User:Wikirandy/Projects/Support

Randy Fisher, MA iCentro

My Support for Projects

Having built a number of active communities, I know that it’s an intensive, time-consuming process – to build the community around the content – even with all of the Web 2.0 tools and wizardry. This is my bread and butter.

At this point, there are only 2 people – Wayne and Jim Tittsler -- working full-time (paid) on the WikiEducator project (the flagship project of the independent Open Education Resources Foundation, based in New Zealand). Others, like myself, volunteer. (I do hope, that as the # of membership contributions grow over time, that part of these funds will be used to support my role in supporting others.).

I am a senior consultant and facilitator with the Intersol Group, in Ottawa, Canada. We provide facilitation, change/transition management and stakeholder engagement solutions to public and private clients in Canada and globally.

I wear a WikiEducator 'hat', and volunteer my time to provide basic support to interesting people and their projects – but ultimately it is up to them to run with it, until such time as the OER Foundation hires me, or there is organization-specific funding to support my involvement and/or involvement of others.

A key to project sustainability and acceleration is clustering 3-5 active people around a project (part-time is OK); folks who have a vested interest in its success and implementation. I’ve observed, that without such support and/or facilitation, a ‘project’ is likely to stall and flounder – unless the originating author is very dedicated, and really understands how to engage others in an open and transparent way, accounting for fear and resistance, change and transition, movement and momentum, in a complex, self-organizing ecosystem.

Please consider joining the OER Foundation to support worthwhile projects such as WikiEducator, WikiResearcher and more. Memberships begin at $100 per year for individuals, and $200 per year for educational institutions.

Getting Started: Basic Support Package (free)

To get folks started, I can provide a basic level of support:

Mini Course & Mentoring (1 hour)

• assisting with WikiEducator Account Creation, log-ins and preference-setting;
• provide basic wiki skills support - a Skype or IM chat to support WikiEducator training resources (i.e., Learning4Content);
• directing user to subscribe to main WikiEducator discussion group, and appropriate thematic discussions (such as the Teacher Collaboration Forum);
• directing user to Learning4Content tutorials
• directing user to Copyright on WikiEducator page;
• directing user to Pilot Projects page;
• creating an OER Content Home Page;
• monitoring your wiki syntax / editing, and suggesting improvements;
• suggesting page organization;
• creating new wiki pages where necessary (i.e., modelling the way);
• creating a wiki template to assist in navigation;
• A Skype or IM chat here and there.

Project Growth and Implementation: Advanced Support Package (paid)

Provided my services are paid, I can provide support to projects to build sustainable and scalable (learning) communities and networks. I provide stakeholder engagement, community-building, design-to-implementation, coaching, facilitation and alliance networking services. See possible Terms of Reference.

(: If you or your institution joins the OER Foundation at the Bronze Level or higher, my services will be part of OERF's membership services package.)