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I need YOUR help with the future of edte.ch

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I’m done with edte.ch as a business. I’d post a video of me setting my business cards on fire if it wasn’t for the fact I’m going to recycle them! Why is edte.ch as a consultancy dead? Answer: my role next year has pushed me into the area previously only available to me as a sideline. Hence, I recently blew up the site. :-p

So, what to do with the great domain name? I’ve a couple of ideas which I’d like to bring together on the new site. They both involve creating places for discussion for distinct groups of people who, at present – as far as I’m aware – don’t have a forum for debate/help/guidance:

  • Ed.D. students interested in educational technology.
  • The role known variously as E-Learning Tutor, Instructional Technologist, E-Learning Director, etc. that’s becoming increasingly common in schools around the world.

Over the last few months I’ve had a substantial number of representatives from each group contact me for advice, guidance and requests for resource/idea-sharing. I want to provide that forum for discussion and debate,* but I need the help of the community in two ways:

  1. I want to use some type of software to get this sorted out. I tried KickApps, but didn’t like the advertising. Despite several attempts, I’m clueless with Drupal, so was going to try Joomla. I’d really welcome suggestions and recommendations – especially of those found at OpenSourceCMS.com
  2. I’m going to need some co-administrators/moderators for the new site. Anyone up for that?

Please do let me know in the comments if you’ve any ideas or want to take part! :-D

* Let me re-iterate that edte.ch as a business has ceased to exist. The only thing I will ‘own’ on this website is the domain name. Let’s face it – someone has to! The content will be Creative Commons-licensed.

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Comments
Comment from Mark Berthelemy - 11 July 2008 at 1:29 am

Hi Doug,

Like you I'm not a fan of Drupal. Joomla is good – very flexible and a lively user community. Much depends on what is going to go on the site. You could run it as a group blog or it could be a forum, or just a straightforward centre-outwards content management system.

Have a think about the blog idea… I'd strongly recommend b2evolution (http://b2evolution.net). I've used it for my blog for years. It's an excellent multi-user, mulit-blog system, with workflow (approvals/editing) built in. Also it's an absolute doddle to install.

If I can help in any way let me know.

Comment from Nick Hood - 11 July 2008 at 4:29 am

Doug,

Regarding the CMS, I've tried a few and like different things about them all.

Drupal – I like the book thing they do – linking a series of pages together like in a book
Joomla – I like the fact that articles can have a life – no, not partying – i.e. they can be visible for a period of time then disappear
WordPress – easy for comments and plugins
MediaWiki – great user interface, full editor features and techy plugins I need.

Have a look at these as they are implemented on my site:

http://mrhood.co.uk/d for Drupal
http://mrhood.co.uk/j for Joomla!
http://mrhood.co.uk/pub for WordPress
http://mrhood.co.uk/wiki for MediaWiki

If you want an editor login to play with, mail me.

HTH

Nick

Comment from Will Teece - 11 July 2008 at 4:34 am

Trying to get to grips with Joomala myslef but it does yield very good results for Free with a little time and know how. One of our IT guys is showing me the ropes, now I have managed to get WP sorted out. I would be more than happy to be involved in some shape or form, what ever that may be. At the moment I am in th emidst of attending lots of BSF meetings with an ICT focus and numerous cutting edge schools. Just returned from Leigh Academy in Dartford, Wow what a place, I would love to work in a school like that, so thats what I am pushing for at my school.

Will

Comment from Rich Platts - 11 July 2008 at 6:26 am

Whatever you end up doing with it, it ought to specific enough to fill a need. It is too perfect a domain name to waste. I like the vision of a collaborative place for students (I'm not an EdD, but a Masters in Public Management in Technology Management)

Comment from Mark Berthelemy - 11 July 2008 at 7:29 am

Hi Doug,

Like you I'm not a fan of Drupal. Joomla is good – very flexible and a lively user community. Much depends on what is going to go on the site. You could run it as a group blog or it could be a forum, or just a straightforward centre-outwards content management system.

Have a think about the blog idea… I'd strongly recommend b2evolution (http://b2evolution.net). I've used it for my blog for years. It's an excellent multi-user, mulit-blog system, with workflow (approvals/editing) built in. Also it's an absolute doddle to install.

If I can help in any way let me know.

Comment from David Noble - 11 July 2008 at 7:40 am

Hi Doug

As a fellow EdD student, I would be delighted to help with point 2.

Comment from Nick Hood - 11 July 2008 at 10:29 am

Doug,

Regarding the CMS, I've tried a few and like different things about them all.

Drupal – I like the book thing they do – linking a series of pages together like in a book
Joomla – I like the fact that articles can have a life – no, not partying – i.e. they can be visible for a period of time then disappear
WordPress – easy for comments and plugins
MediaWiki – great user interface, full editor features and techy plugins I need.

Have a look at these as they are implemented on my site:

http://mrhood.co.uk/d for Drupal
http://mrhood.co.uk/j for Joomla!
http://mrhood.co.uk/pub for WordPress
http://mrhood.co.uk/wiki for MediaWiki

If you want an editor login to play with, mail me.

