Final project process

The final project is about process - actually using collaborative technology in a scenario that represents the real world (society).

You can read about this and do any number of individual projects, but you won't have first hand experience (good or bad) with the essential theme of the course if you don't participate.

All the projects this semester went reasonably well. Not all go as smoothly, but the experience is important regardless. Once the final projects are completed and you do the peer reviews, I hope that you will see the value of the project process and its applicability beyond the scope of this course.
.

Use the wiki

You need to be using the wiki for planning and developing. Two teams have made a start, but by now you should have your project outlines and timelines in the wiki page.

It is important to use the wiki for a couple of reasons.

• You need to practice writing and editing in the wiki - don't leave this until the end. The wiki is a tool and it takes a bit of getting used to. New this semester - the rich text editor. It was just installed in WikiEducator and it is a big help.
  
  
• Get used to working together on the same document - this is collaborative writing. Once you get some experience, the project really improves dramatically - that is why we are doing this.
  
  
• Staying organized using the wiki is much easier - no lost documents, no confusion over the current status of the work. It is all right there to see and work on.

The teams that start using the wiki early are the ones that produce the best results. There are so many things you can add to the wiki page once you gain some experience. That is when it gets really interesting. Small changes in formatting, adding images, including links to resources are small additions that greatly improve the project page.

There are wiki tutorials and help pages available - see project information for links.

If you have specific questions, please ask.

WikiEducator

if a wikieducator page (and its links) is suitable as a kind of classroom website, where uploading material about courses
and resources for other classrooms and teachers as well  
if so, where can i find examples of other WE pages for this goal ? 

Absolutely -- uploading material and resources for
classrooms and teachers is what WikiEducator is all about -- we're a
community of Educators around the world who are committed to sharing
knowledge and teaching materials freely.

Our only requirement is that the teaching materials we create and upload
must be licensed under a free content license (for example Creative Commons
Attribution or Sharealike licenses.

There are a number of schools starting to create portal pages for uploading
and sharing their teaching materials. Consider for example

- Warrington Primary is an inspirational example of a primary school here
in New Zealand who are dedicated to open education -- see:
http://wikieducator.org/Warrington_School
- Ort Gutman High School in Israel are working on a few OER projects see:
http://wikieducator.org/Ort_Gutman_High_School
- St Michaels College in Vermont run the Biology for Elementary Schools
Project see: http://wikieducator.org/Biology_in_elementary_schools
- There are country initiatives aimed at developing national repositories
of free content, see for example New Zealand (
http://wikieducator.org/OERNZ ), Uganda (http://wikieducator.org/OERUG),
India (http://wikieducator.org/India), Israel (
http://wikieducator.org/Israel)

We can help you -- the OER Foundation provides free training for educators
around the world who want to learn how to do this. We offer at least one
free online training workshop every month under the Learning4Content project
(see: http://wikieducator.org/L4C) . Feel free to sign up and tell your
friends and colleagues about our free training opportunities.

Cheers
Wayne

kick-off ...

How are you funding your operation? Maintenance?

Much of the WikiEducator funding comes from contributions from member institutions. There is some grant support from foundations such as the Hewlett Foundation for specific projects. There is a small paid administrative and technical staff to oversee the work of the hundreds of volunteers responsible for operation and maintenance.

What is your community criteria based on? Is it effective in providing "facts" and valid information?

The WikiEducator community consists of interested educators, academic institutions and educational organizations. The primary basis is the acceptance of developing, collaborating and making content available under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License.

WikiEducator is effective in providing "facts" and valid information because the content is open. Everyone is encouraged to comment and collaborate on information.

Is there any concurrent challenges you are facing right now?

Like any not-for-profit organizations, WikiEducator has big ideas and less money than they would need to do everything. Sustainable funding sources need to be found and expanded. There are many areas of curriculum materials that are being solicited. One way to create more content, is to have more WikiEducators contributing and collaborating, and WikiEducator is working to increase educator participation. Finally, the primary beneficiaries of WikiEducator are learners. There is a significant need to connect millions of learners worldwide with the educational resources available through adoption, re-distibution and re-use of WikiEducator content.
.

kick-off 3

This is part of the problem for WikiEducator - there are lots of great resources and contributors, but some answers to these questions are difficult to find. That's why WikiEducator needs your help with this project.

Which universities or institutions are currently your major contributors?

