a ready source of knowiedge and ideas, and their students are in a fantastic position. A project like this not only encourages collaboration and combines the best of what people around the world have to offer in various subject areas, but allows something of a democracy of resources to come into being. Not every school can afford to have a complete reference or resource library. In those that do, teachers sometimes feel restricted in not having the means to try new approaches or know what works (or doesn't!) elsewhere.