Hey,
I
suppose there is room for thought in terms of a demarcation between technical/specialist
knowledge and that of pedagogy related discussions as well as a third criteria that
blends both in view of the notion as to how each of those get recognised by
experts and how do the experts know when to step in or step back. A stack-ish
framework/tweaked -for- within this site might help that. I mean it appears to me there are four types
of question forms across these forums, which seek the following:
1.
technical/specialist knowledge
2. pedagogy/specialist-related
3.
technical+pedagogy/specialist- related
4.
weather questions= random mumblings ;)
Some
thoughts for the future, perhaps, to include poss integration of features
similar to Area 51...
a.
framework something like this for each question form, to invite the community
to engage on a particular level that is accessible for others:
What
makes good questions?
The questions on your site say a lot about the
community. To attract experts, you need a site where people are asking very
interesting and challenging questions, not the basic questions found on every
other Q&A site. Your goal is to make it clear that this is a professional site.
·Ask real, expert questions
We want you to capture the moment that plumbers feel when they look at Plumber
Overflow and say, "Whoa! That's my kinda site!" On a site about
plumbing, there are 200 easy plumbing questions, and they've all been asked 100
times on other sites. Don't suggest questions like "How do I
unclog a drain?" Instead ask, "If you run 2.5 GPM
through 50 feet of 1/2" galv pipe, how many psi will be lost to friction
loss?" Remember, pro sites WILL attract the enthusiasts, but not
the other way around!
·Ask questions that can be answered
Avoid asking questions that are subjective, argumentative, or require extended
discussion. Stack Exchange does not work well with questions like "Which
is the best..."
·Off-topic questions are important, too
If you have a good, useful question in mind, but aren't completely sure that
it's on topic, ask it anyway; others can then discuss the subject and together
determine if it is appropriate for the site. Questions that simply don't fit in
the scope of the site should be closed, indicating that, while perhaps
interesting, this topic is inappropriate for this site. This helps to define
the very outer boundary of a site.
b. And, when a teacher/learner or technical
practitioner Googles a question about Moodle and an 80-odd post thread shows up
as the top search item.....this can be off-putting at the thought of having to wade
through so much text-maybe. I think some variation with this mechanism might help
to avoid that issue (with a glossary-type index for previous questions and urls
to the related thread)
·Vote early and often
Besides voting up and down, you can also vote to close and reopen questions.
c. And
some tweak with this idea-the underlying premise sounds interesting:
How do I refer users?
If
you invite a friend, be sure to use the special referral link in theShare Itpopup. If the user commits to the site
after using your link, we'll record you as the referrer. Make sure they verify
their email address, otherwise their commitment won't count.
