[WikiEducator] Re: Building a sustainable WE OER Textbook initiative
Hi Derek I think one significant feature of Connexions is the captured in the quote you quoted open-source, online education system. It cuts out the textbook Implicitly, the OERs a big - full courses, textbook replacements, open textbooks. That's fine, and for many instructors and institutions this is a huge benefit. I started working with OERs in 2000 when the current thinking was the smaller, the better - more flexibility, more opportunity for reuse and customized collection and redistribution. Eventually, it became clear that some OER adopters needed bigger, more complete lessons and even whole courses - but not everyone. Like buying a computers - some folks just want to purchase something that works to enable/support what they want to do. Others want/need various level of customization to make it just right and are prepared to put in the time and money to get this. The OER space covers a vast spectrum of creators and users (instructors and learners). There is plenty of opportunity for everyone to be successful. Finding your way around is somewhat confusing as the tools are not well established, yet. Are you looking for the plug-and-play version? Or are you prepared to shop around and fiddle with the parts until it is just the way you want it? This is why I think Maria's work is so interesting. They may be onto providing some of the tools that will significantly improve locating (and using) OERs. This is very exciting and greatly needed IMHO. It's all here somewhere. Finding it is the first challenge. :o) ..Valerie On Jan 2, 5:12 am, Derek Chirnside derek.chirns...@gmail.com wrote: Dabbling only in this discussion: at this stage. I quote: About this talk Rice University professor Richard Baraniuk explains the vision behind Connexions, his open-source, online education system. It cuts out the textbook, allowing teachers to share and modify course materials freely, anywhere in the world. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: Math gurus: Help needed :-)
Maria, I recently visited your website http://www.naturalmath.com where I found this lovely page: http://www.naturalmath.com/multpics/index.php I guess I've got your idea concerning to link math concepts to nature and culture. Please see http://www.wikieducator.org/MathGloss/A/Angle and post your comments. For more info about the aims of the project, please visit http://www.wikieducator.org/MathGloss By the way, if you have some free time, please join the project. I am certain you have excellent ideas. Warm wishes Gladys Gahona http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Chela5808 On 31 dic 2008, 08:39, Maria Droujkova droujk...@gmail.com wrote: I'd like to ask about the goals of this endeavor, just to clarify style and content needs. I use Wolfram's MathWorld for my math dictionary. It's imperfect because it's not pedagogically sound: the definitions don't have newbie-friendly versions or enough connections to other areas of human life. I love 3d animations, pictures, and the level of detail, though. My dream online math dictionary has multiple levels of definitions, pedagogical supports for beginners such as metaphors and rich illustrations, and web as a platform tools for taking the dictionary with you, so to speak, as you browse other pages. The goal would be to help math newbies, especially kids, to mathematize their usual web activities, bringing more cool math into whatever they do. As you can see, dictionary contents depend on goals... Cheers, MariaD On Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 10:32 PM, Wayne wmackint...@col.org wrote: Hi everyone, This is an invitation to all Math educators in WikiEducator Gladys Gahona (http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Chela5808) has started developing a Math Glossary in WikiEducator. See: http://www.wikieducator.org/MathGloss/A This is an open invitation to all WikiEducators with a passion for Math to assist Gladys in developing this resource. Follow the example from this page: http://www.wikieducator.org/MathGloss/A If you have a free moment --- feel free to add your favourite definition to the glossary :-) Cheers Wayne --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: Math gurus: Help needed :-)
Hi Leigh, These are the kind of documentaries I adore. This one deserves the design of a special Math resource, lets see if some of the WE Math Gurus takes the initiative. Cheers Gladys Gahona http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Chela5808 On 4 ene, 21:38, Leigh Blackall leighblack...@gmail.com wrote: I hope you add this to the Math's text: the drama and humour of numbershttp://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2009/01/drama-and-humour-of-numbers.html By Bill Kerr The Story of 1http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Story-Of-One-Terry-Jones-BBC-numbe...(60 minutes) I just saw this excellent TV show about the history of numbers (ABC reviewhttp://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/netw/200901/programs/ZY8042A001D101200...) and, for joy, it's available on the internet too :-) Some Australian aboriginal tribes did not have a number system, just one and many. Arithmetic evolved in cities which had more complexity which required calculations. The first writing was with numbers. 