Bill gave me permission to forward this email here.
Anyone on this list who'd like to have a 1:1 conversation with him about whether his technology (it's a dedicated Perl/MySQL online learning platform which he built himself) might make sense in a Wikimedia context? He's open to the idea of open sourcing it. It's probably most relevant to Wikiversity and related efforts.
Erik
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bill Van Horne <billvh375 at gmail dot com> Date: Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 9:23 AM Subject: New Service for Wikimedia?
Mr Möller:
I have worked for the past seven years programming a multilingual Adaptive Learning system, which is now ready for use. I am wanting to find an organization that has a character that meshes with my own, with whom I can work to provide this as a service for the betterment of humanity. Your organization tops my list of those with which I would like to explore a working relationship.
I am willing to provide this service completely free to everyone. Alternatively, Wikimedia could offer this as a sliding-fee-scale subscription service to educational institutions based upon their ability to pay. In short, the profit motive is secondary to the educational aspect, but if the two can coexist, then I am open to achieving both goals.
I would think that Wikimedia would like to find a business model that won't rely forever for its survival on donations from a public that can be unpredictable at times, combined with philanthropists that can also choose not to give. Alternatively, if Wikimedia is content with its current funding model, then I would be happy to explore how this service could be integrated into Wikimedia's services, such that the maximum benefit is attained with no associated profitability.
I am asking for 15 minutes of your time to show you how this system integrates concepts and facts, presented in standard browser compatible media, to create absolutely individualized teaching for students anywhere that the Internet is available (and even where it is NOT available).
I believe that much of Wikipedia's current content could be accessed as is, with this system acting as a content delivery system that simply acts to hierarchize the concepts into relevant associations of educational material for a learner, which are presented while a live volunteer human observes an entire group of learners at the same time, and interacts when appropriate, to support each one's individual learning process.
By SKYPE or phone I can walk you through the different user interfaces so you can evaluate what I am proposing, and see if you feel it merits further investigation as an adjunct to what you guys are already doing. I developed and used this system while living in Peru, South America for many years, and there are math teachings in Spanish I can use to demo the system for you. If you want a preview of the system before agreeing to meet with me, you can go to
Sincerely,
Bill Van Horne
Erik,
I recommend asking Bill to write a short comparison of his system to the popular open source Moodle system. From my quick skim of the llearnersa.com site, there looks to be some substantial overlap. There may be advantages over Moodle which are not immediately apparent.
My concern with such systems is that the quiz questions and their related instructional materials, including audio recordings, are often difficult to correct and update. Moodle, on the other hand, supports an open unencumbered format called GIFT -- http://microformats.org/wiki/gift -- which allows for open educational resources which are also open in the wiki sense of being editable.
I would be happy to discuss this with Bill off list if you think it would be best.
Sincerely, James Salsman
On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 4:20 PM, Erik Moeller erik@wikimedia.org wrote:
Bill gave me permission to forward this email here.
Anyone on this list who'd like to have a 1:1 conversation with him about whether his technology (it's a dedicated Perl/MySQL online learning platform which he built himself) might make sense in a Wikimedia context? He's open to the idea of open sourcing it. It's probably most relevant to Wikiversity and related efforts.
Erik
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bill Van Horne <billvh375 at gmail dot com> Date: Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 9:23 AM Subject: New Service for Wikimedia?
Mr Möller:
I have worked for the past seven years programming a multilingual Adaptive Learning system, which is now ready for use. I am wanting to find an organization that has a character that meshes with my own, with whom I can work to provide this as a service for the betterment of humanity. Your organization tops my list of those with which I would like to explore a working relationship.
I am willing to provide this service completely free to everyone. Alternatively, Wikimedia could offer this as a sliding-fee-scale subscription service to educational institutions based upon their ability to pay. In short, the profit motive is secondary to the educational aspect, but if the two can coexist, then I am open to achieving both goals.
I would think that Wikimedia would like to find a business model that won't rely forever for its survival on donations from a public that can be unpredictable at times, combined with philanthropists that can also choose not to give. Alternatively, if Wikimedia is content with its current funding model, then I would be happy to explore how this service could be integrated into Wikimedia's services, such that the maximum benefit is attained with no associated profitability.
I am asking for 15 minutes of your time to show you how this system integrates concepts and facts, presented in standard browser compatible media, to create absolutely individualized teaching for students anywhere that the Internet is available (and even where it is NOT available).
I believe that much of Wikipedia's current content could be accessed as is, with this system acting as a content delivery system that simply acts to hierarchize the concepts into relevant associations of educational material for a learner, which are presented while a live volunteer human observes an entire group of learners at the same time, and interacts when appropriate, to support each one's individual learning process.
