introducing the quick start guide

The Aston MSc Quick Start Guide | David Anderson | June 17 th , 2004

Hello fellow MSc participant!

There are lots of resources available online for the Aston MSc - so many that the problem is often knowing what is available and where to look. As a part of my dissertation, I decided to create the Quick Start Guide, a knowledge base that brings together useful resources and the most current information. This is not a substitute for other resources - it is more like the "Quick Start" manuals you get when you buy a new computer. It tells you how to get up and running quickly without swamping you with superfluous details.

Information you can find on the QSG includes:

· List of tutor email addresses that shows who is responsible for each module and current availability

· List of online journals you can search and access (including ELT journal , English for Specific Purposes etc.)

· The latest information about the changes to the MSc program

· Which passwords and usernames you need

· How to download the first unit of any MSc module

· and much much more. Check out the contents.

How the QSG works

The QSG is written by the participants themselves using a new web technology called 'wiki'. This simply means you can edit ANY page to update or add information to the site. You can even create a new page! Currently, when participants graduate, their accumulated knowledge is lost- new participants can't take advantage of that experience. However, using wiki, the community of Aston participants can create a continually evolving resource that is always current and relevant to our interests. Automatically, we will leave a legacy to those who come after us!

Using wiki:

· You can design your very own personal page

· You can add reviews on books on the 'indicative reading lists'

· You can add links to useful internet sites and resources for each module

· You can subscribe to a page so you are automatically emailed if it changes (Find out more about the power of wiki.)

As you can see, the QSG has the potential to develop into a very important and powerful resource. I hope that you use it, contribute to it and above all, find it useful. If you have any questions or feedback you can leave it on the Site Feedback page.

David Anderson
Abu Dhabi

Re: QSG | Jerry Talandis Jr. | June 17th, 2004

Hey David,

The site is bloody awesome wicked cool amazing subarashi! Oh, and "spot on" as well. It's gonna rock our world! Can't wait until I get my IIC finished so I can set up some pages. I have some ideas, such as a "cool software" section, a personal info page, and some additions to pages you already have. I hope that everyone out there in CP land can take advantage of this great resource. It's really in the spirit of the "open source" movement. Working all together we can strengthen our community and the way we go about cooperative inquiry. The following quote from McDermott sums it up best for me:

Learning is in the relationships between people. Learning is in the conditions that bring people together and organize a point of contact that allows for particular pieces of information to take on a relevance; without the points of contact, without the system of relevancies, there is not learning, and there is little memory. Learning does not belong to individual persons, but to the various conversations of which they are a part.

So, lets make David's site one of those "points of contact." Let's keep those conversations (and therefore learning) going. Lets be the authors of the type of program we all want.

Jerry

Re: QSG | Keith Richards | June 17th, 2004

Jerry quoted McDermott, so I'd like to quote Jerry in his response to David's Quick Start Guide,

"Let's be the authors of the type of program we all want."

Strikes me that there couldn't be a better motto for everything this programme is about- and the time for realizing this to the full is right now.

At the exam board on Tuesday, the external examiner (who has just completed her first year with us) was particularly complimentary about the quality of work produced by our participants. She was also impressed by extent to which it reflects a genuinely investigative orientation with direct professional relevance. Congratulations.

All the best

Keith

Quick Start Guide Changes

Hope you all had a great summer and a raring to get back to work!! I thought I would keep you up to date with what is happening on the Aston Quick Start Guide, a website that aims to provide dynamic student support to MSc participants. You can find it at www.quickstartguide.seedwiki.com. There have been quite a lot of changes to a number of pages over the summer, which I have described below.

1. The homepage has been updated to reflect the new programme. As old modules will be phased out, I have not given them their own pages - messages can be left on the equivalent new module - the list at the bottom of the page will help you find out how the modules are changing. You are of course free to set up your own page if you wish!

2. I've updated the Tutor contact page to reflect all the staff changes that have taken place over the last few months using information from the latest newsletter. Unfortunately, I don't have an email address for Fiona Copland, Ramesh Krishnamurthy (welcome!) or from the Admin side, Rose Hunt. If anybody could help me out...

3. Some of you may have noticed a download forms page. At the moment, there are only two forms up, the Module Order Form and the Module Payment Form. I've had a request for the Module Feedback Form to go up which I am working on. Is there anything else you would like to see on this page?

4. So far, only Paul Raper from Switzerland and myself have set up a personal pages. (Congratulations Paul!) Is anybody else willing to give it a go? It should only take a few minutes, in fact the time it takes to write an email. Just visit Personal Pages for details. You can email me at andersdg@aston.ac.uk or leave a message on the Quick Start Guide help desk if you need any help.

5. There is now quite a list of journals you can access using the Internet. There are two lists, the first is for electronic journals you can access using your Athens username and password. The second is a list of open access free online journals. A new link on this last page is to a large directory of the free journals available on the web - well worth a browse. There is also a useful list of resources collected by Paul Raper - you will have to visit his Personal Page to find it!

6. I had a suggestion that there should be space on the pages for each module for abstracts of assignments. This would mean that you could write an abstract of an assignment you are about to do in order to clarify your thoughts, or alternatively, of one you have finished. I think this is a great idea, and I'll set up the pages very shortly and send out an email to let you know. It would be useful to any participant new to a module to have a feel for the kinds of things that people have done already. What do you all think? Are you willing to contribute? If you have any other ideas like this, leave a message on the site, email me or just make the changes to the pages yourself!

7. You may or may not know that the Quick Start Guide is a part of my dissertation. In the next week or so I'll be sending out an email survey. I hope you will all be able to spend 10 minutes or so helping me out! In the meantime, if you have any feedback about the site you would like to give me, please leave it on the Site feedback page.

Thanks and best wishes!

David Anderso
Abu Dhabi