User talk:White Eagle

Hi White Eagle - indeed a pleasure to have you on board! --Mackiwg 13:48, 23 February 2007 (CET) It would be wonderful to see Maths teachers collaborating on the development of free content on WikiEducator. I believe that there are opportunities for building commercial services around free content, for example teaching, distribution etc. --Mackiwg 13:48, 23 February 2007 (CET)

Thank you, Wayne, for your welcoming words. They encourage me, because it was the first resonance I&acute;v got on my first publishing on the Internet. The next days, I&acute;ll dedicate some time to find out more about the WikiEducator concept. For the time being I&acute;m fascinated of the idea to provide education with the help of computers, although I know, technology is not enough. I&acute;ts like horse riding. You need more than the pure horse. The point is: technology can spread information (useful or not), but how can information result in learning and even more in education?

Couldn't agree more - this is just a technology. Learners and educators will need to figure out how to make this work. Although I'm optimistic that we'll find a few innovative solutions - spread the word. Cheers --Mackiwg 02:26, 24 February 2007 (CET)

Greetings - Welcome WikiNeighbour
Hi White Eagle,

Just saw you're WikiNeighbour message. Thanks mate!

These new accounts are a group attending a VUSSC boot camp in Trinidad. Wow! They will be surprised and pretty chuffed to get a message from Germany.

Cheers Wayne

Thanks Wayne, would like to continue, but my little sun Lani (2) needs me for sleeping. By the way, for me it is not visible that theese acounts are created in Trinidad. Couldn't we ask for the location in the acount creating process, like in the Moodle forum? It's somehow easier to talk to someone you know already where he lives. Good Night. Günther--White Eagle 23:54, 4 June 2007 (CEST)

No worries White Eagle - I have three children of my own ranging from 8 years old to 14. Yes - you're right its not possible to know that these accounts were created in Trinidad from the User pages - I picked this up from one or two notes that users placed on their respective user pages and knowledge that a bootcamp started in Trinidad today. One advantage of this missing information is that WikiNeighbours will have lots of questions they can ask in getting to know people - also a motivation for people to complete their user pages. Sleep well and chat to you soon. --Mackiwg 00:06, 5 June 2007 (CEST)

Keep up the good work.

Regards,

Kennedy E-mail:venvenix@yahoo.com

Thank you
Thank you very much for your kind words and well come remarks. I amjust building up my account so it looks sketchy right now.

I would be very glad to share ideas with you. I will be reading your article very soon.

Regards and keep up the good vision.

Vchifwepa 14:54, 6 June 2007 (CEST)

I'm pretty impressed with your class project
Hey White Eagle -

Wow - I'm pretty impressed with your class project on WikiEd! I'd be keen to feature a case study on what you're doing so other teachers around the world can learn from your experiences.

Chat to you soon. --Mackiwg 22:00, 15 September 2007 (CEST)

Hi Wayne, welcome back after my summer holidays.

Thanks a lot for your encouraging words, it feels good to get interest for what I’m doing.

This school year I’ve planned to become more practical, less theoretical, and connect my work in school with my work for Wikied. After the encouraging results from last years work with students on the wiki, I’m eager to go further and put a whole one years course into the Internet. Intended is, to keep my 37 students as actively involved as possible. They all have Internet access in school as well as at home, and I hope to get them fascinated by the new medium.

I’ll put a project draft to the corresponding pages soon and keep it actual, so that others can follow our experiment. For the beginning I can say about myself, that I feel it as a most welcome creative input to my schoolwork.

May I ask you to send my students a welcome note? Not necessarily to everyone personal, but to the whole class? Thanks, and o our good cooperation further on.--White Eagle 19:14, 16 September 2007 (CEST)


 * White Eagle - this is an innovative project. I'd like to see if I can link you with some teachers in New Zealand who are familiar with WikiEducator. I think that this is also a great way for kids to learn. The old adage - if you want to learn something - try teaching it! So putting the kids in the position of a teacher - is a great way to enhance learning.


 * I've taken the trouble this afternoon (Sunday) to send each of your pupils a welcome message. I've used a template, but have done my best to add something personal for each child.