Otago Polytechnic, Athabasca Open University, St Michael's College

And countries - India has a significant participation
http://wikieducator.org/India

There are many great individual contributors as well. A few who have received recognition in the User Page Expo are listed
http://wikieducator.org/UPE

What are some of your more popular projects? How about the lesser known?

http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content - this is a tutorial for using wikis in education
Summary of participants
http://wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/L4C_Online_participation_by_country#Number_of_L4C_Online_Participants_by_Region_and_Gender

http://wikieducator.org/Open_Educational_Content

http://wikieducator.org/Special:PopularPages
http://wikieducator.org/Initiatives

Is there any statistical data of how many unique visitors come to the site?

There is a wonderful reference page that automatically records all the WikiEducator statistics
http://wikieducator.org/Special:Statistics

kick-off - 2

How did all this began? What was it that started WikiEducator?

There is a nice history of WikiEducator in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikieducator

Goal: WikiEducator aims to build a thriving and sustainable global community dedicated to the design, development and delivery of free content for learning in realization of a free version of the education curriculum by 2015.

Could it be done before 2015? 

Possibly - there have been several recent collaborations established that have significantly increased the breadth of curriculum covered.

Will it really be accomplished by 2015?

Projects like WikiEducator are never really "complete" because there is always more that could be done. Education, teaching and learning, technology are changing rapidly so there are new possibilities that are changing the goal and the deliverables. But that's ok. WikiEducator is very much on the leading edge of this evolution, and that is the objective.

How will WikiEducator spread the word? How will they advertise to get more people aware/interested? 

WikiEducator already has a significant community of users who can be reached via email, and various groups. These users are themselves involved in other educational organizations and can help spread the word. Many of the significant leaders in global education who present to broad audiences are including references to WikiEducator and promoting WikiEducator, as well.

It is important to have fresh new promotional information available so that these users and supports have something to say and distribute to potential new users. There are lots of people all over the world who can influence others. But they need to have interesting material to distribute.

That's where you come in. These WikiEducator promotional pages that your groups are creating will be available to everyone for public relations outreach and reference.

virtual kick-off meeting

Which colleges and universities do you see as being potential contributors?

WikiEducator was initial a project of the Commonwealth of Learning for colleges and universities in the British Commonwealth. However the audience/community has been extended to include any institutions and educator who are interested in participating in this open collaborative environment available under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License. For example, the contributors listed for this conference is representative of the range of WikiEducators.

What other types of institutions and teaching associations could also be contributors? Do you consider the Wiki Educator community to be mainly for academic instructors or would you consider vocational instructors?

There has always been considerable interest in Vocational programs. Some of the earliest WikiEducator contributors are associated with the vocational programs at Otago Polytechnic. Eg. conference session PCF5:CYP - Open Schools: Expanding access to pre tertiary and vocational education and training 

Would WikiEducator be willing to work with other professionals such as librarians? While not strictly educators, Librarians hold masters degrees in library science. It would seem that their specialized knowledge on conducting research for example, might make some interesting and valuable contributions.

Yes, certainly. Librarians are already some of the most innovative WikiEducator users. WikiEducators really appreciate the contributions Librarians make. Librarians are an important educational resource! For example, Wiki as an online presentation tool demonstrated by Meredith Gorran Farkas, a distance education librarian.

Would WikiEducator consider setting up customized pages for potential contributors as templates they can use ? If you know someone’s field of study or expertise, offering them a basic course outline to complete might be helpful.

Yes, there are tools already available for customization. There is a very active technical support group who are ready to help.

Customization for an Institution - Biology Educator Declan' McCabe's pioneering and innovative model to engage student teacher in OER Content Development

Quickstart guide/pedagogical templates are used when authoring teaching content in WikiEducator. A number of templates are predesigned to save you time with more complex layouts Wikieducator tutorial/Pedagogical Templates/Examples

Educators love to teach and share with other educators, Have you considered asking them to contribute? Would WikiEducator consider a targeted mailing of brochures with links where these potential contributors could see examples of the type of material available for them to access and contribute?

What you come up with for this project will the basis for promotions and outreach that WikiEducator has planned in the coming months. We need examples and stories about WikiEducator that will inspire more educators to access WikiEducator, contribute and become active members of our community of practice. That is our goal. We want you to help us achieve it with your creativity.

important points

What are the main points or ideas you want to be prominent?

