User talk:Thewinster

Highschool Help Forum
Hi! I like the initiative - but I'm wondering: how does it differ from Help desk? Also, from a very brief scan, it looks like you've done quite a bit of nifty transclusion work - but that this might risk creating a lot of structure that would be hard for people who are monitoring to follow/watchlist. Have you been coordinating this project with anyone else? (I see you've pinged SB_Johnny and Darklama, which is good - as active participants, they're more likely to give you timely feedback - and I'm not active here these days.) Cormaggio talk 15:21, 24 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks for clarifying. I'd still worry about creating all this structure - which seems to duplicate something that already exists, is functional, and much simpler (though I may have misunderstood what you're doing). Previously, we've more or less worked on the lines of discussing a query and then creating a learning project. Where will all your projects end up; how will people interested in such subjects find them? Cormaggio talk 12:30, 25 August 2009 (UTC)


 * I posted a question What is the difference between differential and integral calculus?. But it was difficult. I don't believe that new users will be able to use the system that you have created. I know you've put a lot of work into it, but I don't know how to make it work. The templates are way too complex to be usable in my opinion. I am still trying to evaluate what you have so far and so are the other custodians. I wish you had been more willing to familiarise yourself with other Wikiversity content creation methods. Content development is one possible starting point. CQ 15:38, 25 August 2009 (UTC)


 * My concern with creating a complicated structure is that people will not be able to monitor questions that are of interest to them - distributing effort across a lot of pages means that it becomes increasingly difficult to manage. As you say, this is not a topic-specialised forum, so why not keep it in one general space, ie help desk? (Though I like the idea of categorising questions/discussions once they're done, so that people can find them.) In any case, I'm afraid I can't really help you at the moment - I'm busy with other stuff - why not get some discussion going on the Colloquium? Cormaggio talk 16:08, 25 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Hi, I like the fact that you are keen to bring this project to fruition, however I have to say that my web development skills are pretty rudimentary, so I'll be of little use in creating dynamic webpages. I'll still be able to help fill in content where needed and I wouldn't mind lending a hand. What concerns me at the moment is how useful a wiki will be in hosting a forum for questions for high school students. In my previous experience I have used bulletin boards which have their own search features, and run in a proper threaded structure. Mediawiki can also support threads, but in a very limited fashion. Additionally, if a student was to search for a particular question, there will be search results coming from all over wikiversity, not just this forum.


 * I've had some discussion with the others, and we have some potential resources at our disposal on this forum. Chief among those is the sandbox server, which allows us to different types of software other than wikimedia (phpBB and vBulletin may be good candidates). One of the proposals for threaded discussion on wikimedia was LiquidThreads, which you might want to have a look at. We can develop this together and perhaps create a more dynamic and powerful forum with this software.

Let me know what you think Lysander89 13:50, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

what am i doing here ? ..let me know if this is not the way to talk

Biology
I can help with the biology part of the HHF project. After a quick glance I'm a bit disoriented. Is there anything like a single document that explains the project? --JWSchmidt 21:26, 24 August 2009 (UTC)


 * I've been thinking about Template:HHF/Category Listing: I'm not sure what would be best to list as topic areas for biology. I listed some topics at HHF/Biology. Another approach would be to list traditional course topics such as General Biology, Anatomy, Physiology, Botany, Zoology. --JWSchmidt 18:57, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

HHF structure and resources
At Wikiversity, the structure is flexible thus in many cases disorganized. Resources tend to get scattered around and you have to dig to find them. I think for HHF to be useful, it should be coordinated on two dimensions:


 * 1) Educational stage - in HHF's case secondary
 * 2) Topical subjects - linked and categorized by Schools and Portals

A structure for content development of High school level resources is emerging. Let's try something:


 * School:Chemistry > Portal:Chemistry > Topic:High school chemistry
 * School:Mathematics > Portal:Mathematics > Topic:High school mathematics
 * School:Physics > Portal:Physics > Topic:High school physics
 * School:Biology > Portal:Biology > Topic:High school biology

That's a start. We're going to be stepping up the development of resources in Secondary Education. Thanks for your involvement. As for the HHF itself, I've temporarily redirected the subject links to what I felt were the most useful existing resources. We're also studying the mechanics of the HHF templates to find ways to improve their functionality. Lysander89 and others might be willing to help, also. You'll have to ask around. CQ 21:56, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Do you have thoughts you can share on how this worked out last year? –SJ + > 02:31, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Requests for deletion
There is currently a request for deletion of multiple JEE 2000 resources that you have significantly contributed to. Your opinions on this matter are welcome. TeleComNasSprVen 22:55, 27 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Dharav, would you mind describing, in the page for Category:No calculations (create the page), the purpose of this category? I could guess, but it's much better if you do it. Thanks! --

Moving HHF forward
Sorry for the lag, winster.. I'm looking at it. &bull; CQ 01:48, 29 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Do tell me what's going on. Dharav talk 16:46, 2 February 2011 (UTC)
 * And do write more about why you think WV is slow. How can we capitalize on the initial interest of groups like profs at the HS or Uni level who decide they want their entire courses (and their classes of students, sometimes) to work here?  How can we make that interesting, fun, and a learning experience for all of us? –SJ + > 20:17, 8 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Sure! Is this a wikiversity debate that's going on somewhere? Anyways, HHF can be particularly useful here. It is the dynamics at the HHF that can make things simpler for highschool students. For example - a subject that can be divided into simpler topics can be put up for discussion. Then, students can post one aspect of them each. For example, if the topic under question is Molarity, someone can chip in with a few definitions - to take care of the barebasics. Another student can post a few analogies. Someone else can chip in with a few misconceptions that they think a class has. Still others can look up some pedagogy papers and suggest how this can be improved. This can already be done at wikiversity right now - but HHF with a few tweaks can make this aspect more visible - especially it's ability to categorize things and making its appearance more colourful (literally).


 * Another DIRECT use of HHF can be to solve questions. I have collected a huge number of question papers from all the public examinations in India - and they alone cover most topics at all levels. If good discussions can organized - it can mean
 * Inclusion of the all necessary practice materials - and for the first time ever, discussions of real students whose thoughts would be shared by future readers, thus becoming aware of the learning curve and how to mould their own thoughts (rather than desperately trying to figure out what to do.)
 * Source of creating learning projects - activities.
 * Ability to make specialized/customized texts for students of different needs.


 * At the core of it all - it is the satisfaction that your small contribution is building up a huge resource - not somewhere in the future, but right here, right now. The HS/Univ profs projects can be used as a feeder mechanism which can then be polished into usable material. --Dharav talk 09:23, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

pagemove
It is a great try, but got no participtants.