VUSSC/Singapore BC/Pre Bootcamp Wikieducator training

Introduction

An e-learning workshop will be presented to all Bootcamp participants prior to their arrival in Singapore.

COL extends this invitation to VUSSC countries to nominate an additional two home-based nominees for the same training workshop. This will enable wider participation in the development of the VUSSC materials because home-based nominees will be able to review and modify content development remotely during the VUSSC Bootcamp.

Dates and time commitments

• Total time commitment: between 4 - 5 notional learning hours
• Number of tutorials: There are eleven tutorials plus an optional tutorial on free content.
• Estimated time per tutorial: Participants would need about 15 to 20 minutes per tutorial.
• Technology requirements: Computer with Browser and Internet connection
• ICT skills requirement: Basic browsing skills. Wiki editing is very easy and accessible.
• Dates: 10 Working days commencing 19 February 2007 to 3 March 2007. However, the asynchronous design of the course will allow participants to progress according to their own work schedule. They can complete the tutorials in a single sitting or spread this out over the 10 days scheduled for the eLearning workshop.

Getting started

This eLearning version of the course is part of the pilot testing phase of these tutorials. This is a wonderful opportunity for VUSSC member countries to experience online collaborative development in action, while at the same time acquiring basic Wiki editing skills. COL used the same technologies and collaborative authoring approaches to develop the Newbie Tutorials that VUSSC is using for its content development.

The following steps will get you going

1. Read these instructions online or download this pdf version.
2. Print out a copy of the Getting Started Tutorial and read these before enrolling on the eLearning site.
   • Download Getting Started Tutorial - pdf Print version, for VUSSC - about 800K
3. Create an account on Moodle - the learning management system we are using for this pilot. You will find these instructions in the Getting started tutorial above.
4. Work through the tutorials by logging in to Moodle each day.

When participants log into the Moodle site for the first time, they will see a number of people already in the course. Not to worry these are colleagues from COL and elsewhere in the Commonwealth who are grappling with the same challenges. Learning a new skill is like riding a bike – you may loose your balance now and again, but that's normal and part of the process. After a few day's perseverance, we can assure you that you will succeed.

Required Outputs

1. Work through the tutorials.
2. To complete your User Page on WikiEducator, this is not wasted effort because WikiEducator's consult information on the User pages. By creating your user page, you will cover the basic skills. Your User page should incorporate the following formatting features:
   • Bold and italics text
   • A numbered or bullet list
   • Headings and sub-headings,
   • An image, and
   • At least one pedagogical template
3. To post contributions to the discussion forums on the Moodle site
4. Whenever you see an opportunity for improvement in the tutorials, to do this the wiki way. Make the change on the page concerned – be bold! The wiki ethic is to make small changes (grammar, fixing typos, adding an idea) directly on the page concerned. If you have more substantive questions, that would require discussion you can add these to the relevant discussion page.
5. When working through a tutorial, if anything is unclear, or you're confused about what to do please formulate this into a question. In each tutorial you will find a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) subsection. Your task is to identify the FAQs a student would likely ask. You can enter this directly on the relevant page, or in the discussion forum set up for this purpose.