Dragon's "File system integration" suggestion made me wonder if there
is a service it can offer which builds the archive as a side effect
(sorry, one track mind after building WhatDoTheyKnow).
Indeed I think that is what Dragon is suggesting, but I'll make it
explicit here.
It might be that teachers find it a pain getting their slides to the
school, often lose their lesson plan from last year etc.
Build the perfect website / Windows client / Microsoft Office
integration combination that makes solving those kinds of individual
teacher problems *really really easy*.
Then have it also make the lesson plans public (perhaps optionally),
and add voting and rating and tagging (by key stage / curriculum)
things to filter.
Teachers later spot that they can share and use other people's lesson
plans.
I like the idea that a primary school tool might be totally different
from a secondary school one. What are the best secondary school
websites already out there for sharing lesson plans?
Finally, we ourselves (mySociety) have for some time been looking for
a volunteer to write model lesson plans that use our websites, and to
share and market those to teachers. We think having an action on a
mySociety website could be a really good part of a lesson, but not
many people do it yet (as far as I know). Anyone interested in helping?
Francis
On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 05:09:27AM +0100, 'Dragon' Dave McKee wrote:
> > Also, what about the language of the site itself? will it be only in
> > english?
>
> I'd suggest that the user's view of the site should be unashamedly
> country-specific. It's quite frustrating to turn up lots of hits for,
> say, US-focussed material which can't be used in the UK without
> significant conversion, whether due to spellings, pronunciation,
> locality of examples or references to the country's school system.
>
> Of course, if multiple sites happen to be powered by the same backend
> database, with the metadata for the materials determining what shows
> on different sites, that wouldn't interfere with the user's view and
> would increase the visibility of the material. (Different views for
> primary and secondary schools, for example, would also potentially be
> useful).
>
> Whilst broadly agreeing with the idea of a MediaWiki installation
> because the best is the enemy of the good, I feel a more integrated
> approach would be useful:
>
> * File system integration to allow trivial 'backing up' of materials
> to the web; ability to build up lists of your materials
> * Ratings as to whether people found the material useful (ebay
> response style: negative is rare but important; positive for many
> people is probably better than very positive for a few; comments are
> just as important as the rating)
> * Ability to add other people's material into your list of materials.
> * Should probably fork other people's work, not edit only version;
> will probably be multiple versions of resources for the same lesson.
> * Multiple views of the same database: by topic area, by format ("I
> can't use files for that opposing brand of interactive whiteboard"),
> by type of material (flashcards, handouts, lesson plans, powerpoints
> to show the class, video demonstrations, photos to use to construct
> own materials), by age group, by national curriculum tickbox.
>
> Just some ideas off the top of my head...
>
> Dave
>
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