[WikiEducator] Re: WYSIWYG Editor for WikiEducator

2009-09-27 Thread Savithri Singh
Dear Wayne,

Then I see no reason why we should hesitate to switch.  WE `are only
providing an additional option.

Cheers,
Savithri

2009/9/27 Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com

 Good qeustion Savithri

 The FCKeditor extension for Mediawiki converts the text into wiki syntax
 :-), which means that users can still continue editing in the conventional
 way.

 Cheers
 Wayne

 2009/9/27 Savithri Singh singh.savit...@gmail.com

 Dear Wayne,

 WYSIWYG will definitely be useful for people who are diffident of working
 with syntax - it will help more people to contribute to WE.

 Tell me something - if a page is created via WYSIWYG then later can we
 edit it our conventional way?  Then even embedding templates can ebe done.

 Allowing WYSIWYG is a great initiative.

 Savithri


 2009/9/27 NELLIE DEUTSCH nellie.muller.deut...@gmail.com

 Hello Everyone,

 Well, since my interest lies in active learning and engaging learners, I
 would like invite those with common interests to join me in brainstorming to
 find ways to engage members of the community.

 Warm wishes,
 Nellie Deutsch
 Sharing is Caring!
 Doctoral Student
 Educational Leadership
 Curriculum and Instruction
 Get ready for CO10: http://connecting-online.ning.com/
 Free online workshops on WikiEducator:
 http://www.wikieducator.org/Workshops


 On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 1:35 AM, Wayne Mackintosh 
 mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi Nellie

 Would always welcome another 11,000 active members :-)


 Cheers
 Wayne

 2009/9/27 NELLIE DEUTSCH nellie.muller.deut...@gmail.com

 Wayne,
 You are very modest about the amount of work you put into making things
 happen on WE. I would like to invite the over 11,000 members of 
 WikiEducator
 to become active participants.
 There is a great deal each of us can do to share the load and show the
 world that WE is an active community that is bringing education and 
 learning
 to everyone on the planet.
 Warm wishes,
 Nellie Deutsch
 Sharing is Caring!
 Doctoral Student
 Educational Leadership
 Curriculum and Instruction
 Get ready for CO10: http://connecting-online.ning.com/
 Free online workshops on WikiEducator:
 http://www.wikieducator.org/Workshops


 On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 1:08 AM, Wayne Mackintosh 
 mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi Nellie,

 Thanks for the kind words :-) -- but it's not just me.

 We have a sterling team of volunteer techies with folk like Jim and
 Wen-Chen watching over smooth operations of our web sites and future
 technology deployments,  we also have a team of WikiEDTech advisers plus 
 the
 folk over at Athabasca University preparing for the migration of the
 servers. We have funders like the NZ Ministry of Education and Hewlett 
 who
 are helping us spread the reach of OER across the planet.  We shouldn't
 forget our committment to transparent and democractic governance models 
 with
 a team of 25 international open education professionals who volunteer 
 time
 ensuring the stewardship of good governance. Above all -- the thousands 
 of
 educators who spend hours working on OER in WikiEducator.

 That said --  the independance we now have with the OER Foundation
 (see: http://tinyurl.com/nnqg9e) gives us greater flexibility and
 agility than was possible working under an intergovernmental agency.  We
 still have lots of work to do -- but have a very solid foundation for
 scalable growth.

 Our next step is to figure out the best way to implement the embedding
 of third party media (like video, slideshows etc)  and this is high on 
 our
 list of priorities. The question of embedding third party media is not so
 much a technical barrier, but more a question of free content licensing 
 and
 open file formats.

 Increasingly, video hosting sites now provide functionality to tag
 user rights -- for example Creative Commons Licenses.  In an ideal 
 world, we
 would want the capabilities for WikiEducators to have access to editable
 versions of the video files in open file formats. We're certainly a lot
 closer to achieving this goal today than we were a year ago.

 Watch this spaces -- pretty soon we will be able to embedd video from
 third party sites in ways which align with our community values!