By SKYPE or phone I can walk you through the different user interfaces so you can evaluate what I am proposing, and see if you feel it merits further investigation as an adjunct to what you guys are already doing. I developed and used this system while living in Peru, South America for many years, and there are math teachings in Spanish I can use to demo the system for you. If you want a preview of the system before agreeing to meet with me, you can go to
Sincerely,
Bill Van Horne
-- Erik Möller VP of Engineering and Product Development, Wikimedia Foundation
Support Free Knowledge: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
Hi everyone, instead of moodle-like e-learning systems, I would really love to develop an interactive flash tutorial. The program would interactively guide students (or other "wiki-virgins") through the basic stuff that everyone needs to learn in order to be able to write simple articles, that is, how to create an article, how to write the first "introductory sentence" of an article, how to write bold, link to other pages and use sections, as well as how to add references. Students themselves would write into the tutorial's editing window and the program would evaluate if it is formally correct. However, this is merely an idea and I do not have technical skills to realize it. Therefore, I am looking for a programmer who is willing to actively cooperate with me - all I ask is enthusiasm :-) Vojtech Dostal "Czech Ambassador Program" coordinator (http://ambasadorstvi.wikimedia.cz ; facebook.com/studenti.pisi.wikipedii) ************************ Vojtěch Dostál Mail vojtech.dostal@centrum.cz twitter.com/medi_cago
FYI I am simultaneously in the process of building an interactive tutorial for new editors as a course project, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dcoetzee/The_Wikipedia_Adventure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Adventure
I considered Flash but ended up doing mine with a combination of MediaWiki and Javascript. I have a demo of lesson 1 up at:
http://wikipediaadventure.moonflare.com/
Feedback welcome. More to come very soon on this.
I'm starting to develop a Wikimedia editing course through Moodle, for a new undergraduate course in my university. If anyone is interested in exchanging ideas about the Moodle system and Wikipedia, please get in touch.
Juliana.
On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 9:33 AM, Derrick Coetzee dc@moonflare.com wrote:
FYI I am simultaneously in the process of building an interactive tutorial for new editors as a course project, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dcoetzee/The_Wikipedia_Adventure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Adventure
I considered Flash but ended up doing mine with a combination of MediaWiki and Javascript. I have a demo of lesson 1 up at:
http://wikipediaadventure.moonflare.com/
Feedback welcome. More to come very soon on this.
-- Derrick Coetzee User:Dcoetzee
2012/4/19 Vojtěch Dostál vojtech.dostal@centrum.cz
Hi everyone,
instead of moodle-like e-learning systems, I would really love to develop an interactive flash tutorial. The program would interactively guide students (or other "wiki-virgins") through the basic stuff that everyone needs to learn in order to be able to write simple articles, that is, how to create an article, how to write the first "introductory sentence" of an article, how to write bold, link to other pages and use sections, as well as how to add references. Students themselves would write into the tutorial's editing window and the program would evaluate if it is formally correct.
However, this is merely an idea and I do not have technical skills to realize it. Therefore, I am looking for a programmer who is willing to actively cooperate with me - all I ask is enthusiasm :-)
Vojtech Dostal
"Czech Ambassador Program" coordinator
(http://ambasadorstvi.wikimedia.cz ; facebook.com/studenti.pisi.wikipedii )
Vojtěch Dostál
Mail vojtech.dostal@centrum.cz
twitter.com/medi_cago
Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
I'm actually interested in developing material for an online course. I thought moodle or perhaps Chamilo could be a good options since they have a free campus.
I recorded some videos in Spanish and I have some other ideas I'd love to share too.
Alhen
@alhen_ alhen at wikipedia, wikihow, wikispaces, and most places. Promotor de Wikimedia Bolivia 00-591-79592235
2012/4/19 Juliana Bastos domusaurea@gmail.com
I'm starting to develop a Wikimedia editing course through Moodle, for a new undergraduate course in my university. If anyone is interested in exchanging ideas about the Moodle system and Wikipedia, please get in touch.
Juliana.
On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 9:33 AM, Derrick Coetzee dc@moonflare.com wrote:
FYI I am simultaneously in the process of building an interactive tutorial for new editors as a course project, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dcoetzee/The_Wikipedia_Adventure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Adventure
I considered Flash but ended up doing mine with a combination of MediaWiki and Javascript. I have a demo of lesson 1 up at:
http://wikipediaadventure.moonflare.com/
Feedback welcome. More to come very soon on this.
