User:Luai lashire

My Goals For Wikiversity
Now that I've been around Wikiversity for a while, I've got a clearer sense of where we are now and what changes we might want to implement. The biggest thing, to me, is focusing on getting away from the blah-blah lecture-y type course we are used to. Projects like the Bloom Clock make great use of the wiki technology and break away from the traditional style of learning. Other good things are begining to emerge, but need to be used more; reading groups, video and audio, and lots and lots of discussion should be a part of almost every learning resource. More inter-resource linking needs to be done to get people moving from page to page on Wikiversity. I want to find ways for us to make learning resources more interactive and engaging and more student-led than they currently are. Discussion is only one way of doing this. I am currently toying with some ideas I want to implement on The Neurodiversity Movement learning resource that would do this. If they are effective, I hope they can be adapted to suit many other learning resources. These ideas include having the students do research and write part of the course themselves, hunt down and discuss related news articles or other resources on the web, and repeatedly sending the students to other websites to read the original sources for the material in the course. I'm very busy during the school year, but when I have the time, I will be working more on my Neurodiversity Movement resource, adding more content to the Writing Portal, and hopefully starting a collaborative writing community that will try to write a novel (or possibly shorter piece) collaboratively using the wiki technology most effectively.

A Note on Miscommunication
I do have Asperger's Syndrome, and communication is something that is sometimes difficult for me. While I have a very good grasp of the technicalities of writing, I don't always understand how to phrase something right, to have the best impact on the reader. If I offend anyone in any way, I can assure you it's unintentional; I try very hard to be completely open and discuss things without anger or bias, and I do not ever intentionally write inflamatory statements. If something I type seems blunt, harsh, or insulting, please, PLEASE ask me about it on my talk page; that way we can clear up the miscommunication. I also sometimes am not sure of the rules or the way things are typically done, so if I do something "wrong" or you feel I should have contacted you about some change I make- or if I DO contact you about something that I didn't need to- please bring it up on my talk page if you feel it needs to be discussed. Always assume good faith!

My websites

 * DeviantArt
 * My DeviantArt club for Autistic Pride art
 * FictionPress
 * Polyvore

My involvement in Wikiversity
I am a participant in the Bloom Clock learning project.

I have taken an interest in the Quote of the Day learning project, and while I don't expect to be very deeply involved in it, I have been participating some in the discussion.

I am currently using most of my free time to read Ivan Ilich's Deschooling Society with the hope of somewhat revitalizing the current reading group for that book, where discussion has lagged.

I am also working on developing a learning resource, called The Neurodiversity Movement, about the civil rights movement of the same name. Anyone who wishes to help with this project is more than welcome, particularly those with more experience here at Wikiversity; the formatting of pages is something that gives me a bit of trouble.

You can see my responses to the Wikiversity user survey questions here.

Contact
You can contact me on my user talk page or, if for some reason that isn't appropriate, you can always reach me through my e-mail.