 * A few thoughts which might help you along ... and make this interesting for the children from a learning perspective:
 * Encourage the children to use the pedagogical templates - (see: Tutorial on pedagogical templates and the list of available templates. You can page through the help tutorials for ideas on using these when developing educational materials. I see that three or four of your pupils have strong wiki skills and they will be an asset in helping with some of the more complicated wiki syntax.
 * At this early stage of the project I think it would be worthwhile to give the pupils some guidance about copyright - particularly regarding images. We can only use images which are cleared of copyright or use free content licenses. (We can't just upload images copied from the Web.) Here is a Tutorial on free content licensing. The Wikicommons is a good source for free images. Flickr is also a good source for free content photographs - but we need to use the advanced search features to find the free content images . When searching under the Creative Commons licensed images for WikiEducator users should check both (1) content which can be used commercially and (2) content which can be modified. (We can only use CC-BY and CC-BY-SA images). Apology for these complications - I didn't invent copy right.
 * Please encourage pupils to:
 * Add metadata for the images they upload - We have a template for this: Template:Metadata
 * When using free content images from sites like Flickr we have a template for attribution. This is inserted in the caption section of the standard image syntax. Here is an example using the Flickr attribution template. Hope this helps - we must still develop tutorials on using these templates.


 * Your busy with a very innovative project and will do my best to support you in widening this approach in schools around the world.


 * --Mackiwg 03:49, 17 September 2007 (CEST)

Hey Wayne
I´m sure, my pupils will be amazed about the personal welcome they got from Vancouver! You really sent them most encouraging notes! (P.S. you're shure your family doesn't suffer if you're working on sunday afternoons? We had beautifull late summer wheather here in Bavaria and I was outside with my folk still for swimming and a playground visit the whole day.)


 * I'm afraid my family does suffer sometimes with our mission to develop a free curriculum by 2015 ..;-(, however I do my best to try and balance family life with education as a common global good. --Wayne Mackintosh 19:40, 17 September 2007 (CEST)

Thanks for remembering me of the templates, I never tried them before, but now have implemented some in my first lessons. I'm still sceptical, I already found some bugs in them, but will make my experiences.


 * If you have any technical problems or discover any bugs - please post your questions on the Discussion List - and we'll do our best to help. --Wayne Mackintosh 19:40, 17 September 2007 (CEST)

About the photographs, I see you're concerned that we do not get into troubles with copyright. I've told them already about copyright restrictions, but they seem to be used to upload pictures just like they want. I have to first make them change their attitude. For the "serious" wiki editing process, I`'m not so shure we'll need much pictures from outside. We'll produce our own drawings and diagrams. Thanks nevertheless for the links to free content images.


 * Its a valuable learning opportunity to find out more about copyright and these restrictions. Fortunately there is a growing number of free content images (appropriately licensed on the web). Producing your own drawings is fantastic - because you will be contributing to the database of free content images. --Wayne Mackintosh 19:40, 17 September 2007 (CEST)

If my project is so innovative, I dont know. I suppose there are a lot of teachers using MOODLE, and I imagine already whole school nets interchanging materials on tuition. I only want to make my own experiences: learning by doing. But on the other hand I also sense there is a great potential of creativity in this project, as I always get new ideas what I could try out.


 * What I find innovative about the project is the idea that school children can help with our mission to develop a free curriculum, while at the same time benefit tremendously from the learning experience. There are opportunities to link kids from different parts of the world to work on the same content areas. A great project concept - kids learn more about their subject, they develop their skills in social software, they learn about international collaboration, how each individual can make a contribution to the global good of education etc. Your experience with these projects using a "learn-by-doing" approach is extremely valuable for other teachers around the world who may want to experiment with these approaches in the classroom. Eventually - it would be great to develop a resource or guidelines for teachers to implement this teaching strategy in the classroom. --Wayne Mackintosh 19:40, 17 September 2007 (CEST)

To link us with teachers in NZ is maybe a bit early, as we are writing in German, and they will hardly be able to participate. First we have to translate into English. I cant write the course simply in English, because its regular tuition in a public school and I cant just change the language of instruction.

For the moment I'm waiting for synergetic effects amoung these 37 pupils. Will they start to interact virtually, f. ex. to find the right solution to the problems I pose to them?


