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Re: [school-discuss] Teacher Needs Help



I like Joel's prose.  It got me thinking, though: Schoolforge is a coalition of those already involved in free and open sources for education -- mostly.  So, that makes it less than helpful for most new users.  Two possibilities come to mind -- or three.

1. We look to one or more of our "members" who already serves new users.

2. We tell them that we're going to work on materials for training teachers -- but that's still one level up from the normal user.

3. We create new mailing lists such as school-user

What do  you think?


David

----- Message from jj2kk4@xxxxxxxxx ---------
    Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:13:06 -0800 (PST)
    From: Joel Kahn <jj2kk4@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [school-discuss] Teacher Needs Help
      To: "schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <schoolforge-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Justin asked:
>Does the website fail to welcome folks that may feel judged
>by asking questions that demonstrate ignorance?  

A website, like any other medium aimed at the public, has to have a
certain generic quality to it. The people who maintain the site must
make basic assumptions about a target audience. The assumptions
can never be perfect; there will always be, at least once in a while,
someone coming along who might be helped by the group running
the site but who is not ready for what the site holds. This is why
SchoolForge mentions the school-discuss list right in the middle of
the home page, and why the real work can not be done by mere
written words and pictures--it is the one-on-one actions of experienced
people working with newbies that create genuine progress. That is
why I have been slowly leading Kelly into SchoolForge, and why
I hope there will be a number of you who will have the time to join
in the effort to help her. That is what the real community is about.

Perhaps a variation on the preceding paragraph, with appropriate
improvements from some of you, should appear in the SchoolForge
FAQ. This might help to address these concerns.

Joel



----- End message from jj2kk4@xxxxxxxxx -----

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