The Teacher's Hub

Resource: Merspi – Questions and Answers for VCE Students.

Well, February is here and school here in Australia is back in the swing of a new academic year. Here in Melbourne, thousands of students have started in uncharted waters, and none more so than those doing their Victorian Certificate of Education. And this is where Merspi steps in. Merspi is a unique site where those sitting higher education certificates (IB, HSC etc) here in Australia can join with others and ask questions. They state that;

“As long as your question is:

• detailed and specific
• written clearly and simply
• of interest to at least one other student or educator somewhere

… it is welcome here. No question is too trivial or too “newbie”.

The beauty of this site is in its simplicity.   You can register to become a member, or simply ask a question and wait for an answer. There are obvious benefits for registering. For example if you do you can start earning a reputation. This reputation is your lifeline on the site, showing others how trustworthy you are with your answers. A large onus is placed on the users of the site as those who ‘run’ the site. Reputation points can help you climb the Merspi ladder. Again, quoting from their site;

Here’s how it works: if you post a good question or helpful answer, it will be voted up by your peers: you gain 10 reputation points. If you post something that’s off topic or incorrect, it will be voted down: you lose 2 reputation points. You can earn up to 200 reputation per day, but no more. (Note that votes for any posts marked “community wiki” do not generate reputation.)

Amass enough reputation points and Merspi will allow you to go beyond simply asking and answering questions:

15	Vote up
15	Flag offensive
50	Leave comments
100	Vote down (costs 1 rep)
100	Edit community wiki posts
200	Reduced site tips and advertising
250	Vote to close or reopen your questions
250	Create new tags
500	Retag questions
2000	Edit other people’s posts
3000	Vote to close or reopen any questions
10000	Delete closed questions, access to moderation tools

At the high end of this reputation spectrum there is little difference between users with high reputation and moderators. That is very much intentional. We don’t run Merspi. The community does.

There is very much a ‘word of mouth’, community feel to this site. They rely on others, who have been helped to spread the word;

You can help to grow the community further by promoting Merspi to your friends and family. Tell your friends about Merspi, print out a flyer and hand them out to your classmates and teachers, become a Fan on Facebook and invite your friends, or follow us on Twitter. Help us spread the word and our community will grow, and so together we can learn more!

If you are an educator or VCE student, then I would recommend you look at Merspi and perhaps even then, make a recommendation to your staff or peers.

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