HTH

Nick

Comment from Will Teece - 11 July 2008 at 10:34 am

Trying to get to grips with Joomala myslef but it does yield very good results for Free with a little time and know how. One of our IT guys is showing me the ropes, now I have managed to get WP sorted out. I would be more than happy to be involved in some shape or form, what ever that may be. At the moment I am in th emidst of attending lots of BSF meetings with an ICT focus and numerous cutting edge schools. Just returned from Leigh Academy in Dartford, Wow what a place, I would love to work in a school like that, so thats what I am pushing for at my school.

Will

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 11 July 2008 at 10:35 am

Thanks Mark – I might rope you in as a moderator then. :-)

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 11 July 2008 at 10:36 am

Thanks for the overview, Nick. Could use WordPress but I'd need *so* many plugins! Wiki isn't the way forward I think, so probably going to try Joomla.

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 11 July 2008 at 10:38 am

So Leigh Academy should be on my list of places to visit next academic year? :-)

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 11 July 2008 at 10:39 am

Yes, and wouldn't it be great to bring together researchers with those in a position to effect change. Having said that, a lot (including you and I) have a foot in both camps anyway…

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 11 July 2008 at 10:40 am

Excellent, David! I didn't realise you were doing your Ed.D. – you've either just started it or don't talk about it as much as I do. :-p

Comment from Rich Platts - 11 July 2008 at 12:26 pm

Whatever you end up doing with it, it ought to specific enough to fill a need. It is too perfect a domain name to waste. I like the vision of a collaborative place for students (I'm not an EdD, but a Masters in Public Management in Technology Management)

Comment from David Noble - 11 July 2008 at 1:40 pm

Hi Doug

As a fellow EdD student, I would be delighted to help with point 2.

Comment from doug - 11 July 2008 at 2:21 pm

What about something like EduGlu? EduGlu runs on drupal and serves both as an aggregation hub and a publishing platform.

Comment from Karl Goddard - 11 July 2008 at 2:36 pm

Hey, Doug! You can count me in to assist should you require more 'techies' to assist in managing the back end.

As a prospective MA student at Manchester this September, I'm finally breaking free of my techie shackles and crossing over into Learning Technology so getting to know and contribute with other students / researchers is also of great interest to me!

Don't hesitate to get in touch!

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 11 July 2008 at 2:55 pm

Marvellous! Thanks Karl. :-)

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 11 July 2008 at 4:35 pm

Thanks Mark – I might rope you in as a moderator then. :-)

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 11 July 2008 at 4:36 pm

Thanks for the overview, Nick. Could use WordPress but I'd need *so* many plugins! Wiki isn't the way forward I think, so probably going to try Joomla.

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 11 July 2008 at 4:38 pm

So Leigh Academy should be on my list of places to visit next academic year? :-)

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 11 July 2008 at 4:39 pm

Yes, and wouldn't it be great to bring together researchers with those in a position to effect change. Having said that, a lot (including you and I) have a foot in both camps anyway…

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 11 July 2008 at 4:40 pm

Excellent, David! I didn't realise you were doing your Ed.D. – you've either just started it or don't talk about it as much as I do. :-p

Comment from doug - 11 July 2008 at 8:21 pm

What about something like EduGlu? EduGlu runs on drupal and serves both as an aggregation hub and a publishing platform.

Comment from Karl Goddard - 11 July 2008 at 8:36 pm

Hey, Doug! You can count me in to assist should you require more 'techies' to assist in managing the back end.

As a prospective MA student at Manchester this September, I'm finally breaking free of my techie shackles and crossing over into Learning Technology so getting to know and contribute with other students / researchers is also of great interest to me!

Don't hesitate to get in touch!

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 11 July 2008 at 8:55 pm

Marvellous! Thanks Karl. :-)

Comment from Chris - 12 July 2008 at 2:19 am

go w/drupal. the scalability of the CMS is excellent and you'll run into far fewer issues w/security. Joomla 1.5+ forced me to abandon the platform due to lack of speed.

Comment from Chris - 12 July 2008 at 8:19 am

go w/drupal. the scalability of the CMS is excellent and you'll run into far fewer issues w/security. Joomla 1.5+ forced me to abandon the platform due to lack of speed.

Comment from Bill Fitzgerald - 12 July 2008 at 8:30 am

Build it using Drupal.

To start, use the FeedAPI to import relevant feeds from Ed.D students and good research-oriented feeds. Use OpenCalais to autotag the feeds. This will create 2 things:

1. A searchable, well-tagged resource of research-based blogs; which will
2. Be a destination for people interested in the subject.

The feed site will be easy to maintain — you can have readers suggest additional feeds (that you or a moderator would need to approve before they got included, for reasons of spam or quality).

Then, post a survey about additional functionality people might want — because you're building the site in Drupal, you can add that in later, as your vision of what you need/want to build solidifies.