-- Derrick Coetzee User:Dcoetzee
2012/4/19 Vojtěch Dostál vojtech.dostal@centrum.cz
Hi everyone,
instead of moodle-like e-learning systems, I would really love to develop an interactive flash tutorial. The program would interactively guide students (or other "wiki-virgins") through the basic stuff that everyone needs to learn in order to be able to write simple articles, that is, how to create an article, how to write the first "introductory sentence" of an article, how to write bold, link to other pages and use sections, as well as how to add references. Students themselves would write into the tutorial's editing window and the program would evaluate if it is formally correct.
However, this is merely an idea and I do not have technical skills to realize it. Therefore, I am looking for a programmer who is willing to actively cooperate with me - all I ask is enthusiasm :-)
Vojtech Dostal
"Czech Ambassador Program" coordinator
(http://ambasadorstvi.wikimedia.cz ; facebook.com/studenti.pisi.wikipedii)
Vojtěch Dostál
Mail vojtech.dostal@centrum.cz
twitter.com/medi_cago
Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
This was an interestin subject. I have two reflections from Sweden: First about the link below about how to work in Wikipedia ( Derrick Coetzee ):It looks great. the only "problem" I see is the language... Is it possible to get this as an admin so I could change it into Swedish (and maybe alhen into Spanish)? In autumn I will have a Wiki-day in an immigrant suburb, and that link would be perfect (in many languages) to help new editors start on wikipedia. Is that possible? The other reflection is to Alhen:You have Spanish videos and so on. Great. Do you think I might get it from you? I am going to work active with the latin american groups in Estocolmo about Wikipedia and need good examples. (I know they have a lot to give to svwp, but also to eswp here, but they need help to start.) Best regards/Harld Andersson(User Adville) From: alhen.wiki@gmail.com Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:14:22 -0400 To: education@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Wikimedia Education] "Create your first article" flash tutorial - programmer wanted
I'm actually interested in developing material for an online course. I thought moodle or perhaps Chamilo could be a good options since they have a free campus.
I recorded some videos in Spanish and I have some other ideas I'd love to share too.
Alhen
@alhen_ alhen at wikipedia, wikihow, wikispaces, and most places. Promotor de Wikimedia Bolivia 00-591-79592235
2012/4/19 Juliana Bastos domusaurea@gmail.com
I'm starting to develop a Wikimedia editing course through Moodle, for a new undergraduate course in my university. If anyone is interested in exchanging ideas about the Moodle system and Wikipedia, please get in touch.
Juliana.
On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 9:33 AM, Derrick Coetzee dc@moonflare.com wrote:
FYI I am simultaneously in the process of building an interactive tutorial for new editors as a course project, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dcoetzee/The_Wikipedia_Adventure
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Adventure
I considered Flash but ended up doing mine with a combination of MediaWiki and Javascript. I have a demo of lesson 1 up at:
http://wikipediaadventure.moonflare.com/
Feedback welcome. More to come very soon on this.
This was an interesting subject. I have two reflections from Sweden: First about the link below about how to work in Wikipedia ( Derrick Coetzee ):It looks great. the only "problem" I see is the language... Is it possible to get this as an admin so I could change it into Swedish (and maybe alhen into Spanish)? In autumn I will have a Wiki-day in an immigrant suburb, and that link would be perfect (in many languages) to help new editors start on wikipedia. Is that possible? The other reflection is to Alhen:You have Spanish videos and so on. Great. Do you think I might get it from you? I am going to work active with the latin american groups in Estocolmo about Wikipedia and need good examples. (I know they have a lot to give to svwp, but also to eswp here, but they need help to start.) Best regards/Harld Andersson(User Adville) From: alhen.wiki@gmail.com Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:14:22 -0400 To: education@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Wikimedia Education] "Create your first article" flash tutorial - programmer wanted
I'm actually interested in developing material for an online course. I thought moodle or perhaps Chamilo could be a good options since they have a free campus.
I recorded some videos in Spanish and I have some other ideas I'd love to share too.
Alhen
@alhen_ alhen at wikipedia, wikihow, wikispaces, and most places. Promotor de Wikimedia Bolivia 00-591-79592235
2012/4/19 Juliana Bastos domusaurea@gmail.com
I'm starting to develop a Wikimedia editing course through Moodle, for a new undergraduate course in my university. If anyone is interested in exchanging ideas about the Moodle system and Wikipedia, please get in touch.
Juliana.
