User:Vtaylor/WE OER reviews

Wikieducator.org is an evolving source of educational information being created by educators worldwide. Although a lot of the information is "work in progress" there are some really good resources here too. Search Wikieducator.org for a page on a topic of interest to you. Post a link to the page and a comment about your selection.

OER - Open Educational Resources

Time: minutes - hours, as much or as little as you can contribute
 * WE OER reviews - project to identify interesting OERs - WikiEducator pages, and write brief description of why you selected this WikiEducator page. Everyone is invited to add their favorites.


 * social bookmarking - use to consolidate WE OER reviews - Diigo, Delicious, ??
 * pilot - WEobj - uses Delicious social bookmarking to tag learning objects that are located in WikiEducator - tag WEobj - WikiEducator object

This is the beginning of a directory of reviewed WE OERs that will immediately benefit the WikiEducator community
 * identify and categorize OERs within WikiEducator
 * model OERs for educators to create their own OERs
 * accompany open learning adoption workshops


 * Also need help creating a template so these reviews can be added in a consistent format and systematically collected into a useful directory for educators looking to adopt open WE content into their teaching and learning. Include estimated time requirement, ... separate add-on to contentInfo template


 * System for identifying OERs and "harvesting" information - Delicious currently using WEobj tag for WikiEducator open learning object, Stephen Downes created gRSShopper which includes the ideas of harvesting and RSS feeds without a physical repository

Reviews


 * review page - new page from reviewer main WE page - User:../OER reviews


 * RSS feeds for consolidating and promoting/ distributing reviews

=== New reviews ===

...
 * add a link and a brief review

=== Winter 2010===

I found this one http://wikieducator.org/MathGloss it tells you how to navigate and use mathgloss on wiki by showing and teaching you the structure of data.

http://wikieducator.org/%3D%3D_Identity_Theft_%3D%3D

ID theft's manner becomes variable. This world is becoming more international and smaller, and at the same time, we seem to provide more opportunities for ID Thieves.

http://wikieducator.org/Create_and_maintain_a_basic_weblog/Writing_effectively_for_a_blog Create and maintain a basic weblog/Writing effectively for a blog

I'm very interest in creating my own blog, so, I decided to look up blogs. I was able to find The Blogging Handbook which had a section devoted to writing with substance. While this section isn't heavy with text, there were some very helpful links to articles on writing to the point, how to properly tell a story, and how to get to the point of your thoughts.

http://wikieducator.org/Resources_for_Determining_Risk/Regional_Resources

WikiEducator gave me a bunch of different resources for determining risk/regional resources.

Not only is WikiEducator not user-friendly, the information it gives does not seem helpful at all.

Some examples from random searches I did: http://www.wikieducator.org/Science http://www.wikieducator.org/Math

Also, the color scheme and design of the website is exactly the same as Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia is known for false information, and cannot be used for research papers. I feel that this site is similar to Wikipedia; therefore, this site's information cannot be trusted.

http://www.wikieducator.org/Knowledge_of_a_personal_computer_system]

Understanding the knowledge of computer can bring more conveniences in our life.

http://wikieducator.org/%3D%3D_Identity_Theft_%3D%3D

Being that we are on the subject of privacy I thought why not look up identity theft being that I am one of the many victims it happens to. I find this site really useful being that I always use wiki all the time. I even have to program on my blackberry!

This page is about History of Computer Development

http://wikieducator.org/History_of_Computer_Development

in this page a brief summary of the history of computer is given. Also, readers can see the different generations of computer hardware and how each generation was developed and moved to the next stage.

In looking into wikieducator.org, I notice that this site its not user friendly.

Would be good is someone would make the site more appealing to new users.

I did try searching a few topics unfortunately none where appealing to me.

This was an interesting link I found in wikieducator: http://wikieducator.org/Computers_in_Education

It talks about computer and its use in education and how it can enhance the education system. Some uses of computer in the field of education according to this page are: 1- in teaching and learning process. 2- in Testing and Evaluation process. 3- In Guidance process. 4- Library and 5- in Administrative processes

http://wikieducator.org/Life_Skills_Development/Unit_Three/Conflict_Resolution_and_Anger_Management/Lesson#Types_of_Conflicts

It is a pretty good source for understanding about conflicts and how to deal with them. Unlike the typical "wiki", wikieducator.org provides the self assessment, activity and assignment section which I find pretty useful.

Develop skills for tertiary study http://www.wikieducator.org/Develop_skills_for_tertiary_study

Yeah, success! http://www.wikieducator.org/Learner_Centred_Learning/Adult_Learning_Theories,_Principles_and_Practices/Honey_and_Mumford%E2%80%99s_Learning_Cycle

A page with real content

and this one is even better

http://www.wikieducator.org/Facilitate_adult_learners%27_individualised_learning/Activities/Recognise_a_range_of_learning_styles

I found this interesting site http://marketingmystic.wordpress.com/2009/05/06/essential-tips-for-building-a-successful-online-enterprise-community/. It helps you analyse different portions of the online community and it also tells you how to build up a successful online enterprice community.smile


 * http://www.wikieducator.org/%3D%3D_Identity_Theft_%3D%3D

I find this webpage very interesting. This page has information about identity theft and how to prevent it from happening to you.

