Announcements

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Getting started - pre-workshop orientation

Hi everyone

Welcome to the WikiEducator Gives Back Workshop which starts this Wednesday, 21 July 2010. This is a record breaking workshop with more than 330 participants from 48 difference countries! (Registrations are still open if you would like to invite a friend to join you on this exciting journey. Everyone is welcome to join us.)

This is a friendly a reminder that our workshop starts on Wednesday. We provide details below should you want to post to this forum -- however, as a wiki workshop we encourage all participants to post their questions directly in the wiki smile.

Two things you need to do today -- shouldn't take you more than a few minutes to complete the orientation:

  1. Bookmark the course homepage: Go to the workshop homepage (http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Home), and bookmark this in your browser. (If you're not sure how to bookmark a page in your browser -- see below).
  2. Read the getting started instructions: We have listed a few points to help you get started -- take a few minutes to read these, particularly if you are new to wiki courses and / or OER

WE look forward to meeting you in the Wiki!

Be bold and experiment, most of all have fun!

Cheers Your international facilitation team (Take a look at our introductory videos smile )

How to bookmark a browser page:

Posting to the Moodle Forum (shouldn't be necessary)

We don't anticipate any need to post to the forum (which is hosted on Moodle) because we encourage participants to use the wiki. However, you have been registered under the same username as the one you used to registered your WikiEducator account with two differences:

  • Your registered Moodle username for this course is all lowercase -- whereas WikiEducator is case sensitive. If your WikiEducator username is WayneMackintosh -- use waynemackintosh on for the Moodle forums
  • If your WikiEducator username has a space, for example Wayne Mackintosh - use waynemackintosh.* Your initial password for the Moodle forum is changeme and you will be prompted to change your password. (Note this password is not the same as your WikiEducator password.)
  • If this doesn't work -- create a new account
  • If this doesn't work - -don't stress -- all the instructions are posted in the wiki smile

Day 1 Instructions: Be bold, try an edit!

Kia ora

Wow 350 participants from 49 countries! This would not have been possible without the gift of knowledge from our facilitators who are donating their time freely by giving the gift of knowledge (and time) to support real change in education :-).

I'm posting these instructions early for the benefit of participants who live in those parts of the world who have already seen the future happen insofar as time zones are concerned ;-). (If you're not sure -- these instructions are for your Wednesday.)

This is a wiki workshop, so all our instructions and activities will be conducted in WikiEducator. Each day, we will send you an email with the instructions for the day's activities which you are free to complete at your own pace and at a time which suites your personal schedule. (Or you can just visit the course homepage on the wiki). You should be able to complete the activities assigned for each day within 15 to 20 minutes -- so this is not too onerous. If you get stuck - just ask -- our motto is: Just try it -- our community will support you!

Day 1 is pretty relaxed, and you will find the instructions and assignment for the first day of the workshop from the course homepage in the wiki:

  1. Day 1, Be bold try an edit. See: http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Home (see under the course materials box)
  2. Alternatively you can go to the course schedule page in the wiki, See: http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Workshop_schedule .
  3. You have one easy assignment today -- that is to introduce yourself in the wiki (instructions provided under the course materials for Day 1)
  4. If you're keen on attending a live session -- Ben Stewart has offered to host one (Thanks Ben!) -- Check out the Live session section on our course schedule page: http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Workshop_schedule

Wiki's come with a health warning -- they can be addictive, but we're going to have lots of fun. Let's make OER futures happen for the world!

Cheers
From your international facilitators

Day 2: So what about quality in open wiki authoring?

Kia ora, Bula, Hallo everyone :-)

A special word of welcome to folk who joined us today. You can still invite friends to join us -- shouldn't take more than 15 or 20 minutes for new arrivals to catch up -- the advantage of flexible teaching and learning across multiple time zones smile. WE are here to share knowledge -- so spread the word and give the gift of knowledge -- point your friends to this link:

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/About

This email provides a copy of the instructions for Day 2 (your Thursday) of our workshop in your inbox. Note that all instructions are linked from our workshop home page -- http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Home (Bookmark this page in your browser) -- (Remember: if you missed earlier instructions, you will find copies of all activities for the previous day posted in the "Announcements Box" in the wiki.

I see folk are making great progress with the activities for Day 1 ahead of time (in many parts of the world) and experimenting smile. Well done!

Get to know your fellow participants and read the introductions posted so far (see: http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Introductions). Wiki's are about experimentation -- be bold and have a bash at posting your own intro. Don't worry - - you can't break anything, if you do, WE can fix it (we promise). Wiki's keep a record of every edit -- so its easy to fix mistakes.

An early heads up -- there are community Kudos awards for the participants with the highest number of edits during the workshop -- so get started!

Day 2 is pretty relaxed -- you will learn more about the amazing world of wikis. Watch our short video introduction and follow the instructions posted in the wiki.

