DeAnza College/CIS2/Winter 2010/Group 2

CIS2 Group2 Final Project

= The World is waiting =

An Invitation to educators;[[Image:Marketing002.jpg|thumb|right]]
"Do you believe education is key to recognizing and addressing global problems? Do you believe that education can be a force in resolving those problems? Do you believe that educating individuals strengthens us all? We do. We are WikiEducator and we invite you to join us. As educators we know your time is limited and valuable, We can help. Our international community of educators from all disciplines can provide support,collaborative assistance, lesson plans, syllabi, and instruction. If you believe that educators should be free to choose both the content and the delivery method they prefer, and you support open content, join us. "

What is WikiEducator?

 * A web-based international collaborative community of educators
 * A educational resource
 * A learning forum
 * A repository for OCR lessons and more...
 * A teaching forum and lessons and knowledge transfer and skill transfer, it is simulations and syllabi and tables and outlines. “WikiEducator, has become an educational phenomenon taking the world by storm, linking learners with free learning materials through the medium of the internet.” Making connections&lt;

Home » Lifestyle » Magazine By Nigel Benson on Sat, 5 Dec 2009

Who are the members?


Elementary school teachers and High School teachers-Vocational instructors and college professors and librarians, trainers and nurses and...

Colleges and Universities...such as Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand and, De Anza Community College, USA

Where are WikiEducators?
We’re everywhere: California and Zambia- Ghana and Italy- Michigan and Penn State -New Zealand and New Guinea  We're in Israel and the United Arab Emirates- France and England -Austria and Finland -New York and Florida- Vancouver and Ottawa-and more...

http://wikieducator.org/Countries

Who uses WikiEducator?
“WikiEducator is now being used by more than 110 countries and receiving more than nine million hits a month.“ http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/84632/making-connections

Why WikiEducator?
So that "…, midwifery training materials developed on WikiEducator at Otago Polytechnic can help deliver babies in Bangladesh, because the materials can be customised and adapted for local contexts and cultures,"Dr Mackintosh. http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/ "“We believe: • In the social inclusion and participation of all people in our networked society (Access to ICTs is a fundamental right of knowledge citizens - not an excuse for using old technologies). • In the freedoms of all educators to teach with the technologies and contents of their choice, hence our commitment to Free/Libre and Open Source technology tools and free content. • That educational content is unique - and by working together we can improve the technologies we use as well as the reusability of digital learning resources. • In a forward-looking disposition working together to find appropriate and sustainable solutions for e-learning futures.'"[]

What's the point?
WikiEducator(WE)harnesses the power of technology to empower people. WikiEducator helps educators save time and energy by providing templates and outlines for course development. WE uses the computer and Internet to create a social network of educators; to provide a platform for educating the citizens of the world; to provide a repository of teaching and training practices and open courseware. Through teaching and learning, by using shared resources and collaboration WikiEducator is changing the way we share knowledge. We’re there with those who want to help guide a community toward obtaining drinking water http://wikieducator.org/WaterSupply - Currently available in seven languages. WikiEducator is a resource for those who want to help people overcome poverty with community empowerment training on developing micro businesses http://wikieducator.org/Micro_Enterprise_Training

Wikieducator is a resource for teaching and learning about literature through studying plays such as Romeo and Juliet http://wikieducator.org/Shakespeare/Romeo_and_Juliet and about providing teachers with resources for teaching about technology http://wikieducator.org/Qualification_Framework/Computer_Education that includes activities that are grade appropriate. WikiEducator is more than the training and professional development it provides, more than the courseware and educational materials it makes available to the world. It is even more than the professional discussions it encourages. WikiEducator is about making positive changes in our world- in the only truly sustainable way through communication and the free exchange of ideas and information through education.

Why me, my school, my organization?
Because you teach physics, or physiology or philosophy or...

Because the world needs people who can write poetry, fix the plumbing, read a balance sheet, write a program,turn coconuts into fuel.

Because your lesson plan can help develop other lesson plans, can spark discussion and answer questions.

Because an educated mind can think, and question and dream.

Because the world needs every mind that can think and question and dream.

Join us- the world is waiting

What are the main points or ideas you want to be prominent?

•WikiEducator is a resource for educators and a community of practice where educators can learn and share educational materials and teaching skills with other educators. The idea of wikis, online authoring and collaboration, open education, adoption and re-use are new to many educators who would benefit from them. The point is to highlight some of these benefits and showcase the lessons, articles and collaboration available through WikiEducator.