I know this one works - in the wikieducator search tool in the left navigation menu, type "images".


 * http://www.wikieducator.org/Images
 * http://www.wikieducator.org/OER_Handbook/educator/Compose/Image_programs
 * http://www.wikieducator.org/Wikieducator_tutorial/Images_and_Media


 * http://www.wikieducator.org/Category:Image_OER

http://www.wikieducator.org/English_Teaching_in_Japan

This is a link on how English is taught in Japan. They go over different methods they use to help the people of Japan get the accent and the definitions down.


 * http://wikieducator.org/Introduction_to_Photography

Photography is a personal interest of mine, and I find this to be an acceptable article for the curious beginner seeking to further their skills.


 * The section I chose was actually the Donations part. http://wikieducator.org/Donations

It might not be educational but I found it interesting how it said "2015 Goal of a Free Educational Curriculum for All"

It also talked about how you can contribute your knowledge and time. I find it really interesting how much people contribute to it and how much it helps.


 * http://www.wikieducator.org/Design_and_Graphics_Communications

the lesson process is a modern approach to the teaching of practical skills in school, college and universities.


 * http://wikieducator.org/technology_self-assessment_questionaire

This link accesses our perception of our proficiencyin the use of various technologies (e.g. email usage, Internet usage such as website URLs, hyperlinks, search engines and conduct on the Internet.


 * http://www.wikieducator.org/Water_Pollution_and_Food_Chains

I chose this page for more personal reasons. It is very nostalgic, as I remember doing this project myself. As a person currently working in the education field as well, I find this page very resourceful as well. This page seems to be more focused on teachers however, as this whole this is a bit of a lesson plan and I'm very sure a 6th grader would have trouble understanding it.


 * http://wikieducator.org/Computer_Literacy_Resources

This WikiEducator page shows many different ways for people to learn computer and internet. It seems like the page is still progressing but good enough for new computer users or seniors. I will recommand this page to my mum since she knows nothing about computer and keep asking questions about internet.


 * http://wikieducator.org/WikiMaster

It is about a skill development and certification framework for WikiEducator.

http://www.wikieducator.org/CompGloss

This page is a list of computing terms. It's far from complete, as stated by a note on the page, but it's a good start. It's designed for high school students, most likely those less experienced with computers and their many acronyms.


 * http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/Online_schedule/eL4C35

On this page, they are talking about improving the online learning all over the world.

It's a workshop for all educators to join to train and recieve one Open Education Resource.

I think that this is something that is useful for the educators that do online classes. Maybe the workshop may teach educators something new.

I found that the site was also a bit confusing and was a little bit confusing on which way to go. There are so many resources on this site that i think once you learned how to navigate it it could be easier. The concept of the page is a great thing because it is full of free information.


 * http://www.wikieducator.org/Main_Page

I find this source very confusing. Everything I accessed asked for me to join and contribute. The only content I found was by selecting the 'random page' link.

=== Fall 2009 ===


 * http://wikieducator.org/Sri_Lanka/L3_Farm/Content_Development_Workshop_Colombo-2008

Very interesting to see this article… “Information about Workshop on Collaborative Content development organized by COL in association with Sri Lanka Association of Distance Educators at Colombo from 31/03/2008 to 03/04/2008 is available at”

When I see the word “Sri Lanka” it caught my eye because I am originally from this small island called Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is a developing/third world country and far behind from what we see in the U.S. in regards to computer technology. only few people were able to afford a computer at home When I read the objectives, I am very delighted to see that they are educating people about Wikieducator. Through this collaborative efforts people can learn a lot about what they can do with internet and computers.


 * http://wikieducator.org/Masses_and_Springs/Hooke%27s_Law

I clicked on random page and I ended up learning about Hooke's Law. Hooke's Law is used in physics and it explains elasticity in springs. I liked how wikieducator offered users a virtual "experiment" to play with, and I found the resource pretty useful. Check it out if you are interested in how scientists calculate "elasticity" - why a bungee cord will not stretch to the ground.


 * http://wikieducator.org/The_stress_management_process/Stress_assessment

Something that I thought all students could use. This was an interesting site to explore, I had not known about it until now, there is a lot of potential in the use of it. I am still exploring the intricacies of the site.


 * http://wikieducator.org/Design_and_Graphics_Communications

I was browsing around the list of content that this website provided, and stumbled across Design and Graphic Communications which caught my eye. After clicking this link, it gave me a few sub-categories/lessons; One of these was a basic definition and explanation of Design and Graphics, but the others were identifying, analyzing, and investigating problems with a design or a graphic. It was pretty neat to see something like this where I haven't in my past. smile


 * http://wikieducator.org/%5CEnvironment_Chemistry

I clicked on random page several times until I found "Environmental Chemistry". In this page I learned that 97% of water is in the oceans, 2% is in polar ice caps and the remaining is freshwater. I had the impression that the polar ice caps held a higher percentage water in them, not much more, but I was figuring closer to 10%. Interesting break down.