3000 BC: The Egyptians conceived of 1 million. Also they invented the cubit, a unit of measurement, required for the buildings they constructed Pythagoras invented odd and even numbers, things such as magic triangles (1, 2, 3, 4) and explored the relationship between music and the size of containers (the music of the spheres). But his dogmatic idealism about number led to tragedy. One of his disciples discovered irrational numbers and was drowned. The Romans murdered Archimedes and then imposed their crummy numerals onto the world. They were so useless for doing calculations that the abacus was used instead. Our decimal system and most notably the number zero wasn't thought of until 500 AD by someone in India. From there it was passed onto the Arabic Muslim world. Then the decimal system was brought to Europe by Fibonacci. There ensued a struggle between the Roman numerals and the decimals system which lasted for hundreds of years. Eventually the decimal system won out because of the need for capitalism to calculate compound interest accurately. Finally, Liebnitz invented the binary system but we had to wait another 200 years for the computer This video is very enlightening and funny being narrated by Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. The simulated battles between our modern sprightly numbers and clunky Roman numerals are fabulous. On Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 8:48 AM, Randy Fisher wikira...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Gladys, Yes, you're right. I think that it's a good idea for this stage in our development. In future, it might be more appropriate to have it linked from the main content pagebut to a certain degree, we are in the process of 'educating' folks within, new, and visiting our community. - Randy On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 4:25 PM, Gladys Gahona gladysgah...@gmail.comwrote: I think one way to quickly find the WikiEducator Glossary ( http://www.wikieducator.org/WikiEducator/Glossary) is inserting a link in the navigation side bar, so it will be permanently reachable for everyone. HNY Gladys Gahona http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Chela5808 -- Randy Fisher Change/Transition Management; Performance, Collaboration Engagement; Sustainable Communities Organizations + 1 604.684.2275 wikira...@gmail.com http://www.wikieducator.org- Member, WikiEducator Community Council http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Randyfisher * Can You Do the Wiki-Wiki?http://www.wikieducator.org/Wiki_Wiki Skype: wikirandy -- -- Leigh Blackall +64(0)21736539 skype - leigh_blackall SL - Leroy Goalposthttp://learnonline.wordpress.comhttp://www.wikieducator.org/User:Leighblackall --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: Math gurus: Help needed :-)
Can we mass-populate this from an existing math dictionary? If we are creating it from scratch, what are we doing that distinguishes it from all other math dictionaries created until now? If it's just the format, we can get a robot to re-format stuff for us, I bet. Failing that, kids ::evil grin:: We played a game with kids called definition war devoted to creating definitions. Kids take turns creating definitions and then objecting (they love yelling Objection! like Ace Attorney) and then fixing definitions, etc. It takes about half an hour to make a good definition. For my part, I am yet to see a good definition of multiplication in any dictionary. By good I mean both pedagogically sound and mathematically rigorous, and including enough models of multiplication at least to cover all major number types. Repeated addition kinda fails for Pi*e For Angle, I rather like this dictionary's definition: http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jeather/maths/dictionary.html It has an applet, a chart, and a bright frame around it all. How can we improve on it? We can use this idea of angles in nature and culture - a collection, open for people's additions... That's beyond a plain dictionary though! I can imagine a format with a convergent and a divergent part. The convergent part is a short definition people can refine and improve. The divergent part, potentially infinite, is where everybody adds their pictures, poetry, movies and what not, illustrating the definition. Something like my MultArt, for each topic. A good model for that, which is a lot of fun, is a wiki called TV Tropes: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage It has a trope description, and then an open collection of examples. What do you think? MariaD On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 3:22 PM, Gladys Gahona gladysgah...@gmail.comwrote: Maria, I recently visited your website http://www.naturalmath.com where I found this lovely page: http://www.naturalmath.com/multpics/index.php I guess I've got your idea concerning to link math concepts to nature and culture. Please see http://www.wikieducator.org/MathGloss/A/Angle and post your comments. For more info about the aims of the project, please visit http://www.wikieducator.org/MathGloss By the way, if you have some free time, please join the project. I am certain you have excellent ideas. Warm wishes Gladys Gahona http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Chela5808 On 31 dic 2008, 08:39, Maria Droujkova droujk...