Wikipedia talk:WikiProject EduTech

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[edit] Which article(s)?

The first order of business is undoubtedly to discuss which article (or articles) are to be improved first. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 08:22, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

-- I recognise that the current articles having to do with mainstream education technology are pretty bad, and I suppose it would worthwhile to clean them up. But I have a hard time getting excited about them. I wonder if there is anything a bit juicier we might try. A book, like Illich's Deschooling Society? A notable thinker of some kind? A cool project? BrLamb (talk) 18:19, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

  • After chatting with Jim, I'm beginning to think learning object might not be a bad start. Especially if a better article revealed the contradictions and inherent problems -- in a nuetral tone, of course... BrLamb (talk) 19:35, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
    I'd kind of forgotten that you'd proposed learning object. For good or ill, I've done quite a lot of cleaning up there already. It still needs a fair amount of research and sourcing. But the format is now pretty much as it should be. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 12:02, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
  • If we could agree on one, blowing up one seminal thinker's page could be interesting, particularly if that included beefing up info about books and major articles/papers. When it comes to being something more useful to others in our field, starting with something fundamental, with a large presence, even if less exciting might be generally more useful. Not sure about reaching FA, but at least GA? The obvious targets would be the aforementioned learning objects, instructional design, personal learning environments-- something beefy? —Preceding unsigned comment added by ChrisLott (talk • contribs) 19:43, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • A note to say that the Wiki way of doing things would probably be as follows: for suggestions to be proposed and people to come out in favor or against, with the attempt to reach consensus rather than simply a majority. As such, let me lay out the current possibilities... Anyone can of course add others --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 12:02, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Count me in as a less informed colleague choconancy
  • Maybe set a deadline for the choice of article? --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 19:38, 3 May 2008 (UTC)


[edit] Educational technology

Discussion


  • Comment Yes, this could really use some work. It would be good for me, personally, to dig into this. Lblanken (talk) 21:11, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Learning object

Discussion
  • Comment Yikes, Jon.. You're putting us to shame here. Good thing Wiley took a screenshot, as this article is no longer obviously awful. If I squint hard enough and hold my breath, the concept almost makes sense. BrLamb (talk) 19:45, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Comment Greetings: In my field (language learning) there are several existing repositiories of learning objects that are just waiting to be found. Some of them come with peer reviews of their own, suggestions for use in the curriculum...Should we be offering a place to connect them, or is that not the point? Awaiting further information. Bsawhill (talk) 17:24, 3 May 2008 (UTC)bsawhill
    In its previous state (see for instance, this revision), the article was indeed mainly a list of links to Learning object repositories. Really, what requires expansion here is rather (as is mentioned on the talk page) the history of the term, the reasons for its introduction, debates on its use, and so on. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 19:34, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Ivan Illich

Discussion
  • Comment NB that at present there's no page specifically for Deschooling Society (it's just a redirect to Illich himself), though of course that could be changed. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 12:02, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Comment I'm snagging a copy of Deschooling Society today. The concept of Deschooling itself might be fun... There is a short entry there. BrLamb (talk) 19:40, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Comment This is a project I can get my head and heart around (and find the energy and time for)--I especially like tackling the concept of "deschooling" as well as Illich himself, so that we focus on transformative, evolving ideas as well as person and his works. Bgblogging (talk) 00:48, 1 May 2008 (UTC)bgblogging
  • Comment I suspect that tackling either the person (Illich) or the book (Deschooling Society) would be easiest, as there are lots of models of good biography and book articles. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 19:37, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
  • Comment I am reading Deschooling right now and would love to work on that one with this group. I am done with vacation and back to work and the WIkipedia project is my top prioroty. Only 30 days left ....scary! Jgroom (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 05:58, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Open education

Discussion

[edit] Re: Challenge

  • Challenge, or no challenge, I think we need to agree to a deadline that works. If that means we endure yet another Posthegemonic blog-thrashing, then so be it. Is this goal useful to others? BrLamb (talk) 18:29, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
    • The more I think about it, the more I like a tight timeframe, so we, as Rita Dove writes of poets writing sonnets, have to "sing from the chains." How about July 1 as our deadline? Bgblogging (talk) 01:03, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
    • +1 on July 1st -- Is that to get one of these articles Featured status? BrLamb (talk) 15:23, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • And though the challenge was issued to a set of people, those who have responded to this glove smacked across their cheeks can use all the help we can get. Should we publicize widely right away? Invite a few more, get a bit of momentum and then go public? BrLamb (talk) 18:29, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
    • Personally, I think that would be grand. Though it'll be interesting to observe whether or not at some point the group gets too big. I suspect a core committed edutech group of five or six is perfect. Remember that the FA-Team will jump in when you have actually got going. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 20:39, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
    • I not only think we need all the help we can get, but the precise kind of help some of our cohorts could well provide if they're crazy enough to join us. Let's send out a first plea for help, ahem, I mean invitation, as soon as possible! Bgblogging (talk) 01:03, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • Jon offers "any of the lamentably poor articles" and provides suggestions, which I read as using my own style of meaning what he says by "any" and leaving the choice up to us. What article(s) seems most in need of help and most in our areas of interest? To keep things workable, I suggest we 1) invite whatever group makes sense to get going, and 2) find an article or two and get going with it. No reason to keep it a secret... and we might pick up some more people as we go. --ChrisLott (talk) 18:59, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Just had a quick IM chat with Jim Groom, and we seem to be in a similar place as Chris. We could see three types of topics/approaches. 1) Start by taking a crack at improving some of the ones that Jon suggests, even if we don't worry to much about 'status' for these... just try to make them better than awful. 2) Start or improve some small articles of 'anthropological' interest in the field: like examples of IP blocking in schools, etc... 3) Try to identify some meatier topics where we might enjoy diving deeper and shooting for "good" or "featured" article status. BrLamb (talk) 19:32, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • I should also make clear that, challenge or no challenge, and for all my "cat-herding" comments, what (if anything) you do with the project is of course up to you guys. My objective is to look for ways in which you, and the EduTech community more generally, can help support professors such as myself who would like to work with Wikipedia in the classroom. I would also like to pass on some of my experience so that others might be enabled to repeat the success of WP:MMM. It seems to me that this is a good first step. There are other side-benefits, of course. But you guys are the people in charge here. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 12:06, 30 April 2008 (UTC)