What are your future plans or goals for WikiEducator?

•WikiEducator is currently fulfilling its intended function for a relatively small number of educators. It is now ready to expand to provide the same resources and opportunities to a much broader audience of educators worldwide.

How will this be different than the About page?

•We hope that your group will come up with new and exciting ways to present WikiEducator, the educational materials and the participating educators. There is a lot of great educational material in WikiEducator. There is training available for educators so they can make use of the wiki for content creation, collaboration and adapting information for their needs. We want to get the word out. We want to attract many more educators to share and benefit. This is active marketing rather than the static "facts" usually associated with About pages. Asked By Michele Which colleges and universities do you see as being potential contributors?What other types of institutions and teaching associations could also be contributors? Do you consider the Wiki Educator community to be mainly for academic instructors or would you consider vocational instructors?

Would WikiEducator be willing to work with other professionals such as librarians? While not strictly educators, Librarians hold masters degrees in library science. It would seem that their specialized knowledge on conducting research for example, might make some interesting and valuable contributions.

Would WikiEducator consider setting up customized pages for potential contributors as templates they can use ? If you know someone’s field of study or expertise, offering them a basic course outline to complete might be helpful.

Educators love to teach and share with other educators, Have you considered asking them to contribute? Would WikiEducator consider a targeted mailing of brochures with links where these potential contributors could see examples of the type of material available for them to access and contribute?

Marketing Proposals:



Providing space on WikiEducator for Academic Institutes and Universities

By providing specific pages to Universities and Institutions, students of those institutions will have the opportunity to learn more about WikiEducator service and will become more familiar with this online collaboration service

If a school is approved by the WikiEducator organization, Students should be able to own a page of their own by entering their student ID and Pin. This way WikiEducator will become an online tool for every student who starts higher education. Students will checkout their page to understand the benefits of school provided membership and this will be the first step to engage students in WikiEducator.

Engage Professors and academic professionals as the editors of the materials

WikiEducator can promote the well-known academic professionals to WikiEducator editors who can update the information on the wiki pages and correct any mistakes on those pages.

Providing special font or colors on the pages only to the professionals who add or edit texts on the WikiEducator will help students to differentiate the trusted information added and this will help users to trust those pages more.

Provide College Professor Pages

By providing pages dedicated to professors, the credibility of the page will raise. Students will check out those pages more often as to gain information on their school projects being assigned by their instructors.

Professors can post the results of their research, as well as their student's successful project work to their pages.

=Introduction= WikiEducator is a global community of contributors dedicated to the design, development and free content delivery of education curriculum information. Additional contributors can provide greater insights for developing the next generation of scientific/innovative talent in a world that requires increasingly sophisticated/complex thinking and problem solving. One of our main marketing points can be WE can emphasize how important education is to the U.S. and the world can become more innovative via our education policies. “WikiEducator already has a significant community of users who can be reached via email, and various groups. These users are themselves involved in other educational organizations and can help spread the word”.

=Marketing to Contributors other than Colleges= •	Adding Educational Lobbyists to our market plan is important since they have major insights into government support of higher/public education at the federal/state level. They will probable a hard sell!! They can benefit from WE as a forum to consolidate ideas via Q&A sessions and discussions on their WE website. Their company websites have a comments section where we can introduce/invite them to join WE via email. Most educational institutions in CA already use lobbyists but the ideas are not coordinated. Contributing Lobbyists can provide insights into existing/future curriculum the government is interested in emphasizing for its’ support. WE should market to individual lobbyist since their companies sell the service but maybe some companies will buy in as a public service for the publicity and a free source of potential new customers. www.sos.ca.gov/prd/lexpq/2009/educemplq.htm

•	In addition to Educational Lobbyists is a Mother’s Blog website that emphasizes parenting/education. The Existing blog started in Silicon Valley but now has chapters now has chapters nationwide. The group is already interested in improving all levels of education. WE will allow their contributions to be view shared globally which has the potential of expanding the group so they will contribute once we give our marketing points via email. www.svmoms.com

•	IEEE and Cisco Networking Academy Alumni consist of professional technologists/educators. These organizations currently define standards, curriculum and advanced research in global networking, etc. The insight they can provide to technical education on WE would be invaluable (members of both groups are aware of their work). Since most of the work is already in the public domain, we just have to make them aware of WE (goals/mission). Some members of these organizations would surely contribute. Of course, the contributions would be mainly for higher technical education but it would support the WE mission for curriculum advancement. IEEE.org/volunteers http://www.ieee.org/volunteers IEEE.org/volunteers http://www.ieee.org/education www.academysupport@.netacad.net http://www.ieee.org/education www.alumni@external.cisco.com http://www.ieee.org/education

= Promotional Ideas =

Since these organizations are already involved in education, etc. an email explaining WE to the appropriate website (including an invitation to contribute) should suffice. Of course instructions on the operation of WE (WE website and how to create their website on WE) must be included. The organizations would forward the email to the appropriate members and setup the webpage. Printed brochures, etc. are cost-effective for WE unless the organization request them.

