Learning Contract Project
From WikiEducator
Leigh
Well I am really not sure about my own project. I can see hundreds of applications from developing a school vision to setting up a class page but at the moment, I just want to learn how to do stuff and as I go along maybe my ideas will develop. I see that there is already some plant work up on the wiki educator. If I used wikis in Horticulture I would look firstly at soils as a unit of work. Do you think it is a good idea to put units of work on a wiki? Its a lot of work to get it up there and then it could be mucked around by others and you would have to alter it back to what you wanted every time.
- Leigh -- there is an ethic in the wiki not to muck about with somebody's pages unless it adds obvious value. keeping pages open facilitates opportunities for real collaboration with folk who have shared interests. As in real life -- we respect other people's gardens and its good manners to wants to make substantive changes -- it is good manners to first ask the primary author. Layout and spelling typos are usually corrected in the spirit of community service. If anyone wants to make changes which are not aligned with your objectives -- they are free to make a duplicate copy in the wiki for their own customisations. --Wayne Mackintosh 23:27, 26 April 2010 (UTC)
What are others in education using wikis for?
- Hi Leigh - I think you're off to a good start - thinking about what you want to do. In the wiki, you tend to learn by doing...so any place is a good place to start, then ask for your peer's feedback and look at their pages, and learn from the experience. In the meantime, it will help you develop your own ideas, and craft your page content. Units of work is fine - it's a place to start. Remember, there are no mistakes in the wiki, just opportunities to learn. Randy Fisher 01:02, 24 April 2010 (UTC)
- Well thanks for your feedback, Randy. Where did you come from? You are not on the list of participants...are you a wiki watcher?
- Hi Leigh - I am 'Wikirandy' - from time to time, I look at the Recent Changes page and see who's doing what, asking what, etc., and then I pop in, and see if I can add some value, or encouragement or support. I worked closely with Wayne when we were at the Commonwealth of Learning in Vancouver; now, he's back in NZ, and I'm in Ottawa, Canada.
- Leigh, welcome to the amazing world of wiki's -- we are a global family working together to make the world a better place :-). You can visit Randy's userpage and meet a new friend. Randy is one of our top 50 editors and amazing community leader. I think Randy is right -- the best project is to find something related to your own work at the school so that the time you spend is used productively in the real world. Another good strategy is to "buddy-up" with two or three colleagues at your school. The OERNZ project can help you here. We can arrange a Wikitaster session for your school to provide a short face-to-face professional development session to help teachers at Ruapehu College get started. We will support the costs of flying in a Wiki facilitator to run the session. I've taken the liberty of creating an OER portal page for Ruapehu College to show case OER projects at your school. Its amazing to see what two or three passionate teachers can achieve. Take a look at the great progress at Albany Senior High School and Warrington School for inspiration. Cheers --Wayne Mackintosh 22:01, 26 April 2010 (UTC)
