Additional help

[anartam]

Hi Stian! Hi Phillip! Hello everyone!

I would like to know if there is anything else we
can do to help develop P2PU project. I think there are so many tasks,
and you have so many activities, that maybe you would like to delegate
something to us, after giving some guidelines...
So, feel free to contact me if you need additional
help.

[Philipp Schmidt]

Hi Ana:

Thanks for writing and offering to help. There are a number of areas
that we are working on, which would benefit from more people helping.

COURSE TEMPLATE

One area we would like more people to get involved in, is the course
development template we have created. We kept it very simple, and it
is based on the open online courses we have participated in. It's also
intentionally remixable - so people should improve, adapt, change as
much as they need to. It would be good to get some feedback from
people who are using the template to develop courses.

The document is stored here:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg59qmts_5w9gstffk (If anyone wants to
help edit the document directly, rather than send feedback, please
contact us so we can send you an invitation)

ADMIN / ORGANISATION

Another point we have been spending a lot of time on (more than we had
intended) is related to the legal and administrative issues around
setting up an online site that offers courses. I am not a lawyer, but
understand that there are a lot of things to keep in mind. If anyone
on this list has experience with the legal aspects of online volunteer
projects, or could provide advice on setting up a 501c3 non-profit
organisations in the US, those would be things we'd appreciate help
with.

Best - P

--
Jan Philipp Schmidt - "Sharing Nicely" at www.bokaap.net - "Hacking
Education" at www.peer2peeruniversity.org

[IgenOukan]

While I don't have the legal experience for the ADMIN/ORGANISATION
topics, I do know a bit about that stuff. I also have several contacts
that know about those two topics. From what I know, we should be able
to have people volunteer without anything special beyond an end-user
license agreement and a terms of conditions. In that way it should be
the same as a normal online community, since it is volunteer based.

Steven Egan

On Dec 1, 4:44 am, "Philipp Schmidt" <phi.schm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Ana:
>
> Thanks for writing and offering to help. There are a number of areas
> that we are working on, which would benefit from more people helping.
>
> COURSE TEMPLATE
>
> One area we would like more people to get involved in, is the course
> development template we have created. We kept it very simple, and it
> is based on the open online courses we have participated in. It's also
> intentionally remixable - so people should improve, adapt, change as
> much as they need to. It would be good to get some feedback from
> people who are using the template to develop courses.
>

> The document is stored here:http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg59qmts_5w9gstffk(If anyone wants to

> help edit the document directly, rather than send feedback, please
> contact us so we can send you an invitation)
>
> ADMIN / ORGANISATION
>
> Another point we have been spending a lot of time on (more than we had
> intended) is related to the legal and administrative issues around
> setting up an online site that offers courses. I am not a lawyer, but
> understand that there are a lot of things to keep in mind. If anyone
> on this list has experience with the legal aspects of online volunteer
> projects, or could provide advice on setting up a 501c3 non-profit
> organisations in the US, those would be things we'd appreciate help
> with.
>
> Best - P
>

[international professors]

When clicking on the docs link supplied below I got  "ooops!"

Ron Krate
Founding Chief Executive Officer
International Professors Project
(www.internationalprofs.org)

[Philipp Schmidt]

On 1 Dec 2008, at 19:40, IgenOukan wrote:

>
> While I don't have the legal experience for the ADMIN/ORGANISATION
> topics, I do know a bit about that stuff. I also have several contacts
> that know about those two topics. From what I know, we should be able
> to have people volunteer without anything special beyond an end-user
> license agreement and a terms of conditions. In that way it should be
> the same as a normal online community, since it is volunteer based.

Could you put me in touch with your contacts to discuss in more detail?

Originally we also thought that click-through agreements and
disclaimers on the web-site would be sufficient, but after talking to
lawyers, who have experience with online organisations and
communities, I understand that there is still a significant legal risk
for the people who are "organising" the project. We could be sued
(even for things that have no merit) and would be liable personally. I
am based in South Africa and not so worried about this, but for those
based in the US it is a real concern.