Your assignment for Day 2 is to post ideas and thoughts in the discussion on quality in open authoring systems. You'll find step-by-step instructions for Day 2 listed on the course schedule page:

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Workshop_schedule

Don't forget to sign up for the live session Benjamin has offered (see page above for details).

Remember, you can also access the course materials directly from the home page for this workshop:

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Home

WE'll c u in the wiki :-)

Your international facilitation team

PS -- The OER Foundation (who hosts WikiEducator subscribes to open philanthropy -- we do things transparently.)

If you're interested to see how your facilitation team organises things, take a look here:

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Facilitators_planning

(It's like open source software -- you get to see how things work underneath the hood.)

Day 3: Customising your user preferences

Hallo everyone.

A special word of welcome to all participants who have just joined the workshop -- you are now part of the world's largest initiative to build wiki skills for education.

Friday's activities are purposefully designed to create a gap for those who may need a little time to catch up on the first two days work smile. If you've fallen a little behind, we have the advantage of the weekend to catch up. All you will need is about an hour to work through the activities for the first three days.

It's great to see folk introducing themselves in the wiki :-) -- Do take a look.

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Introductions

I see that that our Introduction page has recorded almost 3,000 page views! This means colleagues are reading the wiki pages and meeting new friends from 50 different countries smile. Don't be shy -- join in and get your feet wet. Don't be missed by your absence.

If you get stuck -- just post your question in the wiki here:

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/General_forum

INSTRUCTIONS FOR DAY 3

Today we will show you how edit your user preferences and ask you to complete our New user survey -- shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes. See:

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Workshop_schedule

(Click on the link for Day 3).

Remember the best page to keep track and keep up to date with the workshop is the course homepage:

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Home

Cheers Your international facilitation team.

PS - If you couldn't make Benjamin's live session today -- you can view a recording here:

http://www.wiziq.com/online-class/345685-the-wikieducator-gives-back-online-workshop

Day 4: Achieving your first wiki certification

Kia ora everyone

We trust that you had a good weekend and see that a number of participants used the opportunity to catch up after a busy week.

Today we'll start experimenting with basic wiki editing on your user page. You will learn how to format text using using bold, italics, lists headings and subheadings. The idea is that you will demonstrate these skills on your user page or sandbox and qualify for your first community certification in WikiEducator smile.

It's quite easy using the rich text editor. After today's session you will have covered the skills for your first wiki certification.

You will find a link to the instructions for Day 4 in the course material box of our home page:

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Home

The best way to practice your wiki skills is to find a task or wiki project relating to your real working life. We've posted a few ideas for you to think about and encourage you to sign the optional learning contract. Look forward to hearing your thoughts in the wiki!

Do take a look at the participant introductions to meet your fellow participants and if you haven't had a chance to post your introduction -- there is no better time than now!

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Participants

Start work on increasing your edit count in WikiEducator -- we have a community kudos prize for the participant (and facilitator) with the highest edit count during the workshop.

Have a great day! Your international facilitation team.

Instructions for Day 5: Inserting links

Hi Everyone.

These instructions are for your Tuesday. I see that our cohort are making good progress judging by the edit counts.

  • Congratulations to those participants who now have the WikiEducator community kudos and status of a Level 1 WikiApprentice smile Do you have a wiki certification yet? -- (There may be a short time lag depending on your time zone for the facilitation team to complete our review of the certifications -- we're a large group, be patient we're working as we speak :-)).
  • Visit our participant list to see who is leading the edit count for this workshop ;-).

You should use the skills you learn each day to add information to your user pages. Visit the participant list page and click on the user page links to see what your classmates are doing. What is your edit count so far?

See: http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Participants

Day 5 of our workshop will help you to create internal and external links and show you how to create a new page in the wiki. You'll find a link to the instructions for Day 5 on our course home page:

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Home

We all have busy schedules, and if you've fallen a little behind - don't worry. It's pretty easy to catch up and Day 5 (Tues) is not as onerous as Day 4 (Mon) - so ample time to catch up. If you have any questions feel free to post these in the wiki. WE are here to help.

CU in the wiki

Cheers Your international facilitation team.

Instructions for Day 6 - Uploading images

Hi Everyone

These instructions are for Day 6 (Your WEDNESDAY). If, for example you live on the West coast of America, Hawaii or Samoa -- you receive these instructions typically one day in advance -- count yourselves lucky! If you live in parts of the world that have seen the future that has already happened (e.g. New Zealand) you get these instructions in your inbox on the appropriate morning. Please recognise that we span 24 time zones in this workshop and the OER Foundation is not responsible for where your country was placed in terms of the international time zones!

Today you will learn how to upload and manipulate images in WikiEducator. After completing today's activities you can qualify for your 2nd community wiki certification. Please refer to the course contents box from your home page for Day 6:

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Home

If you have missed out on a day or two's activities -- not too worry. This is a flexible workshop and all the activities and course materials are accessible from the course page. If you can find an hour or two, you should quite easily be able to catch up and join the leader's board for the highest number of edits during the workshop :-).

