Forum:Regional influences?

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I'm wondering what the hope for this wiki is? Are you trying to encompass world education? Is there a specific region that most influences you here? Jesse Groppi (talk) 01:02, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Okay, after some more looking around, I notice there really is NO unified contributing here... So, I propose we define the scope of this wiki, and I request adminship so that I may Boldly assist in the unification process. If you want to know my experience, my WoWWiki contributions page is the place to go. Jesse Groppi (talk) 01:59, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

What is education wikia? pretty much sums the overall intent of the wiki. In practice this has also included the hosting of projects that could not in themselves fully justify a wiki of their own as well. --24.7.86.31 03:01, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Shame on me for skimming the Main Page!

For simplification, I'm going to copy/paste the contents of that article:

"What is education wikia?

First, it's not wikipedia. This means this is not an encyclopedia. If you have encyclopedic info, please put it there.

Rather, it is a place where groups who are involved in education, such as teaching, learning, and administration, can collaborate for discussion, group projects, and general collaboration.

It should be a resource for educators to share ideas, problems, issues.

It should be a place for students to work together on class assignments, either for group projects or for studying together.

It should be a place for discussion of and improvement of the infrastructure and logistics of education, from school governance to teaching methods, etc."

This article was written by someone not having contributed more than two articles since 2006, and none in the last year. This also contradicts the ideas expressed on the main page:

"The Education Wikia is for all information related to education, including educational materials, methods of teaching, and e-learning. "

I'm all for the ideas expressed in the main page, and in fact, I wonder if we should take the wikipedia education content, and bring it over here or copy it? I suggest this for two reasons. The first is that practical use information like lesson plans and materials reviews don't belong in Wikipedia, however those sorts of things can easily draw on encyclopaedic information. Having the back and forth between here and Wikipedia is awfully complicated. Secondly, I wonder if the sheer quantity of information Wikipedia could be expected to hold is too great.

I'm really inspired to help create a wiki that explores every in and out of education throughout the world, and brings teachers and students of teaching together in one place for cooperation and learning. This is because of my own need to educate myself on the ways of education in another country. I need more than just an encyclopaedia, more than just a forum, more than just a sanctioned or costly list of lesson plans, more than a hard to find collection of news articles. I want it all in one place! Is that too much to ask?

Back to User:Christopher Mahan's summary of the wiki:

I'm not sure the wiki was appropriately named for one containing coursework collaboration and classroom administration? That said, I don't really have a strong argument against it belonging in the same wiki as everything else. I do think those activities could benefit from the other contents.

I also want to know why teacher collaboration and discussion, and the "discussion of and improvement of the infrastructure and logistics of education" exclude encyclopaedic information?

Maybe it's ambitious, but I think we already have a strong foundation of information to build on. So, how do we do it?

Jesse Groppi (talk) 04:25, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Please don't copy Wikipedia articles

This wiki has had very few contributors in the past. Copying educational content from Wikipedia will merely disconnect the content from the authors, which will lead to it becoming an inferior copy with much less maintenance. Concerning the purpose of the wiki I would say every content that is related to education is appropriate but please don't fill it with copies of articles from other wikis unless there is a significant increase in authors. Linking to Wikipedia is actually quite convenient and being able to use educational content that is so actively maintained should be seen as an advantage. --fasten 09:35, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

"This is because of my own need to educate myself on the ways of education in another country."

Maybe you are going the wrong way here (Inversion?). You don't want to write a wiki so you can use it to inform yourself about something. --fasten 09:50, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

"Is that too much to ask?"

That's an interesting question. Who are you asking? Unless you intend to pay for it this wiki just doesn't have the authors to do it in a reasonable time frame, especially for your personal goal of informing yourself about education in another country. --fasten 09:50, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but... why are you here, if isn't to make this wiki a wiki? Why are you administrating, if it isn't to improve and... administrate?

On copying over Wikipedia articles, don't you think those authors and experts would come here, instead? Where else do you think we would be getting contributors from?

And lastly, on what you say is "inversion": Actually, one of the best ways to learn about something is to digest it and build references materials for others to utilise. As someone that is primarily a hands-on learner, I've used this method on many occassions, and it's what I love about building wikis. I think the best and most recognisable phrase used to describe it would be "learning by teaching". Jesse Groppi (talk) 14:13, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Hi, I saw your thread on Wikia Central. There's a very good article over there, and this section is very relevant: Don't Compete with Wikipedia. --Jesdisciple (talk) 21:55, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

That was definitely an interesting read. I see what that person is saying about competing with Wikipedia, and starting off with encyclopaedic content may be like going up the down escalator. So, I think I'm gonna do some internet surfing, try to get an idea of what education niches are out there, and look for any other collaborative sites. I'm also going to drop a line to the education contributors over at Wikipedia, and see if they have any suggestions, projects they would like to seed here, or if there's anything else they can do to help us make a wiki out of this thing. --Jesse Groppi (talk) 03:20, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

I've started a new topic since we're heading off on a tangent from what I was originally asking. Jesse Groppi (talk) 05:42, 28 June 2009 (UTC)