I was under the impression that wikibooks would also
include textbooks for
k-12. Normally, k-3 don't have traditional texts because many are still
learning to read. Later, they read to learn. So much of the "textbook" is
really worksheets, pictures, and planned lectures and activities.
Actually,
a better word to use for k-3 is curriculum, not textbooks. But I've read we
are not supposed to do curriculum.
We do include books for younger children, and the youngest children (birth
through age 12) are the target audience of wikijunior. Certainly the concept
of a "textbook" is different when we are talking about kindergartners.
However, if we define a textbook as "an instructional book to accompany a
course of learning", we really have a lot of latitude.
Soooo, I'm not sure what wikibooks really is. Here
is where I got my info:
http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/003069.shtml
Although dated 8/05, it seems Mr. Wales had a definite vision:
Never seen that blog before, I'll have to read it.
"The second thing that will be free is a complete
curriculum (in all
languages) from Kindergarten through the University level. There are
several
projects underway to make this a reality, including our own Wikibooks
project, but of course this is a much bigger job than the encyclopedia, and
it will take much longer."
Another project that we work closely with is Wikiversity, which creates
curricula. A wikiversity course can use a Wikibook as an accompaniment.
While wikibooks contains books, wikiversity can contain syllabi, tests and
quizes, slides and handouts, reading assignments, etc. Combined, the two
projects can create a complete educational experiance for learners of all
ages.
Curriculum, by definition, is a package. It can
include textbooks but
certain goes beyond that to worksheets, teacher planning, activities, etc.
I would love to redo the SRA Direct Instruction curriculum in wikibooks so
that parents AND teachers have an option for scientificially based
curriculum. But according to new definitions, I'm not sure wikibooks is an
appropriate place. Under the old definition from the website listed above,
it is.
Textbooks for the curriculum definitely belong on wikibooks, it's a great
collaborative place to host books. For additional materials, Wikiversity is
a great place for those. It can be a little inconvenient to have to move
between the two websites, but they have the same software, and linking one
to the other is very easy.
--Andrew Whitworth
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