Open Educational Resources/Tailored WikiBooks

Introduction

The tailored Wikibooks reflect the individual needs and the requirement of the learner. The exported individual WikiBook for the learner is used to add private annotations, that are added during the learning process. The private annotations in the exported document can be:

• "Do not understand the last step, must ask in the teacher in the upcoming lesson."
• "The method X might be an option the solve the learning task Y"
• "Tried method X but it was not successful, may there was an error in the preceeding steps"

These annotations in the digital document are not meant for the public e.g. mentioning that on the discussion page of the corresponding article in Wikiversity. These comments might be kept private, shared with the class mates or discussed with the teacher or tutor.

Open Community Approach

This learning resource is based on the Open Community Approach, i.e. using Open Educational Resources and Open Source Software as resource to perform a certain learning task.

Annotations

Annotations can be performed in different output formats. At first we look on PDF as the standard output format of single articles in Wikipedia and Wikiversity and of aggregated articles in a tailored WikiBook for the learner.

• (PDF) We assume that the learner has adapted a given WikiBook for the course provided by the teacher and has added or removed certain articles so that the WikiBook aggregates of the learning resources that learner needs for course. E.g. for a mathematics course the student adds additional Wikipedia articles for a mathematical topic that is not part of the current course but the current course builds on it. So the learner adds the learning tasks or in general a learning resource to the tailored WikiBooks because the learner needs that as support. In the PDF document the students performs as preparation of the current topic of the course also the learning tasks of the previous tasks to improve the knowledge about the foundations.

Storage of PDF-WikiBooks

The tailored WikiBooks are stored as a private document on the client.

Editing of exported WikiBooks

Xournal++ - Handwriting and annotations in PDF-Wikibooks

According to the Open Community Approach we can use the OpenSource software Xournal++ The PDF document may contain blank pages created by the teacher for additional learning task (e.g. painting diagrams and flow charts as a learning task). These learning tasks should not be stored online in discussion or talk pages (privacy). The PDF documents with annotations may be shared in a classroom situation only with other students or just shared with teacher for feedback as an annotated PDF.

Improve the exported Document or Source Articles

Assume you want to use a tailored WikiBook for a real-world lab. You combine different resources in Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Mathematics for the analysis of the environment where the living lab is based on. If you have a group of teacher that support the learning resource for the Real World Lab and another teacher with language background joins you would modify the WikiBook and add learning resource with poem that deal the topic nature and the protection of environment. Other teachers from social science might want to add indigenous knowledge to the WikiBook and demonstrate how the indigenous knowledge helped to preserve that environment over hundred of years. Students may have the task to identify the lesson learnt from the indigenous knowledge and adapt that to current situation of the environement.

Analyse the improvement of the exported document and source documents.

• What are constraints in which you would add content to the exported document and
• what are causes in which you would add a new article in Wikiversity and add the article to the WikiBook resp. improve an existing learning resource in Wikiversity?

Provide examples for both options for learning topics you are an expert in!

Learning Tasks

Previously existing feature: Create Wikibook in 15min

• Watch the video about the previously existing feature of a Multi-Format export of WikiBooks and describe the open innovation that is feature provides in comparison to classical books or e-books.
• Explain why it is important to the learning resources available as Open Educational Resouces to implement such a tailored Wikibook according to the specific needs of the learner.
• What do student/learners need, so that they understand how to modify the provided WikiBook according to their needs?
• Create Wikibook for your expertise, knowledge or interest, to explore the features of the WikiBook creator. When you are done store the Wikibook e.g. user (you need to login) in your user pages. As a teacher you can guide the students to your user pages and teach you students how they can modify the given WikiBook according to their needs.
• Explore the generation of tailored Wikibooks in the context of Advisory Missions for Learning and Capacity Building.

Recommendation: If all your students should use the same Wikibook please consider to export the updated Wikibook for you course once and share the generated PDF Wikibook with your students instead of all students using the rending engine for the same Wikibook. Tailored Wikibooks are an incredible feature for supporting different skills and expertise of students. Please use that feature on WMF Labs with care.

Multiformat Export

The multiformat export is available via multiformat export. In the german Wikiversity the option is available as link in the side menu. If you want to use a WikiBook similar to the option in the German Wikiversity you just h. Especially for the generation of tailored books designed for the individual prerequisites of learners is a great achievement. Learners have different skills and therefore classical one-fits-all approach with as standard book (digital or analogue) is brilliant option in Wikiversity to address these individual needs of learners. It was possible before with the WikiBook creator in the side menu in the past (see workflow for Tailored Wikibooks).

• Wikibooks are generated and stored as MediaWiki articles (mostly in the user pages of the teacher,
• the WikiBooks can be appended or modified by other learners according to their preferences and needs,
• Once exported e.g. into a PDF document, the learner can annotate the Wikibook with private comments that are not meant to be published on Wikiversity, Personal annotations can be made e.g. with the OpenSource software xournal++.
• The tailored Wikibooks reflect the individual needs and the requirement of the learner. Annotations in the PDF are private in the document stored on the client. The PDF document may contain blank pages created by the teacher for additional learning task (e.g. painting diagrams and flow charts as a learning task). These learning tasks should not be stored online in discussion or talk pages (privacy). The PDF documents with annotations may be shared in a classroom situation only with other students or just shared with teacher for feedback as an annotated PDF.
• Collections of aggregated article are prepared by teachers or lecturers. Students may add or remove specific articles according to the needs and requirements of the student.
• Books can be stored on user pages e.g. of the lecturer or teachers. Private annotations or solutions of learning tasks may not be shared with the public and the private annotations are added to the exported WikiBooks only e.g. in PDF format or in the Open Document Format. Citation of the original source in Wikiversity and Wikipedia are added during the export as references to the source articles in Wikiversity or Wikipedia. Furthermore any updates of articles are integrated automatically in the Wikibook when the next export is performed. The Wikibook inherits all the improvements of the articles.
• For specific collaboratively generated courses, it is required to have a reference document just like permanent links for articles. The exported Wikibook can be used as reference book as a static collection of articles. A new semester may change the reference document for new course members and skills.

If the backend of the server could cover the generation of WikiBook in WikiMarkdown - Multiformat Export may also be valuable beyond the german wikiversity e.g. in other languages (e.g. english, french, spanish,...) it might valuable for students also for courses in developing countries and languages that are not widely spread. It depends if the learners and teachers are aware of that option also in other languages to create individualized WikiBooks according to knowledge, preferences and skills about the topic of the course in their native language. Exporting the aggregated set of articles or script for a specific course is the first step befor annotating the PDF-export. Later the students complete a learning task in the generated WikiBook, e.g. complete the diagram with calculated value for the function $f(x)=sin(x)\cdot x^{2}$ or "draw a flow chart for the disaster manangement cycle and submit the completed course material as PDF to the teacher".

Anyhow the feature is usable for any MediaWiki already today and can be installed on the client side to fetch the aggregated articles in the WikiBook. Bandwidth for the download of the Wiki source is similar to delivery of the rendered single article. But MediaWiki2Latex maybe installed by computer scientist only e.g. if they are able to use the command line. Teachers and students may be better supported if they can generate the Wikibook directly from the side menu. Administrators may regard that as useful tool for the community and using online learning resource within Wikiversity in a tailored, demand and profile specific way for the students.

See also

• Open Community Approach
• Advisory Missions
• Learning and Capacity Building