 * http://wikieducator.org/Evelynhone/Introduction_to_Open_Source/Comparison_between_Open_source_and_Proprietary_Software

I've worked with a number of people developing open source software, not to mention the fact that most of the programs I use on a day to day basis are open source. This is a good way for me to explain to people who don't know the difference between what I use and programs you pay for. A nice addition to this article would be some examples of open source programs that people use like open office, Linux or Foxit reader.
 * Reply -- We are going to be using WikiEducator for collaborative writing in the coming weeks. So you can start right away. Create your own account. Then update the page with the information that you suggested here. That would be a big help and very much in the spirit of WikiEducator.org


 * http://wikieducator.org/DeAnza_College/CIS2/Engineering/

OK I'm sorry, but I just have to post this one... I found this completely by accident; I was searching for software engineer - my desired job title when I graduate with a CS major. This page was the 17th in the results list. From this page I was able to follow it back to the CIS2 and DeAnza pages. I will definitely be visiting these other pages again later. But I did read half of the Engineering page. I was interested mostly in the Current Trends section - given the economy and the fact that I am a student this should be self evident. I do agree with the page that there are a lot of jobs available despite the downturn, but I think a majority of *Software* engineering jobs will be overseas. The article talks about jobs for computer engineers in fields dealing with lasers, electric cars, etc, and a lot of these are located in the Silicon Valley. These sound great, I just hope I don't have to settle for a field that doesn't quite interest me.
 * Reply - This is great! This was one of the group projects from a couple of semesters ago. Part of the reason for using WikiEducator is for the collaborative writing feature. But the final projects are "published" to a public place where others can see the work and benefit from the project information.
 * The pages do get a number of views, but this is the first time that someone in a CIS2 class has discovered the pages on the basis of their content. This is really exciting. Thanks for sharing.


 * http://wikieducator.org/Accounting

This was an interesting piece of information for me. I'm majoring in business and I found this resource that breaks down every field in business. I learned something new about accounting and now since I found this site I will be visiting this source more often to learn more about my major.


 * I was more interested in what I couldn't find then what I could. There are many references to cultural uses of items, though not so much on the making of items, smithing in particular. I make chainmaille and will eventually get into weapons with a forge but I couldn't find anything on the subject that wasn't linked to a video game. I think for now I'll stick with Google until Wikieducator.com is a little more complete and useful for me personally.
 * Reply - Interesting - there are lots of topics covered in WikiEducator, but as a relatively new resource, the coverage is limited. You raise a good question - what sort of topics should you expect to find in WikiEducator?
 * There is some practical skills training information. However, the focus is largely academic. The wiki can accommodate many more subject areas, and smithing may be included in the future.
 * If you are interested, please add an entry for smithing (or any other topic of interest). If you have links to other resources or content to add, you are invited to share what you know on any subject.


 * http://www.wikieducator.org/Time_Management/Resources

I used the "Random Page" in the left column and it brought me to this. A very appropriate topic to me, since I work full time and am taking classes as well as trying to live my life. I do seem to have difficulty sticking to a study schedule I set for myself. Procrastinating is one of my big pitfalls and now I know why I do it. Hopefully recognizing that is what I'm doing will help me correct it.


 * http://wikieducator.org/Setting_semester_goals

I clicked on the "random page" option and it brought me to a Setting Semester Goals. This topic resonates with me because I believe that it is very important to set goals for school, work, and essentially, life because it enables one to really think about what they want and how one can go about achieving those desired goals. Just like the description states, goals will enable one to also enjoy their college life too even during chaotic exam times because the path to attain one's goals will not be so unknown.


 * http://www.wikieducator.org/Time_Management/Resources

I liked the article of time management. Because it helps to develop goal setting skills and techniques to manage time in order to accomplish what we have planned; how to use the time in the right way and also there are good exercises to improve the organization, as some worksheets that are very useful to organize activities in a daily, weekly or monthly basis.


 * http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Resources

L4C means learning for contect. This page also lists about online workshop, such like how to start it, detail about orientation, and how use tutorial function.

In this page, there are two slideshows, part one and two attached with zip files, anyone can download and take look at them.


 * http://wikieducator.org/Baby_Sign_Language

I really found this page interesting. It talks about baby sign language. They are suggesting that you can use sign language with your baby to communicate with them. They say that infants can use signs to tell you when they are hungry, need their diaper changed, if they are hot or cold, or even tired.

I was kind of skeptical reading this because I have a newborn baby. My only thought was how long does it take to get them to learn these signs. I noticed the article said to start signing to the baby around 6 or 7 months. By that time, they are close to talking so I don't think signing would be as necessary as the first few sleep deprived months.


 * http://wikieducator.org/Lesson_3:_Prevention_and_Detection_of_Crime

I found this to be somewhat interesting, because I would like to get into law enforcement.