Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Education/Archive 1

Welcome
A push on education-related articles is big-time overdue on Wikipedia - looking forward to working with you all on these... Cormaggio @ 00:08, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

We'll need to add way more articles to our list here, and also break these lists up into more manageable theme-based lists/projects, such as WikiProject Alternative education. As soon as this project gets going, we should start a collaboration of the week/fortnight/month. Cormaggio @ 01:03, 25 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks for setting this project up Cormaggio - look forward to contributing. Jtneill - Talk 03:08, 31 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Great - see you 'round! Cormaggio @ 23:28, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Denmark
I want to join this project. I can add some information about Denmark, but I think we should first go out and snag some articles which already are made. --OrbitOne 09:30, 15 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Oops, sorry, I didn't see this until now. You're very welcome to the project, OrbitOne :-) Please add articles you find to the appropriate section of this project's page (ie. requests, cleanup, expand etc). Cormaggio @ 18:19, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Templates, templates, templates?
What is going on? Someone, who I have yet to find any education-related discussion from, is going around and placing templates on every education and alternative education article to be found. They are a variety of templates, some of which are, IMO, clunky and innaccurate. While I can appreciate the ability and enthusiasm required for all of this, there is little-to-no discussion occuring. I believe there should be some consensus on these kinds of large changes and developments. Anyone else? Thanks, Master Scott | Talk 15:15, 19 February 2006 (UTC)


 * I've been a bit out of the loop for a while, and have just gone around trying to see what this is about. Is it the cleanup tags (part of the fact and reference check WikiProject) or the todo tags you're referring to? Is it related to the Education portal, which i see has come on recently? In any case, I agree it would be good to see where this is being discussed. Cormaggio @ 19:34, 19 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Hi Master Scott, that "Someone" would be me. I can understand your concern about all the template edits I've been making. Clearly, there are many different preferences for the types of templates to be made and how they are used. I created them and placed them on articles based primarily on existing organizations I found at the education portal and other locations. One of my hopes for doing this was to encourage discussions of their content by putting them out there. Just like all other pages, I hope the majority of the conversations on style and substance take place on the applicable discussion pages for each template. As always, anyone can edit, remove and/or nominate for deletion any of these templates at any time. In the long run, I'm totally confident consensus will prevail. Regards, Rfrisbietalk 02:28, 20 February 2006 (UTC)


 * No problem. I can appreciate your boldness. I also can see that your work is well-intended and constructive. Keep in mind that when a new template, article, category, etc. is started, that the only watchlist that it is on is yours. If other editors don't know it's there, they can't watch it or participate in any discussion until they stumble upon it by chance. With that in mind, you might bring new additions to light on this Project page so that others can participate in the discussion on their appropriate discussion pages. Otherwise, keep up the good work. Thanks, Master Scott | Talk 13:46, 20 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Good point. That's also why I mentioned the new templates at the template:Education discussion page. :) Rfrisbietalk 14:26, 20 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Sorry, I guess I missed it. Apologies. Changing the subject, slightly: a couple of us have been working on a template to help with establishing a usage standard in English language educational terms. If anyone would like to participate in discussion or development, please do so. There are three working drafts, with the latest being the farthest to the left. The talk page details the issues that this template is meant to address. Thanks, Master Scott | Talk 17:24, 21 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks, I made a simple comment on layout there. You also might consider adding it to the list of navigational templates on this project page to encourage more feedback. Rfrisbietalk 18:27, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

To do lists
I'm going to add the template to the focus articles as a way to help organize and keep track of the tasks for each article. I'll just start with a "stub" to get the ball rolling. Rfrisbietalk 20:28, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Google's "top 10" lists
Looking at the highest ranking Wikipedia articles for a particular key word(s) search is an interesting way to study articles' relative popularity. For example, searching "education site:en.wikipedia.org" produces a list of articles like the first one below. Identifying popular articles such as these might be a good way to help decide candidates for such things as featured article status, improvement drives, portal selection, and the like. Rfrisbietalk 03:28, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Here are the top 10 Wikipedia pages on Google as of February 20, 2006 for...