To the fact that you say that you are “clueless” in Drupal — there is a learning curve, but it's very manageable. It requires some experimentation, and some work. As one (of many possible) example of how Drupal is mastered by a broad swath of sentient life: last winter, the community participated in the Google Highly Open Participation project, a project designed to increase the participation of high school students in Open Source communities. In this program, over 50 high school age students (some as young as 14) wrote documentation and code for the project. If they can do it, you can too!

Cheers,

Bill

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 12 July 2008 at 11:18 am

Thanks Bill – sounds like a plan! I always hear great things about Drupal
but find it hard to use. Perhaps I need a co-administrator to help me along.
Anyone? :-)

Comment from Bill Fitzgerald - 12 July 2008 at 2:30 pm

Build it using Drupal.

To start, use the FeedAPI to import relevant feeds from Ed.D students and good research-oriented feeds. Use OpenCalais to autotag the feeds. This will create 2 things:

1. A searchable, well-tagged resource of research-based blogs; which will
2. Be a destination for people interested in the subject.

The feed site will be easy to maintain — you can have readers suggest additional feeds (that you or a moderator would need to approve before they got included, for reasons of spam or quality).

Then, post a survey about additional functionality people might want — because you're building the site in Drupal, you can add that in later, as your vision of what you need/want to build solidifies.

To the fact that you say that you are “clueless” in Drupal — there is a learning curve, but it's very manageable. It requires some experimentation, and some work. As one (of many possible) example of how Drupal is mastered by a broad swath of sentient life: last winter, the community participated in the Google Highly Open Participation project, a project designed to increase the participation of high school students in Open Source communities. In this program, over 50 high school age students (some as young as 14) wrote documentation and code for the project. If they can do it, you can too!

Cheers,

Bill

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 12 July 2008 at 5:18 pm

Thanks Bill – sounds like a plan! I always hear great things about Drupal
but find it hard to use. Perhaps I need a co-administrator to help me along.
Anyone? :-)

Comment from Dan - 13 July 2008 at 11:32 am

Hi Doug,

I'd definitely be up for getting involved with the new website… I'm interested in avenues where I can explore technology in my teaching, and influencing others teaching. I've got lots of ideas for using technology as an NQT in September, and attempting to fight the current tide of censoring students attitudes to the internet.

I'm also contemplating enrolling in Julia Davies' New Literacies course at the University of Sheffield from September 2009. I'm not sure exactly where I'd fit into your plans, but I'm willing to help out in anyway I can!

:)

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 13 July 2008 at 3:10 pm

That's great! I'm planning a 'barn raising' in the next few weeks -
but I'll keep everyone posted. :-)

Comment from Dan - 13 July 2008 at 5:32 pm

Hi Doug,

I'd definitely be up for getting involved with the new website… I'm interested in avenues where I can explore technology in my teaching, and influencing others teaching. I've got lots of ideas for using technology as an NQT in September, and attempting to fight the current tide of censoring students attitudes to the internet.

I'm also contemplating enrolling in Julia Davies' New Literacies course at the University of Sheffield from September 2009. I'm not sure exactly where I'd fit into your plans, but I'm willing to help out in anyway I can!

:)

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 13 July 2008 at 9:10 pm

That's great! I'm planning a 'barn raising' in the next few weeks -
but I'll keep everyone posted. :-)

Comment from Tim Hutchinson - 18 July 2008 at 4:55 pm

Hi Doug
Any help with Joomla let me know. If you want the site to have a certain look and feel then the CSS in Joomla can be a a little daunting. Have just re-built our school website using Joomla take a look at:- http://www.hcjs.org

Comment from Tim Hutchinson - 18 July 2008 at 10:55 pm

Hi Doug
Any help with Joomla let me know. If you want the site to have a certain look and feel then the CSS in Joomla can be a a little daunting. Have just re-built our school website using Joomla take a look at:- http://www.hcjs.org

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 19 July 2008 at 3:34 pm

Thanks Tim, I'm hoping to get the new version of edte.ch up and
running over the summer holiday. I've got PHP Nuke installed at the
moment to have a tinker with, but if I go over to Joomla I'll
certainly be in touch! :-)

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 19 July 2008 at 9:34 pm

Thanks Tim, I'm hoping to get the new version of edte.ch up and
running over the summer holiday. I've got PHP Nuke installed at the
moment to have a tinker with, but if I go over to Joomla I'll
certainly be in touch! :-)

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 19 July 2008 at 9:34 pm

Thanks Tim, I'm hoping to get the new version of edte.ch up and
running over the summer holiday. I've got PHP Nuke installed at the
moment to have a tinker with, but if I go over to Joomla I'll
certainly be in touch! :-)

Comment from Doug Belshaw - 19 July 2008 at 10:34 pm

Thanks Tim, I'm hoping to get the new version of edte.ch up and
running over the summer holiday. I've got PHP Nuke installed at the
moment to have a tinker with, but if I go over to Joomla I'll
certainly be in touch! :-)

Pingback from edte.ch barnraising: get involved in forming a community! at dougbelshaw.com - 27 July 2008 at 11:13 pm

[...] edte.ch. As I’ve already discussed, edte.ch is to be a place for educational technology professionals and students. I’ve no [...]

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