• WikiEducator is a resource for educators and a community of practice where educators can learn and share educational materials and teaching skills with other educators. The idea of wikis, online authoring and collaboration, open education, adoption and re-use are new to many educators who would benefit from them. The point is to highlight some of these benefits and showcase the lessons, articles and collaboration available through WikiEducator.

What are your future plans or goals for WikiEducator?

• WikiEducator is currently fulfilling its intended function for a relatively small number of educators. It is now ready to expand to provide the same resources and opportunities to a much broader audience of educators worldwide.

How will this be different than the About page?

• We hope that your group will come up with new and exciting ways to present WikiEducator, the educational materials and the participating educators. There is a lot of great educational material in WikiEducator. There is training available for educators so they can make use of the wiki for content creation, collaboration and adapting information for their needs. We want to get the word out. We want to attract many more educators to share and benefit. This is active marketing rather than the static "facts" usually associated with About pages.

Scenario - startup

• Read the Final project description - Final Projects - Public Relations for client : WikiEducator.org

• Kick-off meeting - everyone is invited to participate in the virtual "client meeting" for the project. This will be held in the Catalyst discussion - Final Project discussion - Virtual Kick-off Meeting topic.

For the scenario project Public Relations for client : WikiEducator.org, there is a virtual project kick-off meeting. Representatives from the "client" and the "account reps" from your company are available to answer your questions and guide the discussion of how the PR project should progress.

• Scenario: You work for a public relations (PR) company - What are some examples of public relations companies? What does a public relations company do for their clients? What do the employees do?

• Client: WikiEducator.org - What is WikiEducator.org? What public relations does WikiEducator have? What can a PR company do for them?

• Deliverable: A "presentation" in the WikiEducator.org wiki. What information about WikiEducator can be presented in a wiki? How will this address the public relations needs of the "client" - WikiEducator?

• Resources: What support and information will you need to great a great presentation for the client?

• Assumptions: Because this is a scenario, you will not have access to all the information that you might have in "real life" but you can make assumptions about the situation, so you can finish your project. What assumptions are you making? Is there any information that helped you make these assumptions? Will your project presentation depend in these assumptions?

Additional resources for Scenario-Based Learning

• Final Project Guidelines
• Collaboration and Group Projects
• Scenario Based Learning/Student orientation

Scenario: You work for Global Public Relations Inc. WikiEducator.org is your client.

Scenario: You work for Global Public Relations Inc. WikiEducator.org is your client.

You and your team are assigned to research and develop a wiki page outlining work on the WikiEducator global initiatives and provide examples of projects that are addressing the initiatives. These examples should include a range of projects by governments, non-profits and individuals that show work done and progress. Try to include examples can be adapted for use in other locations with similar needs.

Your team's work will be part of a worldwide promotion of the WikiEducator awareness program. Your page should be informative and interesting as well as factual. You are promoting the projects that are underway and encouraging others to see the value of the work and join in.

• http://www.wikieducator.org/WikiEducator:About - general information about WikiEducator

• http://www.wikieducator.org/WikiEducator:OER_Foundation/FAQs - information about the host organization OER Foundation, and their initiatives to encourage participation and membership

Many WikiEducators are working on courses to address and resolve specific societal issues. Even if these are just proposals or course outlines, they are examples of how WikiEducator can play a role in addressing the underlying issues. Some general questions to think about... How can computers and the internet contribute to resolving societal issues? What is being done now? What is planned for the future? What can interested individuals do to help? WikiEducator is a collaborative community work in progress, so good ideas can eventually result in significant changes.

Include a section of Recommendations listing things that the client, WikiEducator.org can do to help promoting and recruiting - if these existed, your PR job would be easier.
Also, provide a Strategy section, outlining the assumptions you made for your presentation - audience, what they want to know. Describe your strategy for encouraging educators in your presentation. What was the thinking behind the presentation?

Global Public Relations Inc. management and the client will need to know how your project is progressing. Be sure to develop a timeline for your project work with deadlines, activities, responsibilities and deliverables. Update your project Status and Timeline section weekly for review.

• Group 1
• Group 2
• Group 3
• Group 4
• Group 5

final project topics

This semester, the "list of topics" has just one entry -
http://www.wikieducator.org/DeAnza_College/CIS2/Fall_2009#Final_Projects

Each group will come up with their own presentation page. Each group will determine what they think should be promoted and what makes the best "story" to encourage educators from around the world to become WikiEducators.