 * I appreciate that this may be a bit early to involve teachers in NZ - but perhaps there are ideas we haven't thought about yet. For example, high school children in New Zealand and elsewhere who are studying German as a second language. We could think about projects where these children assist in translating the lessons with colleagues in Germany. However, what I'm thinking about is a global community of teachers who integrate wiki technology into the classroom while contributing indirectly to the development of a free curriculum for all. You have first hand experience in doing this with the Maths class last year - and these experiences are invaluable in planning ideas for the future. --Wayne Mackintosh 19:40, 17 September 2007 (CEST)

For the final report of my last years wiki experiment in school please see User:White_Eagle/Math_Project1.1. Regards, Günther--White Eagle 11:28, 17 September 2007 (CEST)


 * Randy and I have been thinking about developing a short case study which documents your experience for the benefit of other teachers around the world - and perhaps we can establish a global community of teachers who work together integrating wiki technology in the classroom as a contribution to the development of a free curriculum. --Wayne Mackintosh 19:40, 17 September 2007 (CEST)

The idea of collaborative authoring
Hi Wayne, thanks for your comments, proposals and motivating ideas. I also believe it is most valuable to produce free educational materials, and this is for the moment my highest objective in my work for WikiEd. I’ve reduced my schedule in school in order to have enough time for this. I can see that your dream of collaborative authoring of content by schools even in different continents via the Internet is very powerful. But for me it seems too early to tackle this.
 * 1) I’ll do my best to write a high quality physics/mechanics/grade11-course, and I think I can do this, because I’ve taught it already at least 7 times, and still like this matter.
 * 2) I’m willing to learn a lot about wiki editing and production of digital learning materials
 * 3) I’m eager to find ways how to get my pupils actively participating, under the given circumstances of or school system here in a public school in Bavaria/Germany. We unfortunately have quite some time pressure to treat all the themes of our syllabus, and the wiki work may not represent a hindrance to the regular process of tuition.
 * 4) For the time being I cannot imagine, how any collaboration with other schools/teachers/pupils could look like. Even if another Gymnasium here in Munich would like to collaborate, I wouldn’t know how to realize this. I’m not producing a distance course, but only a digital script parallel to the course that takes place in the classroom. And that another teacher holds the same lessons at the same time sounds to re rather unrealistic.
 * 5) For the time being I’m fully occupied in getting the process with my own pupils running. Maybe in some months I’m more secure in what I’m doing and have enough experience to open up the project.
 * 6) If you want to get guidelines for teachers on wiki editing with pupils, I’ll do my best to constantly document the whole process. Surely after some months or so I’ll be able to put up some rules how to get a good learning process with this technology.

Regards, Günther--White Eagle 10:56, 19 September 2007 (CEST)

Can You Give this Project a name, with some sizzle please
White Eagle,

Sounds like a great project...

I can work with Wayne to polish up the message you are sending, so that we can craft something for other teachers to begin using, whether through Wayne's contacts in NZ, or elsewhere in the world.

Will there be a project-specific page ~ I recommend it, so that it's almost like a portal for your project...over time, it will become an identifiable place on the wiki, and a source of pride and innovation.

--wikirandy 05:59, 17 September 2007 (CEST)

Hi Wikirandy,
Thanks for your interest in my school project. This work is quite new to me and I don't know yet where its heading. If you want to participate- I think the first step would be to translate my lessons to English, parallel to the German text. A native speaker as co-editor would be of great help to me, as it would raise the quality of the text immensely. Could you do this? And if not you, how about your "good friend Miriam"?

Our improvised portal for tis project is Ted/Subject_Materials/Physics/Mechanics/Intro. The name of the project? I plan to give a one years course on mechanics for secondary schools, grade 11.

The themes are:

Linear movement (incl. acceleration), Newtons Laws, Laws of conservation (energy, momentum), non-linear movements, Gravitation, waves. Maybe "Mechanics to Wiki"? How does that sound?

Regards, Günther--White Eagle 11:43, 17 September 2007 (CEST)


 * Hi White Eagle - just to avoid confusion - we want to tell your story for the benefit of other teachers around the world. See my earlier comments. This is a great innovation and we'd like to support you in spreading the good news. --Wayne Mackintosh 19:42, 17 September 2007 (CEST)

Assessing User (Student) Attitudes & Behavior to / for WikiEducator
White Eagle,

Would you consider measuring student attitudes to, and behaviour for, WikiEducator?