On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 9:33 AM, Derrick Coetzee dc@moonflare.com wrote:
FYI I am simultaneously in the process of building an interactive tutorial for new editors as a course project, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dcoetzee/The_Wikipedia_Adventure
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Adventure
I considered Flash but ended up doing mine with a combination of MediaWiki and Javascript. I have a demo of lesson 1 up at:
http://wikipediaadventure.moonflare.com/
Feedback welcome. More to come very soon on this.
@adville I'll be glad to share. Just give the weekend to find them.
Yes to the website too. The idea of a guided wiki seems the right way to go since it's more easily translatable(I'm guessing). I'd love to see where I could translate into Spanish as well.
Alhen
@alhen_ alhen at wikipedia, wikihow, wikispaces, and most places. Promotor de Wikimedia Bolivia 00-591-79592235
2012/4/20 Harald Andersson wikiharald@live.se
This was an interesting subject.
I have two reflections from Sweden:
First about the link below about how to work in Wikipedia ( Derrick Coetzee ): It looks great. the only "problem" I see is the language... Is it possible to get this as an admin so I could change it into Swedish (and maybe alhen into Spanish)? In autumn I will have a Wiki-day in an immigrant suburb, and that link would be perfect (in many languages) to help new editors start on wikipedia. Is that possible?
The other reflection is to Alhen: You have Spanish videos and so on. Great. Do you think I might get it from you? I am going to work active with the latin american groups in Estocolmo about Wikipedia and need good examples. (I know they have a lot to give to svwp, but also to eswp here, but they need help to start.)
Best regards /Harld Andersson (User Adville)
From: alhen.wiki@gmail.com Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:14:22 -0400 To: education@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Wikimedia Education] "Create your first article" flash tutorial - programmer wanted
I'm actually interested in developing material for an online course. I thought moodle or perhaps Chamilo could be a good options since they have a free campus.
I recorded some videos in Spanish and I have some other ideas I'd love to share too.
Alhen
@alhen_ alhen at wikipedia, wikihow, wikispaces, and most places. Promotor de Wikimedia Bolivia 00-591-79592235
2012/4/19 Juliana Bastos domusaurea@gmail.com
I'm starting to develop a Wikimedia editing course through Moodle, for a new undergraduate course in my university. If anyone is interested in exchanging ideas about the Moodle system and Wikipedia, please get in touch.
Juliana.
On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 9:33 AM, Derrick Coetzee dc@moonflare.com wrote:
FYI I am simultaneously in the process of building an interactive tutorial for new editors as a course project, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dcoetzee/The_Wikipedia_Adventure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Adventure
I considered Flash but ended up doing mine with a combination of MediaWiki and Javascript. I have a demo of lesson 1 up at:
http://wikipediaadventure.moonflare.com/
Feedback welcome. More to come very soon on this.
-- Derrick Coetzee User:Dcoetzee
2012/4/19 Vojtěch Dostál vojtech.dostal@centrum.cz
Hi everyone,
instead of moodle-like e-learning systems, I would really love to develop an interactive flash tutorial. The program would interactively guide students (or other "wiki-virgins") through the basic stuff that everyone needs to learn in order to be able to write simple articles, that is, how to create an article, how to write the first "introductory sentence" of an article, how to write bold, link to other pages and use sections, as well as how to add references. Students themselves would write into the tutorial's editing window and the program would evaluate if it is formally correct.
However, this is merely an idea and I do not have technical skills to realize it. Therefore, I am looking for a programmer who is willing to actively cooperate with me - all I ask is enthusiasm :-)
Vojtech Dostal
"Czech Ambassador Program" coordinator
(http://ambasadorstvi.wikimedia.cz ; facebook.com/studenti.pisi.wikipedii)
Vojtěch Dostál
Mail vojtech.dostal@centrum.cz
twitter.com/medi_cago
Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
_______________________________________________ Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
to Derrick Coetzee: the tutorial looks great, this is something that I would be looking for too. I wiIl stay in touch with you. ************************ Vojtěch Dostál Mail vojtech.dostal@centrum.cz twitter.com/medi_cago
______________________________________________________________
Od: "Derrick Coetzee" Komu: , Datum: 19.04.2012 14:33 Předmět: Re: [Wikimedia Education] "Create your first article" flash tutorial - programmer wanted
FYI I am simultaneously in the process of building an interactive tutorial for new editors as a course project, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dcoetzee/The_Wikipedia_Adventure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Adventure
I considered Flash but ended up doing mine with a combination of MediaWiki and Javascript. I have a demo of lesson 1 up at:
http://wikipediaadventure.moonflare.com/
Feedback welcome. More to come very soon on this.