@gmail.com wrote: I'd like to ask about the goals of this endeavor, just to clarify style and content needs. I use Wolfram's MathWorld for my math dictionary. It's imperfect because it's not pedagogically sound: the definitions don't have newbie-friendly versions or enough connections to other areas of human life. I love 3d animations, pictures, and the level of detail, though. My dream online math dictionary has multiple levels of definitions, pedagogical supports for beginners such as metaphors and rich illustrations, and web as a platform tools for taking the dictionary with you, so to speak, as you browse other pages. The goal would be to help math newbies, especially kids, to mathematize their usual web activities, bringing more cool math into whatever they do. As you can see, dictionary contents depend on goals... Cheers, MariaD On Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 10:32 PM, Wayne wmackint...@col.org wrote: Hi everyone, This is an invitation to all Math educators in WikiEducator Gladys Gahona (http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Chela5808) has started developing a Math Glossary in WikiEducator. See: http://www.wikieducator.org/MathGloss/A This is an open invitation to all WikiEducators with a passion for Math to assist Gladys in developing this resource. Follow the example from this page: http://www.wikieducator.org/MathGloss/A If you have a free moment --- feel free to add your favourite definition to the glossary :-) Cheers Wayne --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: Math gurus: Help needed :-)
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Maths On Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 8:00 AM, Maria Droujkova droujk...@gmail.com wrote: Can we mass-populate this from an existing math dictionary? If we are creating it from scratch, what are we doing that distinguishes it from all other math dictionaries created until now? If it's just the format, we can get a robot to re-format stuff for us, I bet. Failing that, kids ::evil grin:: We played a game with kids called definition war devoted to creating definitions. Kids take turns creating definitions and then objecting (they love yelling Objection! like Ace Attorney) and then fixing definitions, etc. It takes about half an hour to make a good definition. For my part, I am yet to see a good definition of multiplication in any dictionary. By good I mean both pedagogically sound and mathematically rigorous, and including enough models of multiplication at least to cover all major number types. Repeated addition kinda fails for Pi*e For Angle, I rather like this dictionary's definition: http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jeather/maths/dictionary.html It has an applet, a chart, and a bright frame around it all. How can we improve on it? We can use this idea of angles in nature and culture - a collection, open for people's additions... That's beyond a plain dictionary though! I can imagine a format with a convergent and a divergent part. The convergent part is a short definition people can refine and improve. The divergent part, potentially infinite, is where everybody adds their pictures, poetry, movies and what not, illustrating the definition. Something like my MultArt, for each topic. A good model for that, which is a lot of fun, is a wiki called TV Tropes: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage It has a trope description, and then an open collection of examples. What do you think? MariaD On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 3:22 PM, Gladys Gahona gladysgah...@gmail.comwrote: Maria, I recently visited your website http://www.naturalmath.com where I found this lovely page: http://www.naturalmath.com/multpics/index.php I guess I've got your idea concerning to link math concepts to nature and culture. Please see http://www.wikieducator.org/MathGloss/A/Angle and post your comments. For more info about the aims of the project, please visit http://www.wikieducator.org/MathGloss By the way, if you have some free time, please join the project. I am certain you have excellent ideas. Warm wishes Gladys Gahona http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Chela5808 On 31 dic 2008, 08:39, Maria Droujkova droujk...@gmail.com wrote: I'd like to ask about the goals of this endeavor, just to clarify style and content needs. I use Wolfram's MathWorld for my math dictionary. It's imperfect because it's not pedagogically sound: the definitions don't have newbie-friendly versions or enough connections to other areas of human life. I love 3d animations, pictures, and the level of detail, though. My dream online math dictionary has multiple levels of definitions, pedagogical supports for beginners such as metaphors and rich illustrations, and web as a platform tools for taking the dictionary with you, so to speak, as you browse other pages. The goal would be to help math newbies, especially kids, to mathematize their usual web activities, bringing more cool math into whatever they do. As you can see, dictionary contents depend on goals... Cheers, MariaD On Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 10:32 PM, Wayne wmackint...@col.org wrote: Hi everyone, This is an invitation to all Math educators in WikiEducator Gladys Gahona (http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Chela5808) has started developing a Math Glossary in WikiEducator. See: http://www.wikieducator.org/MathGloss/A This is an open invitation to all WikiEducators with a passion for Math to assist Gladys in developing this resource. Follow the example from this page: http://www.wikieducator.org/MathGloss/A If you have a free moment --- feel free to add your favourite definition to the glossary :-) Cheers Wayne -- -- Leigh Blackall +64(0)21736539 skype - leigh_blackall SL - Leroy Goalpost http://learnonline.wordpress.com http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Leighblackall --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: Math gurus: Help needed :-)
