--- Karl Wick <karlwick(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
On the English mailing list it was suggested that we
would
be developing static textbooks from dynamic
Wikipedia
resources. I'd like to talk about that because I
dont think
that is how it will be ...
I see the textbooks growing the same way WP grows ..
first
to get the basic information in there and then to
modify
that information to make it easier to understand and
to
include the changes and advancements in each field.
Then,
multiple textbooks could arise on one subject but
with
different goals or target audiences.
The textbooks will be able to use some WP material
but
probably in modified form to suit the different
goals. Plus
the textbooks will need lots of original material
that was
not at home in the encyclopedia format and/or has
not yet
been developed.
A couple of goals:
I think that we will see our first adoption by
students who
are looking for quick free information. In time, my
hope is
that we will have materials so good that they will
be used
officially in schools to accompany and then replace
traditional textbook materials.
This site should be the center on the WWW for
collaborative
textbook development. I have seen some scattered
efforts to
do free textbooks out there but none (but --April's)
using
a wiki. I think if we give them a place and make it
friendly that people will use it and our site will
grow to
be the standard setter. So lets make it friendly to
teachers and other people who can be power
contributers.
You're missing the point of the question. How are
/teachers/ supposed to use a dynamic teaching medium
and still form lesson plans and teach the class well?
They are used to a static medium. I think the best
solution would be create a versioning system like in
software (I can't remember if I mentioned this on the
list yet.). First, we would work on the first version
and get a lot of information to make it adequate. This
is the alpha version. Then, it would be frozen except
for minor typographical and wording edits. This is
beta. Eventually (maybe 6 months) we would consider it
to be the official first version. Then, we'd start
working on the second version, changing around
information and moving chapters around, etc, until it
was frozen and finalised too. Then the third version,
etc.
-LDan
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