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idea: bigger wikipedia idea for lectures

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piratePenguin:
something quick i scribbled up for an msn convo, pasting here, and gonna start seeing whats already on the web. bit in brackets is less-important.

(heres what we need
a web-based mathematica using JS and canvas/svg
and a web-site that uses it to explain maths techniques so that a noob can pick a topic and learn it including all prerequisites
using programmed and animated diagrams that run right in the browser)
this idea of using static pdfs to spread ideas of a technical nature has to go imo, why dont we use the web nowadays?
also we need an open university concept to flourish where lecturers can attach a rod with accelerometers to their chalk/pen and what they put on the board can be put online in image format for volunteers to transcribe and file for others to learn from, expand on etc

worker201:
Money.  Who's going to write it?  Who's going to host it?  Who's going to be able to support it without being fragged by their current textbook providers?

Refalm:
There is something called Sakai, which is used by my university to share learning documents, as well as the usual "college time rescheduled" announcements.

It could be used for an open environment, in which everyone in a certain group of professionals and students can share best practices and ideas.

piratePenguin:

--- Quote from: Refalm on  5 February 2010, 11:44 ---There is something called Sakai, which is used by my university to share learning documents, as well as the usual "college time rescheduled" announcements.

It could be used for an open environment, in which everyone in a certain group of professionals and students can share best practices and ideas.

--- End quote ---
Yeah seems like almost all colleges I know are now using something like this. My uni uses Moodle which is open source (and there's a huge appreciation for these tools that are open source). Seems like most of the big universities here are using Blackboard though, which is closed source.

However all content published by lecturers on these websites are blocked for the public according to the configuration of the website (moodle or w/e). Could universities (or lecturers) be convinced to make a commitment to sharing their content on a wikipedia-type site where the best content will rise to the top, where students can suggest corrections, where students can ask questions for help, etc..
If universities went along with this it could result in a massive academic resource. And each university brings with it like 10,000 students and above, that's why these sites grow quickly (Moodle etc. have hundreds of thousands of users, but there's no relationship between each site).

A lot of the TOP universities in the world (MIT, Stanford) video record particular lectures and put them online for the public. academicearth.org is a (one) website that gathers them all together in one site.

worker: possibly could be done by the wikipedia foundation themselves or a new similarly organised organization. I think the biggest issue from the outset would be getting universities on board, because if they are on board it would be pretty straightforward. (as long as someone developed it)

worker201:
Seems to me that many universities actually have a vested interest in not sharing.  If a student at the Hicktown Community College in Armpit, Nebraska has the same access to information as a student from MIT or Princeton, the epic costs associated with the higher level schools don't seem like they're worth it.  Yes, that example compares extremes, and the prestige of the degree means a lot.  But what about smaller competitive universities?  For example, the University of Florida and Florida State University.  Both are large state-funded schools that are desperate to fill the ranks.  Aside from the football programs (which probably mean more to American students than anything else), the only real differences between these universities are in the exclusivity of their academic programs - "We've got Professor Johnson, and they don't."  Having open educational content which is shared across the whole system serves to reduce this exclusivity, and the competitive edges are reduced.  Although the students would be better served by an open shared system, the university trustees, who are in it for the money, would be better served by a closed exclusive system.  And I think we know who will have the final word on any discussion.

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