 Cheers
 Wayne


  2009/9/27 NELLIE DEUTSCH nellie.muller.deut...@gmail.com

 Excellent progress, Wayne. I am very impressed by the amount of work
 and progress you are making to make things happen on WikiEducator and
 implementing WYSIWYG. I wonder if adding the editor would also allow
 publishers to embed html codes for videos.
 Warm wishes,
 Nellie Deutsch
 Sharing is Caring!
 Doctoral Student
 Educational Leadership
 Curriculum and Instruction
 Get ready for CO10: http://connecting-online.ning.com/
 Free online workshops on WikiEducator:
 http://www.wikieducator.org/Workshops



 On Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 7:27 PM, Wayne Mackintosh 
 mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi everyone,

 For sometime our Community has requested that we implement a WYSIWYG
 editor in WikiEducator. Many  

[WikiEducator] Re: WYSIWYG Editor for WikiEducator

2009-09-27 Thread Wayne Mackintosh
Hi Savithri,

I agree -- I think this additional option will expand participation in our
project.

If you like, you can test and see how this WYSIWYG editing works by visiting
the MediaWiki+FCKeditor project.  Create an new account on this wiki and
test the editor by clicking the edit tab using the sandbox on this wiki:

http://mediawiki.fckeditor.net/Sandbox

Cheers
Wayne


2009/9/27 Savithri Singh singh.savit...@gmail.com

 Dear Wayne,

 Then I see no reason why we should hesitate to switch.  WE `are only
 providing an additional option.

 Cheers,
 Savithri

 2009/9/27 Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com

 Good qeustion Savithri

 The FCKeditor extension for Mediawiki converts the text into wiki syntax
 :-), which means that users can still continue editing in the conventional
 way.

 Cheers
 Wayne

 2009/9/27 Savithri Singh singh.savit...@gmail.com

  Dear Wayne,

 WYSIWYG will definitely be useful for people who are diffident of working
 with syntax - it will help more people to contribute to WE.

 Tell me something - if a page is created via WYSIWYG then later can we
 edit it our conventional way?  Then even embedding templates can ebe done.

 Allowing WYSIWYG is a great initiative.

 Savithri


 2009/9/27 NELLIE DEUTSCH nellie.muller.deut...@gmail.com

 Hello Everyone,

 Well, since my interest lies in active learning and engaging learners, I
 would like invite those with common interests to join me in brainstorming 
 to
 find ways to engage members of the community.

 Warm wishes,
 Nellie Deutsch
 Sharing is Caring!
 Doctoral Student
 Educational Leadership
 Curriculum and Instruction
 Get ready for CO10: http://connecting-online.ning.com/
 Free online workshops on WikiEducator:
 http://www.wikieducator.org/Workshops


 On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 1:35 AM, Wayne Mackintosh 
 mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi Nellie

 Would always welcome another 11,000 active members :-)


 Cheers
 Wayne

 2009/9/27 NELLIE DEUTSCH nellie.muller.deut...@gmail.com

 Wayne,
 You are very modest about the amount of work you put into making
 things happen on WE. I would like to invite the over 11,000 members of
 WikiEducator to become active participants.
 There is a great deal each of us can do to share the load and show the
 world that WE is an active community that is bringing education and 
 learning
 to everyone on the planet.
 Warm wishes,
 Nellie Deutsch
 Sharing is Caring!
 Doctoral Student
 Educational Leadership
 Curriculum and Instruction
 Get ready for CO10: http://connecting-online.ning.com/
 Free online workshops on WikiEducator:
 http://www.wikieducator.org/Workshops


 On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 1:08 AM, Wayne Mackintosh 
 mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi Nellie,

 Thanks for the kind words :-) -- but it's not just me.