My understanding is that this is ONLY A POTENTIAL RISK FOR THE
ORGANISERS, but not for the volunteer community!

Best - P

[Philipp Schmidt]

Sorry Ron:

Will look into this asap. I am travelling today and sending email from
WiFi hotspots that I can access while my train stops along the way.
Should be online again this evening.

Best - P

[Philipp Schmidt]

Hey Ron:

Please try again. I re-published the document and it should be
publicly viewable now ... sorry for the inconvenience.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg59qmts_5w9gstffk

Best - P

[Steven Egan]

Hey Philip,

I e-mailed the contact who responds the fastest, they all work together, and gave him your e-mail. We'll see what happens from there.

--
My Blog: blog.IgenOukan.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/igenoukan

[Philipp Schmidt]

On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 7:51 PM, Steven Egan <igen...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey Philip,
>
> I e-mailed the contact who responds the fastest, they all work together, and
> gave him your e-mail. We'll see what happens from there.
>

Thank you! P

[John Britton]

I've setup one non-profit legal entity in the USA (New York to be precise). However it was not a 'charitable' organization, so we didn't have 501c3 status. If you'd like I have a friend who is an attorney who would likely give us some advice for free.

Cheers,
John Britton
--
contact info:
http://www.johndbritton.com
--
http://www.hostgrown.com

[Philipp Schmidt]

On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 8:08 PM, John Britton <pub...@johndbritton.com> wrote:
> I've setup one non-profit legal entity in the USA (New York to be precise).
> However it was not a 'charitable' organization, so we didn't have 501c3
> status. If you'd like I have a friend who is an attorney who would likely
> give us some advice for free.
>

That would be great. Please connect me off list.

Best - P

[anartam]

> Hi, Phillip! Thank you for sending the correct link.

  

   I've checked the template and I think it is Ok, so far. Additional criticism will come when really developing

 the courses. I was just wondering that it would be great if each course could have a blog (all blogs should be hosted on the same website). We could post additional material and comments, without changing the course template. It would be a more dynamic place to find material and share opinions.

    How are we going to conduct online discussions? Using MSN, Skype to promote live sessions or are you planning to use any special platform?  

   Browsing the web, I could see great material, but normally free web-based courses don't offer a real interaction among tutors and students. Am I right? I think if we offer a setting where students could really interact with each other and with the tutor we would enhance learning experience.

   How are we going to use Wikis in our courses? Is P2PU planning to launch a Wiki page?

  

   Ana Rosa. 

 

 

 

> Hey Ron:

>

> Please try again. I re-published the document and it should be

> publicly viewable now ... sorry for the inconvenience.

>

> http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg59qmts_5w9gstffk

>

> Best - P

>

> On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 7:52 PM, international professors

> wrote:

> > When clicking on the docs link supplied below I got "ooops!"

> >

> > Ron Krate

> > Founding Chief Executive Officer

> > International Professors Project

> > (www.internationalprofs.org)

> >

> > -------- Original Message --------

> > Subject: [p2pu-discuss] Re: Additional help

> > From: IgenOukan

> > Date: Mon, December 01, 2008 1:40 pm

> > To: P2PU Discuss

> >

> >

> > While I don't have the legal experience for the ADMIN/ORGANISATION

> > topics, I do know a bit about that stuff. I also have several contacts

> > that know about those two topics. From what I know, we should be able

> > to have people volunteer without anything special beyond an end-user

> > license agreement and a terms of conditions. In that way it should be

> > the same as a normal online community, since it is volunteer based.

> >

> > Steven Egan

> >

> > On Dec 1, 4:44 am, "Philipp Schmidt" wrote:

> >> Hi Ana:

> >>

> >> Thanks for writing and offering to help. There are a number of areas

> >> that we are working on, which would benefit from more people helping.