Scenario: You work for Global Public Relations Inc. WikiEducator.org is your client.
.

7. Evaluating and Controlling Technology

This week we will be looking at some broader issues.
What are the implications for a global society when a very small percentage of the world population has access to computers and computing, while most other people do not? Will this imbalance lead to unrest or encourage the have-not's to work harder to close the gap? There are people who have no interest in the benefits of computers in society and believe that we, as a society, are better off without the technology.

Community Service Learning

You should have completed your community service learning project. Be sure to complete the Summary quiz - this is the learning part of community service learning. This is an opportunity to show that you and the community partner were able to learn from one another.

Final group projects

Now it is time to start moving toward the final group project. Use the Final project "choice" to form groups. Then start working in the group to come up with ideas about how you will do the project work. Come up with an outline for the work and a schedule. Be sure to include time at the end for editing, formatting and adding pictures, audio and video. Discuss roles and responsibilities. There should be interesting work for everyone in the group.

If you have questions, please ask.
.

Final project wiki work

Congratulations to Final Project Group 3 for starting up your project wiki page.

http://www.wikieducator.org/DeAnza_College/CIS2/Summer_2009/Group_3

I strongly recommend that all groups start working in the wiki page provided for your group - see links provided at
http://www.wikieducator.org/DeAnza_College/CIS2/Summer_2009

This is where you will "deliver" your final project so it really helps to start working here now. Trying to figure this out within hours of the project due date is a bad idea. Start now. Find someone on your team who can coordinate the group page and help others in the group.

The wiki is key to collaborative writing. That is the primary objective of the final project - working as a team in an online collaborative writing project.

Be sure to use the discussion forums too. This provided better tracking of group communication than email or messages. This is important.

Please ask questions if you need clarification or help. But try to get everyone in your group involved. Remember - this is a group project. The process is as important as the product. Let me know if someone isn't participating - we can work something out. This is a group project - not the work of one or two students.

Hope this gets you going.
.

When good project teams go bad

When good project teams go bad

It happens. Some teams just don't work out. So long as you make a reasonable effort to identify and resolve the problems - usually through discussion, flexibility and hard work - the team work can get completed satisfactorily.

Some things to remember

• This is a distance learning class. Most students take online classes because they don't have time to get to on-campus classes. It stands to reason that they don't have a whole lot of time for this course work. Some students with a lot of time may expect and unreasonable commitment from other team members. This can lead to conflict and frustration. Be sure that your expectations of other team members and their time are appropriate.
  
  
• Many students tend to wait until the very last minute to complete their work. If this working style is not yours, pick a group with other early contributors. Big differences in work style and time seem to be the leading cause of group project problems.
  
  
• Project grades as structured so that team members get grades appropriate to their contribution. If someone is not doing their part, missing deadlines or otherwise causing problems for other members, the other students can report this in the project summary.
  
  
• Please inform the instructor. This is a learning experience. Too often, students will try to solve the problem themselves or do the work of the problem team member. This is not necessary - just keep me informed. I may be able to help.

I see that you are doing a terrific job on the project. I know that the others have language issues. Please remember, it is about group collaboration. I strongly suggest that you let the others contribute to the best of their ability. Encourage them, but don't do their work. They need to step up and contribute. You can help them by helping them do better. The project grade is based on the team work demonstrated.

You are doing a great job in very difficult circumstances. The assignment is to work as a group to the extent possible. Sometimes this doesn't work out because other problems come up. Do what you can and ensure that the others can contribute too. I would expect to see an outline for the entire project. You should then complete only your part of that. It should be clear to the others what they need to do. If they do it, great. However, as long as you have made an effort on the collaboration, and encouraged the others, you will have done your part. Continue to encourage the others, help them do their work, but they need to do their part, too. If there is an opportunity to do some final editing when all the sections are completed, that would be appropriate.

changes

Oops. I was moving some things around in WikiEducator and moved too much.

Sorry about that. Let me know if you have any problems finding things. Everything is still there ... someplace.