 We have a sterling team of volunteer techies with folk like Jim and
 Wen-Chen watching over smooth operations of our web sites and future
 technology deployments,  we also have a team of WikiEDTech advisers 
 plus the
 folk over at Athabasca University preparing for the migration of the
 servers. We have funders like the NZ Ministry of Education and Hewlett 
 who
 are helping us spread the reach of OER across the planet.  We shouldn't
 forget our committment to transparent and democractic governance models 
 with
 a team of 25 international open education professionals who volunteer 
 time
 ensuring the stewardship of good governance. Above all -- the thousands 
 of
 educators who spend hours working on OER in WikiEducator.

 That said --  the independance we now have with the OER Foundation
 (see: http://tinyurl.com/nnqg9e) gives us greater flexibility and
 agility than was possible working under an intergovernmental agency.  We
 still have lots of work to do -- but have a very solid foundation for
 scalable growth.

 Our next step is to figure out the best way to implement the
 embedding of third party media (like video, slideshows etc)  and this is
 high on our list of priorities. The question of embedding third party 
 media
 is not so much a technical barrier, but more a question of free content
 licensing and open file formats.

 Increasingly, video hosting sites now provide functionality to tag
 user rights -- for example Creative Commons Licenses.  In an ideal 
 world, we
 would want the capabilities for WikiEducators to have access to editable
 versions of the video files in open file formats. We're certainly a lot
 closer to achieving this goal today than we were a year ago.

 Watch this spaces -- pretty soon we will be able to embedd video from
 third party sites in ways which align with our community values!

 Cheers
 Wayne


  2009/9/27 NELLIE DEUTSCH nellie.muller.deut...@gmail.com

 Excellent progress, Wayne. I am very impressed by the amount of work
 and progress you are making to make things happen on WikiEducator and
 implementing WYSIWYG. I wonder if adding the editor would also allow
 publishers to embed html codes for videos.
 Warm wishes,
 Nellie Deutsch

[WikiEducator] Re: WYSIWYG Editor for WikiEducator

2009-09-27 Thread kiwizian

Well done, Wayne.

Of course it is a very important and valuable step forward for WE.
In my opinion Wiki Syntax or a WYSIWYG are only the technical
terminologies.
The ultimate goal needs to be user friendly which is a never ending
process. Is is just a simple strategy.

Keep it up. WE is on the right track with this development and
dedicated mission.

Regards

Tj

that we should be bold and move forward with the suggestion.

On Sep 27, 12:27 pm, Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com
wrote:
 Hi everyone,

 For sometime our Community has requested that we implement a WYSIWYG editor
 in WikiEducator. Many  teachers and educators say that wiki text is a
 barrier to participation. WikiEducator is keen to respond to these requests.

 To date, we've been holding back on implementing rich text editing for two
 reasons:

    - Maturity of the WYSIWYG technology (Most notably issues with templates
    and large content pages)
    - A reliable funding source to implement the refinements that will be
    necessary for an educational wiki

 The MediaWiki+FCKeditor project has matured considerably over the last 2
 years and we believe that it is now feasible to install WYSIWYG editing for
 WikiEducator. Also, with funding support from the New Zealand Ministry of
 Education we are now in a position to start work on the implementation of
 refinements that will be required for educators (for example, pull down
 menus for our pedagogical templates incorporating text boxes for the
 different parameters for these templates).

 We need to cater for two kinds of users: 1)  Those (like myself ;-) ) who
 prefer wiki syntax to rich text editing and (2) those users who would prefer
 using a WYSIWYG environment. Fortunately -- the FCKeditor enables users to
 make the choice. Even within the FCKeditor -- there is an option to edit
 using wiki text.

 NOTE: Experienced WikiEducators can continue to edit in the usual way --
 They will NOT be required to switch over to Rich Text Editing.

