I just wanted to quickly dump a few thoughts about a big event we’re about to run. I’ve been slipping behind in my blogging and thought I’d inflict a quick core dump on you. Tomorrow (7th May 2011) we are holding a translation hackathon at the University of Stellenbosch. The objective is extremely ambitious, translate [...]
It came to pass recently that we (and by we I mean just short of 100 volunteers from all over the world!) edited the FHSST textbooks in the space of 9 days. In writing this blog post reviewing what happened and what comes next, I have realised that it was an incredibly stupid thing to even attempt (impossible actually) and I’m still amazed that we were able to successfully complete the task, all due to the generosity of volunteers.
- Access books on a.nnotate.com (links available on http://www.markhorner.net):
- Mathematics Grade 10: http://a.nnotate.com/php/pdfnotate.php?d=2010-10-08&c=SHkkygd2
Mathematics Grade 11: http://a.nnotate.com/php/pdfnotate.php?d=2010-10-08&c=dHbcYbbw
Mathematics Grade 12: http://a.nnotate.com/php/pdfnotate.php?d=2010-10-08&c=M4p01euS
Physical Science Grade 10: http://a.nnotate.com/php/pdfnotate.php?d=2010-10-08&c=3sCc82qY
Physical Science Grade 11: http://a.nnotate.com/php/pdfnotate.php?d=2010-10-08&c=hW2hgnQP
Physical Science Grade 12: http://a.nnotate.com/php/pdfnotate.php?d=2010-10-08&c=enzaEmdn
- Select an exercise in any book that has no solution and no annotation about a solution on FullMarks
- Highlight the question and an annotation window pops up – annotate the question saying that you are working on a solution
- Create a question on FullMarks with the full step-by-step model solution and finalise it (see details a bit later for some guidance on this)
- View your finalised question and answer on FullMarks – copy the url
- Return to a.nnotate.com and add the url you copied to the annotation in the book that you created in step 3
- Log in to www.fhsst.org (this is at the very bottom of the FHSST page)
- Create a short url by going to www.fhsst.org/shorten selecting “Shorten url” option from the menu and pasting the full question url into the box and submitting
- Copy the resulting code from the short url (i.e. just copy XYZ when the short url is www.fhsst.org/answers/XYZ) and add this to the annotation in the book as well
- Return to step 1. and repeat for another question
This will ensure that we have a short code to redirect learners to a full model solution for every question in the book. They will also then be able to see similar questions on FullMarks as well. We have adapted this slightly for the hackathons but always ensuring that the files on a.nnotate.com have the latest information regarding what has been and is being worked on.
| Hackathon Process | ||
| Get a paper chapter assignment from the relevant Siyavula team member so they can manage what is being worked on – do this to help them even if you can follow ideal process. | ||
| Buddy up with someone to discuss any issues which might arise. Some questions may not be clear or the text may have an error or you may just want some input on the simplest way to approach the solution. | ||
| Access to the internet | Computer but no access to the internet | No computer |
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This will ensure that we have a short code to redirect learners to a full model solution for every question in the book. They will also then be able to see similar questions on FullMarks as well.
I’m very passionate about the problem of affordable textbooks (and academic publishing more generally), especially in maths. I came from an underprivileged background and I know there are many brilliant people out there who have no opportunity to flourish due to lack of materials. I also have a friend in a third-world country (PNG) who is a teacher, and I could imagine the benefit he would derive from a textbook scheme as you have organised in South Africa.
Once this is complete we will turn to suggestions and improvements related to the conceptual explanations incorporation, where appropriate, links to the Khan Academy videos and the PHET Simulations. From there we can develop the teachers’ guides and submit the books to the formal review process at the DBE for inclusion on the approved books list. Should they be included schools will be able to purchase FHSST textbooks as part of the official procurement process but at approximately 1/5 of the cost of publishers alternatives.
--> 5 Comments » Just a quick post to let people know that the FHSST v0.5 books are up on a.nnotate.com – this is primarily to support hackathons but will also be used to capture errata and suggestions.
We’re on a mission to get the FHSST books completely proof-read by next week. We were doing a lot manually which required people be in Cape Town if they wanted to help out but we’ve since uploaded the books to a.nnotate.com where anyone in the world can browse and annotate errors etc. so you can [...]
Our schools are struggling due to the nation wide strike. Learning needs to continue at the schools, many of whom are running on skeleton crews. A group of volunteers have authored a set of open source textbooks and resources that can to support learners and educators in this time. The open copyright license allows the [...]
A long time ago we set out to get two sets of textbook covers designed, one for Physical Science Gr 10-12 and one for Mathematics Gr 10-12. We used the opportunity to test crowdsourcing against traditional design. Here are the results of the two processes for you to compare.
First part of the site upgrade finished, the FHSST site now uses Drupal 6.
We had many submissions and there were some great ones but these were the most popular amongst members of the FHSST and OpenPress teams. I’ll write up a more detailed follow-up post when we’ve got the maths ones in.
If you’re a Drupal person and would like to have a crack at developing a feedback module for FHSST please read on for the specification details and contact me with any clarifying questions or a quote for the work. I intend to make a decision by the middle of next week (18th November) so you’ve got a week to get the information to me.
FHSST Feedback Module
The FHSST site allows authors to build books in LaTeX. The original goal was to have many LaTeX-competent authors working on many sections. We have learnt that very few people are comfortable with LaTeX and PSTricks. To better accommodate people who still want to make contributions but not get their hands dirty we must provide a simple way to give the necessary input.