From WikiEducator

"DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work" has been moved to "DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009"

• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Community leadership development has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Community leadership development.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Computer Crimes has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Computer Crimes.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Crime and criminals has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Crime and criminals.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Global leadership development has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Global leadership development.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Illustration has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Illustration.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Mobile learning has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Mobile learning.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Online language learning has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Online language learning.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Online literacy has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Online literacy.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Project Gutenberg has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Project Gutenberg.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/1. Encourage student-faculty contact has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/1. Encourage student-faculty contact.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/2. Encourage cooperation among students has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/2. Encourage cooperation among students.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/3. Encourage active/engaged learning has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/3. Encourage active/engaged learning.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/4. Give prompt feedback has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/4. Give prompt feedback.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/5. Emphasize time on task has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/5. Emphasize time on task.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/6. Communicate high expectations has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/6. Communicate high expectations.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/7. Respect diverse talents and ways of learning has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/7. Respect diverse talents and ways of learning.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Translation has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Translation.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Virtual community service has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Virtual community service.
• The page DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/WikiEducator projects has been moved to DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/WikiEducator projects.
• The page Talk:DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work has been moved to Talk:DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009.
• The page Talk:DeAnza College/CIS2/Students work/Seven Principles for Good Practice/1. Encourage student-faculty contact has been moved to Talk:DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/1. Encourage student-faculty contact.

wiki instructions

New to using a wiki?

There is help
http://wikieducator.org/Help:Contents

There is also a series of tutorials that explain at the major functions in detail
http://wikieducator.org/Wikieducator_Tutorials

Print this handy reference page
http://www.wikieducator.org/images/0/05/Cheatsheet-en.pdf
.

final project progress

It is great to see that some groups are making progress on the final projects.

Using the discussions in Catalyst and writing directly to the wiki usually work best. Creating the presentation in the wiki saves having to copy, reformat and edit the information, and learn to use the wiki all when the pressure of the final due date is near.

This assignment is about working together in a group online and using the technologies available for collaboration. This is most important. Yes, you might write a "better paper" if you worked on your own, but you wouldn't have learned much about the future of communication, strategies for team work or about the group topic.

This assignment is about producing a group project in a limited time with co-workers you don't see in person using the resources available.

Be sure to ask questions if you need help.
.

which wiki

This assignment is about the wiki encyclopedia Wikipedia. This is the big famous online encyclopedia that some instructors love and others don't trust. This assignment is to have you look around and understand the process of creating and editing these entries. By looking at these articles and the history, you can begin to understand the process and decide if your think the entries are valuable and trustworthy.

There is a huge group of volunteer editors who work very hard to ensure that Wikipedia entries are accurate and reliable. They note any problems or inconsistencies. The encourage authors to provide links to "better" authenticated sources. It is a very impressive process.

WikiEducator is also pblic but it is more for students and instructors to use to write and "publish" course related information. Student projects like the CIS2 final group projects are pretty typical of the information presented in WikiEducator. For the final project your group will be creating a page on a different wiki - WikiEducator. Links to the appropriate WikiEducator page and template pages have been set up.
.

Final project submission

The objective for the Final Project is to write collaboratively as a group and publish interesting research and critical thinking on these practices from a students' perspective.

You aren't finished until your final submission is "published" in the space set up for the purpose, and exhibits collaborative writing and editing through the wiki tools provided.

http://www.wikieducator.org/DeAnza_College/CIS2/Students_work/Seven_Principles_for_Good_Practice/

We are building a community space and repository of student work that can be maintained over time. This is different from your personal user account page.

Part of your grade will be based on evidence of collaborative writing - the history and discussion pages associated with your designated project page. If no work is done here, then you are not actually doing one of the tasks within the project requirements. Anyone can write a couple of paragraphs and paste them into a wiki page - this project is about so much more than that.

I strongly suggest that you place any and all content that you have written so far and place it on your assigned wiki space. Then work collaborative - everyone working on developing and improving the shared work.
.

your opportunity to change education

As a learner in a flexible higher education course, you have a unique perspective on the principles of good practice. You also use many technologies in your daily life outside class. Most of your education has kept these separate.

Now I want you to really think about how education would work better in the future with more and better use of technology.

We looked at some future developments and how they might impact society. Think about how these might apply to education and learning.

One of the aspects of education that needs to be changed is determining what has been learned. Tests only confirm that you know a little bit of information - usually facts about the topic. Are there other things that can be measured, assessed or evaluated that would be a better indicator that learning is happening?

You have a lot to contribute to the future of education. The final project is one opportunity to get your ideas out to the world. That's a bit scary but it is also really exciting. Make the most of it!
.