As you know, WikiEducator is a free content project - - therefore we can only use images which use open content licenses. (You can read more about free content here: http://wikieducator.org/Wikieducator_tutorial/What_is_free_content .)

I recommend that when you are practising to upload of images -- choose a photograph which you took. This means you can legally license the content under an open content license. You will asked to choose a license and select a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) or Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license (CC-BY-SA). We don't have enough time in the workshop to cover all the detail on licensing -- that's for an intermediate level course.

In the beginning images may be a little confusing -- remember when uploading images, in most cases the image resides on your local machine and there is a process required to upload this to the WikiEducator servers before they can be viewed by other internet users. It will make sense when you give this a try -- If you get stuck just ask us in the wiki discussion area -- we are here to help.

Have fun and we look forward to awarding your next WikiEducator certification! (In a day or three depending on where you reside ;-))

Cheers Your international team of facilitators

Instructions for Day 7 - Collaborative editing

Hi everyone

These instructions are for your Thursday.

Congratulations to all our participants who are well on their way to achieving their 2nd wiki certification. You're almost there -- in most cases you just need to practice how to insert and manipulate images (use your sandbox to practice image manipulation).

Many educators have questions relating to open editing in wikis -- particularly if someone else makes a change on your page. Today we will learn how you can monitor edits and how to revert edits.

A side note for anyone who may have fallen a little behind, don't give up, the finishing line is in sight! Besides, today is a little more relaxed so use this time to catch up on images. To be fair, images are perhaps the most complicated aspect in the wiki because it involves uploading files to the WikiEducator server. Once you have mastered images you are well on your way to achieving success!

You'll find a link to the instructions for Day 7 from our course homepage:

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Home

Do take a look at the growing number of collaborative project ideas --- jump in an help where you can.

Working together we achieve far more than working along.

Cheers Your international team of facilitators.

Instructions for Day 8 - Communication and Interaction

Hi Everyone

Wow -- its Friday already (for some of us reading this email in the Pacific region. If not -- the future will happen for you soon -- that's a promise!)

We see quite a few User pages taking shape in the wiki -- We're impressed. Some participants still need to practice their images :-).

In the near future I suspect we may see a growing number of of our members receiving the global Userpage Expo (UPE) award from eL4C41: http://wikieducator.org/UPE

We're in the process of reviewing your user pages to see who has achieved their 2nd wiki certification -- celebrate your achievements.

Today we'll have a look at how you can leave a message on the talk page in the wiki (that is the real discussion page associated with every wiki page). Have a bash and leave a message for one of the course participants. You will find the instructions under the course contents box on our homepage:

http://hn.wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Home

Next week we'll take things easy and we will show you a cool feature to convert existing lesson plans or resources in standard word processing format into wiki syntax for sharing among educators around the world.

They say that sharing is caring :-) and have a great weekend. If you can find an hour or so to catch up over the weekend -- that would be great. We're very flexible and do our best to live out our motto: Just try it, our community will support you.

Cheers Your international team of facilitators.

Instructions for Day 9: Working offline

Hi Everyone,

Hope you had a great weekend! The activity and levels of commitment from participants (& facilitators) in this workshop is nothing short of inspirational. There has been a hive of activity from many participants over the weekend catching up and polishing their user pages -- well done!

Today (your Monday) we'll demonstrate a unique feature of the WikiEducator website. WikiEducator provides a web service to convert documents into wiki text -- a great feature if you want to prepare texts offline or have existing teaching resources you would like to donate to our project.

You will find a link to the instructions for Day 9 under the Course Content section on our home page:

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Home

Also an early notification. I (Wayne) will post the instructions for Day 10 ahead of time as I will be leaving for a short international mission. My transit schedule is such that I won't be able to log in to post the instructions on the day -- so I'll get these to you ahead of time :-).

Have a great day!

Cheers Your international facilitation team.

Instructions for Day 10: Wrapping up

Hi Everyone,

These instructions are for your Tuesday -- the last Day of our WikiEducator Gives Back workshop. (I'm posting these early due to international travel commitments. You know what they say -- better early than late.)

Congratulations -- You have completed the WikiEducator Gives Back workshop and have now joined thousands of graduates of the Learning4Content project!

Today we're wrapping up the workshop. You will find the instructions for Day 10 from our course home page under the Course Content section:

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/eL4C41/Home

In summary, you should:

  1. Join our main WikiEducator mailing list to keep up to date with what is happening with the WikiEducator family.
  2. Invite a friend or colleague to join the next Learning4Content workshop -- spread the news!
  3. Share your experiences, thoughts and suggestions by posting a reply on our wrap-up thread.
  4. Consider giving the gift of knowledge by supporting our charitable gifting and organisational recruitment campaign.

We will announce the winners of the community kudos awards for the most edits during the week of 9 August -- this will give you a chance to increase your edit count!

From all your facilitators -- A BIG thank you for all your contributions in making the WikiEducator Gives Back workshop a huge success.

Cheers Your international facilitation team.

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