 I propose that we use a phased approach:

    - *Phase 1*: Install the FCKeditor WYSIWYG editor as an optional user
    preference.  The editor works well for the majority of editing functions,
    however the implementation for templates is not ideal and could be 
 confusing
    for newbies. That said, newbies do not typically start using templates 
 until
    they are more experienced and experienced editor will know how to use
    templates should they choose to use the RTE option. Therefore, I think the
    advantages outweigh the disadvantages in holding back on the implementation
    until we get a better user interface for editing templates. There will be a
    few pages in WikiEducator where the rich text editor will not work
    effectively -- for example pages which are largely rendered through
    templates. On these pages we will turn-off RTE editing. These pages are
    maintained by experienced editors -- so there shouldn't be any issues in
    maintaining these pages. During Phase 1, there is a possibility that we 
 will
    not have WYSIWYG capability for talk pages or the template namespace.
    - *Phase 2*: Continue with development work regarding the refinements we
    need for an educational wiki. These enhancements will be released once
    tested and reliable at a later stage during the project.

 WikiEducators can test how WYSIWYG editing works using the
 MediaWiki+FCKeditor project.  Create an account and test the editor using
 the sandbox on this wiki:

 http://mediawiki.fckeditor.net/Sandbox

 Please try this out and let us know what you think. Thoughts and suggestions
 are welcome!

 I think that this is an important and valuable step for WikiEducator and
 that we should be bold and move forward with the suggestion.

 Cheers
 Wayne

 --
 Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D.
 Director,
 International Centre for Open Education,
 Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand.
 Board of Directors, OER Foundation.
 Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator,www.wikieducator.org
 Mobile +64 21 2436 380
 Skype: WGMNZ1
 Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg
--~--~-~--~~~---~--~~
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
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[WikiEducator] Re: WYSIWYG Editor for WikiEducator

2009-09-27 Thread Randy Fisher
Hi All,

Great technical innovation.

IMHO, what would also help new users, is a better welcome message from
WikiAdmin, or WikiEd Admin (vs. Erik Moeller), in a way that is recognizable
-- and most typically doesn't route to the trash.

When I've trained users, it's quite amazing how many don't get or don't see
the registration confirmation message -- because it comes from an unfamiliar
source,  NOT from WikiEd directly.

I understand from Wayne, that this will be fixed when our servers are firmly
at Athabasca, but I just want to underline it as a High Priorty too.

- Randy


On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 6:59 AM, kiwizian kiwiz...@gmail.com wrote:


 Well done, Wayne.

 Of course it is a very important and valuable step forward for WE.
 In my opinion Wiki Syntax or a WYSIWYG are only the technical
 terminologies.
 The ultimate goal needs to be user friendly which is a never ending
 process. Is is just a simple strategy.

 Keep it up. WE is on the right track with this development and
 dedicated mission.

 Regards

 Tj

 that we should be bold and move forward with the suggestion.

 On Sep 27, 12:27 pm, Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com
 wrote:
  Hi everyone,
 
  For sometime our Community has requested that we implement a WYSIWYG
 editor
  in WikiEducator. Many  teachers and educators say that wiki text is a
  barrier to participation. WikiEducator is keen to respond to these
 requests.
 
  To date, we've been holding back on implementing rich text editing for
 two
  reasons:
 
 - Maturity of the WYSIWYG technology (Most notably issues with
 templates
 and large content pages)
 - A reliable funding source to implement the refinements that will be
 necessary for an educational wiki
 
  The MediaWiki+FCKeditor project has matured considerably over the last 2
  years and we believe that it is now feasible to install WYSIWYG editing
 for
  WikiEducator. Also, with funding support from the New Zealand Ministry of
  Education we are now in a position to start work on the implementation of
  refinements that will be required for educators (for example, pull down
  menus for our pedagogical templates incorporating text boxes for the
  different parameters for these templates).
 
  We need to cater for two kinds of users: 1)  Those (like myself ;-) ) who
  prefer wiki syntax to rich text editing and (2) those users who would
 prefer
  using a WYSIWYG environment. Fortunately -- the FCKeditor enables users
 to
  make the choice. Even within the FCKeditor -- there is an option to edit
  using wiki text.
 
  NOTE: Experienced WikiEducators can continue to edit in the usual way --
  They will NOT be required to switch over to Rich Text Editing.
 