We would like a feedback module to be written for Drupal to help with this. This module should allow three types of feedback:
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errata
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suggested contributions
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testimonials
Errata
Each erratum needs to contain:
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erratum title (mandatory)
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detailed erratum information (mandatory)
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book for which it is submitted (mandatory)
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book version for which erratum is applicable (mandatory)
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book section in which error occurs (mandatory)
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book page number (optional)
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submitter’s:
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name and surname (mandatory)
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email address (mandatory)
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role, one of:
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learner
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educator
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parent
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other
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-
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timestamp of submission (recorded automatically)
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status (only changeable by coordinator – starts in pending):
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pending
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corrected
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disputed
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timestamp of resolution (i.e. corrected or disputed state change – recorded automatically)
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person changing state (recorded automatically)
When submitted, an erratum must go into a queue and the coordinators of the relevant book should receive an email notification that it has been submitted. They can then login and review the erratum. Once they have processed it they must be able to set it to either corrected or disputed in the case where the erratum is actually incorrect.
A page should be provided where users can see all errata submitted, the submitters’ name, the relevant book and version, and the status of the errata. The title should link to the full erratum view.
A block should be provided where users can see the 5 most recent errata submitted (title, book and status).
Suggested Contributions
This is to allow general users to submit a contribution to be included in the book by a LaTeX-enabled author. Each contribution should have:
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contribution title (mandatory)
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detailed contribution (mandatory)
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attached files (optional)
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book for which it is submitted (mandatory)
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book section (optional)
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submitter’s:
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name and surname (mandatory)
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email address (mandatory)
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role, one of:
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learner
-
educator
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parent
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other
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-
-
timestamp of submission (recorded automatically)
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status (only changeable by coordinator – starts in pending):
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pending
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incorporated
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discarded
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timestamp of resolution (i.e. incorporated or discarded state change to be recorded automatically)
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person changing state (recorded automatically)
When submitted a contribution must go into a queue and the coordinators of the relevant book should receive an email notification that it has been submitted. They can then login and review the contribution. Once they have processed it they set it to either incorporated or discarded state in the case where the contribution cannot be used.
A page should be provided where users can see all contributions submitted, the submitters’ name, the relevant book and version, and the status of the contribution. The title should link to the full contribution view.
A block should be provided where users can see the 5 most recent contributions submitted (title, book and status).
Testimonials
This is simply to collect information about how the content has been used.
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testimonial title (mandatory)
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detailed testimonial (mandatory)
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book for which it is submitted (optional)
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book section (optional)
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submitter’s:
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name and surname (mandatory)
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email address (mandatory)
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role, one of: (mandatory)
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learner
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educator
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parent
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other
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-
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timestamp of submission (recorded automatically)
Administration
For the feedback module the books for which feedback is being received need to be configured. This should happen from the module administration page and not depend on the book module of Drupal. The administrator will add the books for the module and then add, on a book-by-book basis:
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versions
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chapters and sections
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coordinators
When a book is added at least one version number is required. For each version number provided, a list of chapters and sections is required. A book will have multiple versions, each with their own unique chapter and section listing. This listing can be a simple textarea where each line is a chapter or section heading.
Each book must also have a list of coordinators who are users on the system. Coordinators should be able to access a list of all errata and contributions for their books. They should be able to view them and change the status if necessary. The time when the status is changed should be recorded.
Special Remarks
All the feedback types should be node types and should integrate into the Drupal CMS properly so that they can be integrated with other modules designed to manipulate nodes. The theming information should also be separated so that they can be re-themed.
A special page should be provided that can be used as the homepage. This page should have a customisable body of full html and then have forms for all three feedback types. This will be presented to non-authenticated users as the homepage allowing them to provide the feedback directly from the front page. We would like jQuery/jQuery UI integration in this page so that a button can be shown for each type of feedback and if clicked the form must render as a modal window. Submission using these forms should be via AJAX and should trigger an update on the blocks for the content types if they are shown.
To simplify the forms when a user selects a book the relevant versions should be loaded. Once the version is selected only the relevant sections should be loaded. Validation for all form fields should be implemented.
The module should be written in such a way to conform to the Drupal 6.X API and should only have dependencies on well established modules (modules that are actively maintained and have demonstrable support and traction within the Drupal community).
We would release all the code under the Gnu General Public Licence.
--> 1 Comment » We’ve decided to run our own internal competition. The prize will be bragging rights as the optimal process for future covers for OpenPress / FHSST texts. We are going to allocate the same budget sourcing sets of covers for the Maths and Physical Science books, but we are going to have the Maths set commissioned by a regular design firm and we’ll get the Physical Science ones created on 99Designs.
- Website:
- Free High School Science Texts
- Started:
- October 2002
- Role:
- Co-founder
FHSST (Free High School Science Texts) is a project that aims to provide free science and mathematics textbooks for Grades 10 to 12 science learners in South Africa.
I co-founded this project with Sam Halliday. Our intitial objective was to work with other graduate students at the University of Cape Town to collaboratively author the textbooks. Ultimately, the pool of volunteers was much larger and the first version of the books are available from the project website.
In the interests of openness we've written a how-to with all our learnings for you to download. It complements the great case study of FHSST completed by the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
When re-using this content please provide a clear and prominent link to this blog.