What I'm thinking here is that we want to understand - in a measured way (say in 2 or 3 intervals) - the evolutionary path in student's thinking about the merit of WikiEd, and also how they might use WikiEd in the future - whether in a class, on their own, or, if at all. It could be built into the overall assessment scheme of the course (i.e., a mini-survey followed on by a reflective assignment, or even a case study + individual reflection and/or group work).

This would be very helpful to us in terms of understanding how WikiEd can be adopted, and even accelerated in its adoption. It could help us to know what modifications / tweaks can be made.

We could collaborate together in developing a mini-survey.

Your thoughts?

--wikirandy 13:40, 21 September 2007 (CEST)

Opinion polls, translations
Hi Wikirandy!

Survey? Opinion poll? No problem. I’m used to be in close touch with my students and have (anonymous) opinion polls on a regular basis. I doubt they have any ideas about WikiEd right here at the beginning more than I told them, that WikiEd is a wiki for the collaborative production of free educational materials, with special concern for developing countries. For them, the first great experience is to use a wiki and get their texts on the web. They participate, cause it sounds interestingly new to them, cause they can work with a computer (what is always motivating for youngsters), and because they have to. If I’d use ZUM, the German educational wiki, or Moodle, it would be the same for them. What do you want to know more?

By the way, thanks a lot for the corrections of my texts. I’m very grateful for this help. My English is mostly still my school English, and I’m often not sure how to say something correctly. In this way I also get the impression, collaborative authoring is really working J! Would you always at the end leave me a note on the talk page that you’ve revised the text and its proper English now? Thanks. I’ve started with the translation of my physics lessons already with the help of an automatic translator by Google. I was astonished how well the program is working, much better than some years ago. Even someone who does not understand German could make the whole translation, if he only has some idea about physics. Of course “Versuch” in this context is not “attempt”, but “experiment” … (Soon I’ll begin with translating to French and Spanish too, what would open up new audience.)

Best regards and let’s stay in contact, Günther--White Eagle 10:05, 24 September 2007 (CEST)

White Eagle:

Great to hear your positive reply. I've put up a Survey Page to develop our survey. Let me do the first draft - I will let you know when I'm done...and then I'd like your feedback, and input.

Regarding text correction - :-) I just want to make you look better to the WikiWorld!

- Randy

Draft Survey ready for your review
Hi White Eagle,

OK, please look at the following survey page. I've given this a first start. Please review it, and give me your comments, changes, etc. You know your students well.

Also, I indicated at the top of the page that there could be more than one survey. The first, would be a general intake; the second, could focus more on strengths and weaknesses, and the third, might be after using the Wiki as a project space (i.e., for case study and/or reflection). But first things first - please let's collaborate on the Survey Page I put up.

Thanks,

--wikirandy 20:26, 24 September 2007 (CEST)

curriculum resource for you
Hi White Eagle,

I am doing an assessment of curriki, and I came across a list of courses, including those for physics. I thought you might be interested. The link is here.

--wikirandy 13:25, 27 September 2007 (CEST)

SUPRA
Hallo :-) Super dass Du schon mal angefangen hast. Leider bin ich es nicht gewohnt ins Englische zu übersetzen, habe aber bei der Kommunikation keine Probleme. An Italienisch arbeite ich gerne - und suche mir dann jemand zum korrigieren. Wenn ich jemand für DEU-ENG finde, dann schicke ich sie her. Wir könnten die Terminologie ev. in ein Wörterbuchprojekt der UNI Bamberg mit aufnehmen ... denn über das Projekt komme ich mit mehreren Universitäten in Verbindung, die dann ev. auch bei der Übersetzung mithelfen könnten. Hmmmmm ... mal sehen, ob ich ein paar Studenten hierfür gewinnen kann. Ich habe nur leider noch kein Startdatum für das Projekt, weiss aber, dass es kommt. Bis dann :-) --SabineCretella 16:11, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Hallo Sabine, wenn Du Mitarbeiter gewinnen kannst, prima. UNI Bamberg? Dort ist jetzt auch Frau Heran-Dörr (!)--GünOss 07:35, 7 November 2008 (UTC)