[FM Discuss] Book Sprint Badges

[adam]

ah Mick, you are so rockn...

>
>   Notes for new version of Audacity Manual
>
> *Overall notes.*
>
> My impression (mick speaking) is that we don't want to replicate the
> completeness of the online manual at audacity -
> http://manual.audacityteam.org/help/manual/ - rather we want a linear
> book like summary of the most vital parts of this to fit into a 100 -200
> page book, which can be the base for a course, and can be supplemented
> with activities. How do these activities fit in? They could be
>
> * part of the narrative as an end of section recap
>
> * appendices
>
> * a separate activity workbook (separate manual)
>
> I like the idea of having the activities as end of section recaps. Again
> it sets us apart as offering something different, something that you can
> print off, read as an ebook, and work through.

ok, so immediately I start to think about how cohesive this will look 
over the entire FM and what it is we are trying to achieve. Firstly, 
anyone can structure a book as they like. We cant change that (and dont 
want to) so, if we make the badges part of the general philosophy and 
structure of fm manuals i think :
1. its not the general philosophy of fm to explicitly (as would be 
needed with activities at the end of sections) dictate a structure for 
manuals
2. Fm is not P2PU and we should not try to be. We are Fm. We make free 
manuals for free software. The badges are added value and not the core 
point.

So to me it would make sense if we did not require a structure for 
manuals but added activities in some other way. For example:
1. as another site
2. as an extra page in fm (like read/write/remix)
3. as a tab in the html version of manuals ('badge activities')
4. as a collection of badge workbooks which potentially even replicate 
the contents of existing manuals but have extra badge activities




>
> *Open Badges *
>
> With reference to Open Badges how best would this fit in to the manual?
> The activities are probably going to be very similar in content (but
> simplified) versions of these tutorials
> http://manual.audacityteam.org/help/manual/man/tutorials.html
>
> Let's take a simple one as an example.
> http://manual.audacityteam.org/help/manual/man/tutorial_editing_an_existing_file.html
>
> This covers the following task; open an audio file, trim it add a fade
> as save it again. It need the following skills, use open file dialogue
> and navigate to audio file, use zoom tool, use selection tool to cut a
> section of audio, use fade effect, export file to mp3.
>
> There are some aspects that could be stripped out to make the activity
> more simple.
>
> So first question. Is this one badge or is it 5 badges one for each
> skill used.

This is an extremely good question and goes directly to the heart of the 
issue. I would say we could break this down to stages as general guiding 
principles for FM badges. Something like:
A. Understanding of this software
B. Basic core functionality use
C. Advanced use
D. Wizard

We could also have a special badge :
5. Workshop Leader

or some such...but make that last one hard to get


Its not going to work for all softwares but neither does a generic 
structure for manuals work for all softwares. We can bend as needed.

Then perhaps look at audacity and ask ourselves what skills constitute 
each level. It is very generic I know but if we can get it more or less 
right we have a structure we can use for other manuals and hack as 
necessary.

I know you are very experienced in workshops Mick and others on this 
list are too. It would be good to get some more discussion on this idea. 
I am by no means playing the benevolent dictator card here ;) so im 
happy if this idea does not work but lets discuss this and other approaches




>
> If this group of skills is one badge, then I could imagine 3-6 other
> similar badges for Audacity; configuring your set up, multi track
> working, recording an audio report / narration over music, one to three
> 'advanced' topics.
>
> Second question is how do you test the knowledge. Here are some options
>
> *Quiz.* You take information from the previous chapters and ask
> questions which can be answered as multiple choice.
> Example: When you export your audacity project to a file you can save in
> different formats. Some are compressed and some are uncompressed. Why
> would you choose an */uncompressed/* format.
>
> a) because I don't care about the sound quality
>
> b) because I want the file to be small enough to fit on a usb drive
>
> c) because I want to maintain as high sound quality for the file as I can
>
> Other examples could be What is a waveform, etc.
>
> *Honesty Check of skills based on activity:*
>
> This check would be based on or an integral part of the activity. It is
> a question that checks if the reader has completed the task and has
> therefore demontrated the skills that are being tested / badged. These
> questions could be asked as a checklist at the end of the activity.
>
> Example:
>
> To have completed this activity you should have completed the following
> tasks and demonstrated these skills.
>
>   * Did you successfully use the Open > File dialogue box to import a
>     file into Audacity? [tickbox]
>   * Did you use the 'transport toolbar' to successfully Play, pause,
>     stop, skip to start and skip to end of the file.
>   * Did you use the Zoom In and Zoom Out functions to get a closer look
>     at the waveform of the audio
>   * Did you use the Select tools and the Trim function to choose one
>     part of the file and get rid of the rest?
>   * Did you use the Export function to export the edited audio to a
>     compressed audio file (mp3 or ogg)
>
> I think that by each box there should also be a link which says
> something like 'No - I couldn't do that, Click here to go back to help
> on how to 'Use the Transport Toolbar'
>
> In this way the user works through the activity, can go back to the
> original help chapters, and then when completed tick the boxes, in order
> to get their badge.
>
> Ok so that is what I've come up with so far. Feedback would definitely
> be appreciated. (mick speaking)

not sure of the process because we must ask ourselves is the 
accreditation is auto or if it is reviewed in some way.

We could even have two levels of accreditation:
1. honestly earned
2. verified

Same badge for each but slightly different 'accreditation'

1. is for those that go through the stages and get the badge by themselves
2. is for those that go through a peer reviewed or tutor reviewed 
verification

thoughts?

(one last comment below on structure of audacity manual)


>
> *General Audacity Manual structure notes *
>
> For me it would also be good to rework the structure of the book. The
> key difference of the FM over the online manual is its linear nature.
> Let's work with that to make sure that the book is engaging.
>
> The What is Audio section is great but after that you have 40 pages of
> quite dry Install and Interface notes before getting to opening a file.
> Can we rework this order somehow to draw the reader in more? Maybe
> including full screenshots as part of the appendix.
>
> Maybe we could arrange the meat of the manual into three sections.
>
> * Getting Started
>
> * Taking it further
>
> * Advanced Use
>
> There could be one or two activities at the end of each section which
> test skills and could be badged.
>
> *Updating exisiting Audacity Manual chapters notes *
>
> I made some notes about changes that need to be made moving from version
> 1.2 to version 2 and the priorities. These are in the notes tab but I
> can't get to them right now.
>
> Here is a summary...
>
> *Install* The install screenshots could do with updating but you could
> probably get away with a little tweak.
>
> The*Interface *also needs updating but I think could be replaced with a
> summary and linking out to the online manual
> http://manual.audacityteam.org/help/manual/man/menu_reference.html
>
> (this review needs completing)


I think install should go at the end. Its boring stuff if you know it, 
and if you dont you can find it


adam

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