  I propose that we use a phased approach:
 
 - *Phase 1*: Install the FCKeditor WYSIWYG editor as an optional user
 preference.  The editor works well for the majority of editing
 functions,
 however the implementation for templates is not ideal and could be
 confusing
 for newbies. That said, newbies do not typically start using templates
 until
 they are more experienced and experienced editor will know how to use
 templates should they choose to use the RTE option. Therefore, I think
 the
 advantages outweigh the disadvantages in holding back on the
 implementation
 until we get a better user interface for editing templates. There will
 be a
 few pages in WikiEducator where the rich text editor will not work
 effectively -- for example pages which are largely rendered through
 templates. On these pages we will turn-off RTE editing. These pages
 are
 maintained by experienced editors -- so there shouldn't be any issues
 in
 maintaining these pages. During Phase 1, there is a possibility that
 we will
 not have WYSIWYG capability for talk pages or the template namespace.
 - *Phase 2*: Continue with development work regarding the refinements
 we
 need for an educational wiki. These enhancements will be released once
 tested and reliable at a later stage during the project.
 
  WikiEducators can test how WYSIWYG editing works using the
  MediaWiki+FCKeditor project.  Create an account and test the editor using
  the sandbox on this wiki:
 
  http://mediawiki.fckeditor.net/Sandbox
 
  Please try this out and let us know what you think. Thoughts and
 suggestions
  are welcome!
 
  I think that this is an important and valuable step for WikiEducator and
  that we should be bold and move forward with the suggestion.
 
  Cheers
  Wayne
 
  --
  Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D.
  Director,
  International Centre for Open Education,
  Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand.
  Board of Directors, OER Foundation.
  Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator,www.wikieducator.org
  Mobile +64 21 2436 380
  Skype: WGMNZ1
  Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg
 



-- 
Open Education is a sustainable and renewable resource.


Randy Fisher, MA
Senior Consultant  Facilitator, Intersol Group, Canada


[WikiEducator] Re: WYSIWYG Editor for WikiEducator

2009-09-27 Thread Victor Mensah

My my,

I have tried the editor (http://mediawiki.fckeditor.net/Sandbox) and
it is fantastic! A lot of gaps in WYSIWYG from other sites such as
wikispaces have been taken care of here. Off course, this is still
early stages yet, with need for development of several functions, but
i strongly believe that availing this option to all wikieducators will
provide a huge competitive advantage to this community. For one,
facilitating a WE beginner class will be made far easier especially to
a few people who may not-be-so-sure about 'new technology' and/or die
hard skeptics.

Lets go ahead and start experimenting it on WE if that is technically
feasible at the moment.

Cheers!
Victor.



On Sep 26, 4:27 pm, Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com
wrote:
 Hi everyone,

 For sometime our Community has requested that we implement a WYSIWYG editor
 in WikiEducator. Many  teachers and educators say that wiki text is a
 barrier to participation. WikiEducator is keen to respond to these requests.

 To date, we've been holding back on implementing rich text editing for two
 reasons:

    - Maturity of the WYSIWYG technology (Most notably issues with templates
    and large content pages)
    - A reliable funding source to implement the refinements that will be
    necessary for an educational wiki

 The MediaWiki+FCKeditor project has matured considerably over the last 2
 years and we believe that it is now feasible to install WYSIWYG editing for
 WikiEducator. Also, with funding support from the New Zealand Ministry of
 Education we are now in a position to start work on the implementation of
 refinements that will be required for educators (for example, pull down
 menus for our pedagogical templates incorporating text boxes for the
 different parameters for these templates).

 We need to cater for two kinds of users: 1)  Those (like myself ;-) ) who
 prefer wiki syntax to rich text editing and (2) those users who would prefer
 using a WYSIWYG environment. Fortunately -- the FCKeditor enables users to
 make the choice. Even within the FCKeditor -- there is an option to edit
 using wiki text.

 NOTE: Experienced WikiEducators can continue to edit in the usual way --
 They will NOT be required to switch over to Rich Text Editing.