Providing a space to promote those organizations will be another way to establish partnership with such organizations.

= Summary =

WikiEducator.org is both presenting and promoting education to the world. The importance of education to society and its impact on our collective futures is undeniable. Much like Education, Technology is powerful, causing change in how people think and ultimately, behave. By using technology to provide education, and support those that develop educational materials, WikiEducator.org is casting its vote for a better world. One where borders and other artificially imposed boundaries that separate people and nations become less important.

=Feedback=

Feedback from WikiEducators

 * I would like to compliment this group on a great proposal. In your opening subsection you make the statement "We are WikiEducator" -- that's very powerful because WE is an abbreviation for WE. I particularly like the way you have managed to capture the spirit of community and collaboration in the marketing messages -- WE will certainly be using your ideas in reconfiguring our about page in the Wiki. Thank you for your contribution and willingness to share your knowledge in helping us achieve our goals. --Wayne Mackintosh 05:55, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Student feedback
-- SCORE: 27/30

I liked group 2's. Theres was very clean and had a TON of information. The amount was overwhelming almost!


 * Mechanics 5,
 * Organization 4 thought they could have used a little better organization
 * originality 3 pretty must similar to everyone
 * requirements 5
 * Content 5
 * Collaboration 5

-- SCORE: 29/30

Mechanics=5, hook in point

Organization=5, easy to follow and understandable

Originality=5,

Requirements=4,

Content=5, pretty good and all the information are great

Collaboration=5, most of them do participate

-- SCORE: 26/30

Mechanics=4, focused concepts

Organization=5, logical work

Originality=4, it seems own work

Requirements=4, just meet the requirement

Content=5, pretty well-done on this part

Collaboration=4, 4 it seems all work together

-- SCORE: 28/30


 * Content=5, it was organized and informative.
 * Organization=4, constructed with easy flow.
 * Mechanics=5, presentation had all the required mechanics.
 * Originality=5, the statistics, pro/cons were efficient.
 * Requirements=4, exceeded all requirement, references, etc.
 * Collaboration=5, all in a group worked very well.

-- SCORE: 28/30

Scale is 1-4 (4 is best) -- 23/24

Mechanics – 4 – I didn’t see any spelling or grammar errors. Sources were cited

Organization – 4 – The page was laid out very well with good headings

Originality – 4

Requirements – 3 – All the requirements were met

Content – 3 – Good information

Collaboration – 4 – This is hard for an outsider to judge. Even though Beneta contributed the most to the actual page (number of times edited and total bytes added), we don’t know what happened outside of updating the site.

-- SCORE: 23/30


 * Mechanics: 3 Citations are not as frequent, but are used correctly.
 * Organization: 4 Information is very well organized.
 * Originality: 4 Creative thoughts and ideas.
 * Requirements: 4 Requirements are met and exceeded.
 * Content: 4 Covers topic in depth.
 * Collaboration: 4 Work done shows that they contributed together.

-- SCORE: 30/30


 * Mechanics - all requirements met -5
 * Organization - well orginized- 5
 * Originality - interesting topic- 5
 * Requirements - all requirements met - 5
 * Content - good facts - 5
 * Collaboration - seems like group worked together - 5

-- SCORE: 28/30
 * Mechanics - Very well written and easy to follow -4
 * Organization - Seemed to have all the right aspects of flow - 4
 * Originality - a good topic and well explained - 5
 * Requirements - all requirements met - 5
 * Content - good content with a for the chosen topic - 5
 * Collaboration - group seemed to work well together - 5

-- SCORE: 29/30

Mechanics= 5, clear and free from mechanic errors.

Organization=5, neat and clean layout, good categories.

Originality=4, I like the questions and the Q&A style.

Requirements=5, met all of the requirements etc.

Content=5, informative and fun to read.

Collaboration=5, it seems like a team effort or at least equal division in parts.