Maria, The current math glossary we are developing has been concibed to be a resource addressing to secondary and terciary level (13 to 18 yr) students. In this stage of developing, We have already defined the layout, consisting of : - Definition (s) - Supplementary definition (wikipedia) - Examples - External Links As the amount of defined terms grow, we easily will be able to cross- refence them. We have just started to fill in some definitions and extending invitations to the WE community to join the project. Anyone can add their favorite definitons, this means we may have several definitions for each item. So far the glossary contains mostly plain text. I agree Well-designed animations (better if interactive) may help students learn faster and easier. The good news are we can put all kind of media for exemplificating each term. e.g. still images, animated gifs, flash animations, interactive flash animations, collaborative videos (kaltura), audio, etc. The limit is our imagination and the availability of free media we can cater from the web or from the creativity of volunteer graphic/flash designers. I am certain You have and idea on how expensive a simple pedagogical animation could be for each term definition (money time). For example, please see http://www.wikieducator.org/MathGloss/A/Algebra. I authored the still image, and I easily could convert it to an animated gif, or even more... make a flash animation (not interactive). But it would take time and we are talking about only for one picture. We still don't have a math glossary for grades (K-6). Maybe you can lead the WE project, which will have its appropiate layout. I gladly could assist you if you decide to take the initiative. Don't worry about colors, we can make a colorfull and interactive resource for the kids. The divergent part of your vision of math glossary, fits perfectly with the wiki platform. In any case, we will need a growing collection of media (I love flash interactive animations), and a huge band of WikiEducators commited with the projects. They absolutely will give added value to any resource we develop for WE. We also count with a geek team in WE, who can solve all the technical issues we may face on the way to develop a well diferenciated and pedagogical resource for both levels. (a new glossary for kids and the existing one). Leigh has linked the math books collection alocated in Wikibooks. I personally like the Wikibook site, I am linking many glossary terms to a wikibook page. I think we can take advantage of the already developed contents in order to not being redundant. Wiktionary offers its own definitions but from a different scope, so I think a Math Glossary is still a good and helpfull resource for WE. What do you think? Cheers, Gladys Gahona http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Chela5808 Note: I apologize in advance for any english grammar mistake. I am on my way to improve my english :-). On 5 ene, 18:00, Maria Droujkova droujk...@gmail.com wrote: Can we mass-populate this from an existing math dictionary? If we are creating it from scratch, what are we doing that distinguishes it from all other math dictionaries created until now? If it's just the format, we can get a robot to re-format stuff for us, I bet. Failing that, kids ::evil grin:: We played a game with kids called definition war devoted to creating definitions. Kids take turns creating definitions and then objecting (they love yelling Objection! like Ace Attorney) and then fixing definitions, etc. It takes about half an hour to make a good definition. For my part, I am yet to see a good definition of multiplication in any dictionary. By good I mean both pedagogically sound and mathematically rigorous, and including enough models of multiplication at least to cover all major number types. Repeated addition kinda fails for Pi*e For Angle, I rather like this dictionary's definition:http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jeather/maths/dictionary.html It has an applet, a chart, and a bright frame around it all. How can we improve on it? We can use this idea of angles in nature and culture - a collection, open for people's additions... That's beyond a plain dictionary though! I can imagine a format with a convergent and a divergent part. The convergent part is a short definition people can refine and improve. The divergent part, potentially infinite, is where everybody adds their pictures, poetry, movies and what not, illustrating the definition. Something like my MultArt, for each topic. A good model for that, which is a lot of fun, is a wiki called TV Tropes:http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePageIt has a trope description, and then an open collection of examples. What do you think? MariaD --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the