1. Education 2. Philosophy of education 3. Sex education 4. Public education 5. Higher education 6. Brown v. Board of Education 7. Education in the United States 8. Secondary education 9. Adult education 10. Physical education Check out today’s top 10 list
 * education:

1. Education 2. Educational psychology 3. Educational game 4. National Educational Television 5. Educational research 6. School (redirect from Educational institution) 7. Educational technology 8. Educational software 9. Times Educational Supplement 10. Educational animation Check out today’s top 10 list
 * educational:

1. the United States 2. Slovakia 3. France 4. Japan 5. Canada 6. Russia 7. Secondary education in France 8. New Zeland 9. Kansas 10. England Check out today’s top 10 list
 * education in: (as of February 21, 2006) Rfrisbietalk 14:22, 21 February 2006 (UTC)


 * That's interesting - thanks for this. I see some of these articles aren't on our lists, so I'll add (most of) them now. Cormaggio @ 10:39, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I added another one, "education in." I didn't know Slovakia was so popular! :) Rfrisbietalk 14:22, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Merging education Tasks focus articles & adopt an article into tasks template
What do you all think about merging the two Tasks subsections into the template, Education tasks? That would reduce redundancy here and support the use of the template on other pages, such as the portal and user pages. I've already made a first cut at syncronizing the content. A second cut could get the template to better reflect the priorities of this project. Rfrisbietalk 19:59, 21 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Right, you mean replacing the old focus articles sestion with this template, which is then updated as necessary? Sounds OK to me. Cormaggio @ 11:48, 22 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes, replace the "Focus articles" and "Adopt an article" sections with the template. I'll make sure the template matches these sections, then remove them. Rfrisbietalk 14:06, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Articles that contain this project's template
Surely, the list of articles that include the template notice should really be made redundant and removed? By this I mean, all articles listed on this project's page should have the project's notice - the only reason some don't is because I have forgotten or simply haven't bothered :-). The other reason articles may not contain the template is because they had already been tagged by the Alternative education WikiProject - in some cases I changed the tag or, more recently, added one tag as well as the other. But I've missed some - so these should be changed also. (In my opinion.) Cormaggio @ 20:07, 24 February 2006 (UTC)


 * That was just a way to double-check, since like you said, they don't really match up. If you want to remove the list, I won't worry about what's not covered. Rfrisbietalk 21:10, 24 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Anyway, you can just use "What links here" on the template page if you really need to know. &mdash;Wahoofive (talk) 22:28, 24 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Enough said, it's gone. Rfrisbietalk 22:52, 24 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Cormaggio @ 10:56, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Web/online learning/training
Hi all, I'm sorry I'm not giving this project the attention it deserves, but anyway - just a question. I see that Online learning was merged into E-learning, but if there were ever candidates for merging into the former, it is Web-based training and Online training. Can anyone see a reason why these should stay separate articles, or why they shouldn't both be merged into the main article (now at E-learning)? Of course I see differences between learning and training, but in this case, I think they are not significantly different enough to merit staying separate - unless someone sees another logical structuring to articles than I do. Cormaggio @ 18:09, 25 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I think they all would be strengthened by merging the training articles into E-learning. Rfrisbietalk 20:20, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

Infoboxes
Do you think we have enough yet?! >;-o) Rfrisbietalk 20:17, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing
I was somewhat surprised to notice the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing didn't have an article about them, so I started one. Please feel free to help expand it and link it to other relevant articles. Rfrisbietalk 19:28, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

Here's an example of how I covered the Testing standards in another article. Rfrisbietalk 22:04, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

Wikiproject Userbox
Hopefully this will attract people to our project. Any takers? (^'-')^ Covington 07:25, 8 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I made a userbox for the project. Rfrisbietalk 03:23, 8 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Looks nice. May I suggest having the text stand out more? (^'-')^ Covington 06:17, 8 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I wanted to match the portal colors, so that meant making the text box the darker color, forcing the text to the lighter color. Working on your request, even pure white seemed hard to read, so I bolded the original color.  I hope that's better. Rfrisbietalk 12:15, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