 I propose that we use a phased approach:

    - *Phase 1*: Install the FCKeditor WYSIWYG editor as an optional user
    preference.  The editor works well for the majority of editing functions,
    however the implementation for templates is not ideal and could be 
 confusing
    for newbies. That said, newbies do not typically start using templates 
 until
    they are more experienced and experienced editor will know how to use
    templates should they choose to use the RTE option. Therefore, I think the
    advantages outweigh the disadvantages in holding back on the implementation
    until we get a better user interface for editing templates. There will be a
    few pages in WikiEducator where the rich text editor will not work
    effectively -- for example pages which are largely rendered through
    templates. On these pages we will turn-off RTE editing. These pages are
    maintained by experienced editors -- so there shouldn't be any issues in
    maintaining these pages. During Phase 1, there is a possibility that we 
 will
    not have WYSIWYG capability for talk pages or the template namespace.
    - *Phase 2*: Continue with development work regarding the refinements we
    need for an educational wiki. These enhancements will be released once
    tested and reliable at a later stage during the project.

 WikiEducators can test how WYSIWYG editing works using the
 MediaWiki+FCKeditor project.  Create an account and test the editor using
 the sandbox on this wiki:

 http://mediawiki.fckeditor.net/Sandbox

 Please try this out and let us know what you think. Thoughts and suggestions
 are welcome!

 I think that this is an important and valuable step for WikiEducator and
 that we should be bold and move forward with the suggestion.

 Cheers
 Wayne

 --
 Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D.
 Director,
 International Centre for Open Education,
 Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand.
 Board of Directors, OER Foundation.
 Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator,www.wikieducator.org
 Mobile +64 21 2436 380
 Skype: WGMNZ1
 Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg
--~--~-~--~~~---~--~~
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
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[WikiEducator] Re: WYSIWYG Editor for WikiEducator

2009-09-27 Thread Victor Mensah

Randy,

It is true that this should also be a priority. Providing a
'personality' to WikiEducator will greatly increase the propensity for
first time users to stay well after the training periods have ended.
Perhaps at another forum, we should further get statistics on how many
users have not been back online after the first few days and discuss
strategies for encouraging them to call-again.

Thanks for this and cheers!

Victor.


On Sep 27, 5:37 am, Randy Fisher wikira...@gmail.com wrote:
 Hi All,

 Great technical innovation.

 IMHO, what would also help new users, is a better welcome message from
 WikiAdmin, or WikiEd Admin (vs. Erik Moeller), in a way that is recognizable
 -- and most typically doesn't route to the trash.

 When I've trained users, it's quite amazing how many don't get or don't see
 the registration confirmation message -- because it comes from an unfamiliar
 source,  NOT from WikiEd directly.

 I understand from Wayne, that this will be fixed when our servers are firmly
 at Athabasca, but I just want to underline it as a High Priorty too.

 - Randy



 On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 6:59 AM, kiwizian kiwiz...@gmail.com wrote:

  Well done, Wayne.

  Of course it is a very important and valuable step forward for WE.
  In my opinion Wiki Syntax or a WYSIWYG are only the technical
  terminologies.
  The ultimate goal needs to be user friendly which is a never ending
  process. Is is just a simple strategy.

  Keep it up. WE is on the right track with this development and
  dedicated mission.

  Regards

  Tj

  that we should be bold and move forward with the suggestion.

  On Sep 27, 12:27 pm, Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com
  wrote:
   Hi everyone,

   For sometime our Community has requested that we implement a WYSIWYG
  editor
   in WikiEducator. Many  teachers and educators say that wiki text is a
   barrier to participation. WikiEducator is keen to respond to these
  requests.