> >>

> >> COURSE TEMPLATE

> >>

> >> One area we would like more people to get involved in, is the course

> >> development template we have created. We kept it very simple, and it

> >> is based on the open online courses we have participated in. It's also

> >> intentionally remixable - so people should improve, adapt, change as

> >> much as they need to. It would be good to get some feedback from

> >> people who are using the template to develop courses.

> >>

> >> The document is stored

> >> here:http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg59qmts_5w9gstffk(If anyone wants to

[Georgene Mortimer]

Hello Ana and others,

I am currently creating a course in alternative energy and have thought about similar issues as you mention. I really like your idea about a blog, especially as it relates to alternative energy since there is new news on the subject almost everyday and it would really help if we could critically analyze information as it becomes available.

I have started to use the template and so far it seems to be fine. I was considering using a Google Group for discussions. My plan was to assign some reading and then throughout the week pose questions and stimulate discussions regarding the readings through the google group.  Does this sound ok?

I think it would be really great if as part of the course requirement, the "class" , tutor and sense maker agreed on a small project that we would conduct to add to the body of free online information. A blog or a wiki are some good ideas. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Georgene

[Philipp Schmidt]

On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 2:44 PM, Georgene Mortimer
<georgene...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello Ana and others,
> I am currently creating a course in alternative energy and have thought
> about similar issues as you mention. I really like your idea about a blog,
> especially as it relates to alternative energy since there is new news on
> the subject almost everyday and it would really help if we could critically
> analyze information as it becomes available.

> I have started to use the template and so far it seems to be fine. I was
> considering using a Google Group for discussions. My plan was to assign some
> reading and then throughout the week pose questions and stimulate
> discussions regarding the readings through the google group. Does this
> sound ok?

Yes! Some of us are working on a very basic technology platform that
would let you pull together some of the tools you need to run the
course.

The way the courses are structured is up to the tutor, but I would try
to reduce the role of the tutor as much as possible - so that a tutor
can support and is there to help in case of problems, but students
don't rely on one person to keep them going. Ideally they would work
through the materials together as a group. The topic of the course
will also influence how this could work.

> I think it would be really great if as part of the course requirement, the
> "class" , tutor and sense maker agreed on a small project that we would
> conduct to add to the body of free online information. A blog or a wiki are
> some good ideas. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

I agree - having a blog that is written by participants of the course
to document the latest developments in a particular field for each
other, would be great.

Best - P

[Philipp Schmidt]

On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 1:24 PM, anartam <ana...@uol.com.br> wrote:
>> Hi, Phillip! Thank you for sending the correct link.
>
> I've checked the template and I think it is Ok, so far. Additional
> criticism will come when really developing
> the courses. I was just wondering that it would be great if each course
> could have a blog (all blogs should be hosted on the same website). We could
> post additional material and comments, without changing the course template.
> It would be a more dynamic place to find material and share opinions.
> How are we going to conduct online discussions? Using MSN, Skype to
> promote live sessions or are you planning to use any special platform?
> Browsing the web, I could see great material, but normally free web-based
> courses don't offer a real interaction among tutors and students. Am I
> right? I think if we offer a setting where students could really interact
> with each other and with the tutor we would enhance learning experience.

Yes, this is where I see P2PU making a real contribution to the
content-focused OER world.

> How are we going to use Wikis in our courses? Is P2PU planning to launch
> a Wiki page?
>

Some people are working on a basic technology platform that would
integrate some of the tools you mention (blogs, wikis, profile pages,
etc.). We probably need to link to other services (Skype, MSN) for
synchronous discussions, but hopefully those discussions can be
recorded and linked to from within the course page.

I think your idea of making the courses extensible (users can add
comments or further resources) is excellent. A course should never by
"finished".

Best - P

[John Britton]

On the synchronous interaction front http://www.hab.la/ seems like an interesting tool.

There is also http://www.talkinator.com/

Both solutions would require a web interface for some users, the alternative would be to require a chat client or specific network for users.

Not everyone uses every IM network, maybe the best bet is to just leave the decision up to the sense-maker and tutor.

--
contact info:
http://www.johndbritton.com
--
http://www.hostgrown.com