New project template
Now that Category:WikiProject Education exists, I created a new template for talk pages WikiProject Education that automatically adds the page to the category. Rfrisbietalk 02:27, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I have been working at adding this new template for talk pages. It needs a great deal more work, when I check in the category link. Kuki ni 16:42, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Waht are some examples of the work that's needed? Rfrisbietalk 19:10, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Todo list harmonization
I notice this topic has both the manually updated Template:Education tasks and the mostly-automatically updated Pages needing attention/Education. It might make things easier to maintain if the manually-posted items on both pages were purged. If you tag article with the appropriate attention template, they will show up on the automated list on the next update (as long as the category it is in, or a parent category thereof, is on the "categories covered" list). Comments can be moved to the article's talk page. Then most lines in the template can be updated by simply copying bot updates. Perhaps with some additional programming the template can be automatically updated directly, or perhaps the PNA page can be re-formatted so it can be included directly in Portal:Education. Feel free to drop me a note if you have any questions about or need any help with these lists. -- Beland 02:16, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Two infoboxes doing the same thing
Would this project's memebrs be so kind as to make a decision on Infobox Canadian School and Infobox Education in Canada, both of which are actually school infoboxes? Looks to me like the latter needs to be moved over the former, becaus ethat name is way inappropriate. Circeus 00:32, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
 * We are actually moving the other way. As of today, no schools use Infobox Canadian School. See discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Education in Canada. We are open to discussion on the choice of name for the template. --Usgnus 18:41, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Shortcut to project page
Isn't there a shortcut to the project page? For example, WP:USRD redirects to WikiProject U.S. Roads, so shouldn't there be one for Education, such as WP:EDUCATION or WP:EDU? (WP:ED redirects to Experimental Deletion) In fact, I will create the shortcuts right now. --Geopgeop 22:51, 3 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks for doing this, Geopgeop. Cormaggio @ 09:56, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Collaboration of the week
Just thought I should mention here that School is the current Collaboration of the week - knock yourselves out!

(I'm just concentrating for the moment on getting Wikiversity set up, as well as work for my bricks-and-mortar institution - sorry for my absence from this WikiProject.)

Cormaggio @ 09:54, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

WikiProject:Children and Youth issues/Studies
I'm currently trying to kick-start an overdue wiki project on issues in politics and sociology (and other areas if there are enough controbutors) which relate directly to children and youth. Currently many of the pages such as Youth rights, listed here, are in a dire need of an overhaul.

Would anyone here be interested in collaborating? I was pleased to see that alternative education had it's own project, and would appreciate any help in getting a wider children & youth project going.

Proposal is here: --Cooper-42 15:50, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Version 1.0 assessments
I set up the basic template, classification categories, and page for the Version 1.0 assessments. For more information about Version 1.0, see WP:1.0, WP:WVWP and this project's assessment page. Rfrisbietalk 16:43, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Tagging talk pages and assessing articles
Hi. If you still have work to do tagging talk pages and assessing articles, my AWB plugin might be of interest to you.

The plugin has two main modes of operation:
 * Tagging talk pages, great for high-speed tagging
 * Assessments mode, for reviewing articles (pictured)

As of the current version, WikiProjects with simple "generic" templates are supported by the plugin without the need for any special programatic support by me. I've had a look at your project's template and you seem to qualify.

For more information see:
 * About the plugin
 * About support for "generic" WikiProject templates
 * User guide
 * About AWB (AutoWikiBrowser)

Hope that helps. If you have any questions or find any bugs please let me know on the plugin's talk page. --Kingboyk 12:32, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

Project directory
Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the WikiProject Council/Directory. This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you. B2T2 21:22, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Infobox Professor

 * I have created a preliminary infobox for professors. The bare template with usage instructions can be found for now at User:Chabuk/Sandbox, and a filled out example can be seen at User:Chabuk/Sandbox2. Please let me know what you think, what improvements can be made, if there are any fields that I've left out, etc, etc. Thanks! -- Chabuk 18:30, 28 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Since no one seems to have any comments, I'll assume we're okay with it and I'll add it to the main project page tomorrow. -- Chabuk 04:28, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

STSE
A large, new article Science, Technology, Society and Environment Education has so far had effectively just one editor. Could people with knowledge please look at it? -- RHaworth 12:35, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia Day Awards
Hello, all. It was initially my hope to try to have this done as part of Esperanza's proposal for an appreciation week to end on Wikipedia Day, January 15. However, several people have once again proposed the entirety of Esperanza for deletion, so that might not work. It was the intention of the Appreciation Week proposal to set aside a given time when the various individuals who have made significant, valuable contributions to the encyclopedia would be recognized and honored. I believe that, with some effort, this could still be done. My proposal is to, with luck, try to organize the various WikiProjects and other entities of wikipedia to take part in a larger celebrartion of its contributors to take place in January, probably beginning January 15, 2007. I have created yet another new subpage for myself (a weakness of mine, I'm afraid) at User talk:Badbilltucker/Appreciation Week where I would greatly appreciate any indications from the members of this project as to whether and how they might be willing and/or able to assist in recognizing the contributions of our editors. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 22:59, 29 December 2006 (UTC)