   To date, we've been holding back on implementing rich text editing for
  two
   reasons:

      - Maturity of the WYSIWYG technology (Most notably issues with
  templates
      and large content pages)
      - A reliable funding source to implement the refinements that will be
      necessary for an educational wiki

   The MediaWiki+FCKeditor project has matured considerably over the last 2
   years and we believe that it is now feasible to install WYSIWYG editing
  for
   WikiEducator. Also, with funding support from the New Zealand Ministry of
   Education we are now in a position to start work on the implementation of
   refinements that will be required for educators (for example, pull down
   menus for our pedagogical templates incorporating text boxes for the
   different parameters for these templates).

   We need to cater for two kinds of users: 1)  Those (like myself ;-) ) who
   prefer wiki syntax to rich text editing and (2) those users who would
  prefer
   using a WYSIWYG environment. Fortunately -- the FCKeditor enables users
  to
   make the choice. Even within the FCKeditor -- there is an option to edit
   using wiki text.

   NOTE: Experienced WikiEducators can continue to edit in the usual way --
   They will NOT be required to switch over to Rich Text Editing.

   I propose that we use a phased approach:

      - *Phase 1*: Install the FCKeditor WYSIWYG editor as an optional user
      preference.  The editor works well for the majority of editing
  functions,
      however the implementation for templates is not ideal and could be
  confusing
      for newbies. That said, newbies do not typically start using templates
  until
      they are more experienced and experienced editor will know how to use
      templates should they choose to use the RTE option. Therefore, I think
  the
      advantages outweigh the disadvantages in holding back on the
  implementation
      until we get a better user interface for editing templates. There will
  be a
      few pages in WikiEducator where the rich text editor will not work
      effectively -- for example pages which are largely rendered through
      templates. On these pages we will turn-off RTE editing. These pages
  are
      maintained by experienced editors -- so there shouldn't be any issues
  in
      maintaining these pages. During Phase 1, there is a possibility that
  we will
      not have WYSIWYG capability for talk pages or the template namespace.
      - *Phase 2*: Continue with development work regarding the refinements
  we
      need for an educational wiki. These enhancements will be released once
      tested and reliable at a later stage during the project.

   WikiEducators can test how WYSIWYG editing works using the
   MediaWiki+FCKeditor project.  Create an account and test the editor using
   the sandbox on this wiki:

  http://mediawiki.fckeditor.net/Sandbox

   Please try this out and let us know what you think. Thoughts and
  suggestions
   are welcome!

   I think that this is an important and valuable 

[WikiEducator] Re: Is there a list of all WE users?

2009-09-27 Thread Victor Mensah

Thanks Jim for addressing this and many thanks to Paul for your
interest.

It will surprise you to know what you can find in WE when you take
some time to explore. Special pages, Logs, Random pages, user
contributions, Glossaries ( http://www.wikieducator.org/WikiEducator/Glossary
), Wikieducator monthly reports ( 
http://wikieducator.org/stats/reports/TablesWikipediaEN.htm#wikipedians%20
), etc, are some of the fun ways on this wiki.

All the best and i wish you and your wife (and to all wikieducators) a
fun-filled WE experience.

Cheers!
Victor.

PS: You can go to this log
http://www.wikieducator.org/index.php?title=Special%3ALogtype=newusersuser=page=year=month=-1
to view all user creation activity. you can then eaither go into new
user pages and say hello to them. You can tweak the search tabs on top
of the page to also pin-point who created pages/registered on specific
dates.

On Sep 21, 1:22 am, Jim Tittsler jtitts...@gmail.com wrote:
 On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 19:50, Paul Seiler paul.sei...@minedu.govt.nz wrote:
  I have been talking to my wife (now registered on L4C30) and we
  wondered if there is a link/index/list of all WE users?

  http://wikieducator.org/Special:ListUsers

 There are a lot of interesting Special pages in the Toolbox on the
 left side.  Depending upon what you are looking for, 
 thehttp://wikieducator.org/Special:RecentChangespage might be more
 interesting since you can find users that are active at the moment.

 I also keep a page that shows how users are progressing through the
 WikiEducator Certifications if you want to find a colleague.
  http://wikieducator.org/User:JimTittsler/Sandbox/WikiEducator_Certifi...
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