Course Ideas

Ator People

Ator People

TNPer
I think that this university should have the option to take courses on NS topics. Some others seemed to agree in the other thread.

Any ideas? The North Pacific Army, in its military university, had "courses" in military techniques, and I would like to see a similar structure, but with other NS topics.
 
I have a few ideas, I'm not sure if there are people around with the expertise to fufill the role of prof, though.

1) We could commission an anthropological study of some other regions, this should be doable considering people's interest in other regions. I think we could also use this as a prompt to improve ties with the other Pacifics.

2) I think it would be really cool if someone could do a comparative religion course focusing on Adminism. I know someone from my CN alliance has a Religious Studies degree, I'm not sure if he'd be interested in helping out.

3) Could we have a technical course in dealing with Invision boards? I think it could also be useful to do something with XML (in terms of nation data) or PHP or whatever else would help in understanding how NS works.
 
Hersfold:
*sticks his fat nose in*

UN Affairs! UN Affairs!
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I know that there is at least one region with whom I am familiar that would love to help TNP on the UN

Courses -- can we focus on what would help different groups and make suggestions of course for each; i.e., newcomers to the game, expereinced players new to TNP, and experienced players who have been in TNP.
 
Thing is, do you want a basic, general "newbie" course- covering endos, UN resolutions, daily issues, etc? Rather than run courses on each.

You could do a more advanced level UN affairs (resolutions, etc) course as well.

A technical course about use of invision, etc would be a good idea.

For more experienced people, there are a range of different things- 'skills', if you like, such as diplomacy, perhaps a journalism course, possibly military (defender/invader stuff), maybe even some on legal-type matters, writing law, etc. And then the more information based ones, like history of TNP/NS, history/current affairs of other regions and that sort of thing.
 
Unterwasserseestaat:
3) Could we have a technical course in dealing with Invision boards?
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I'd be willing to teach such a course. I had been working on a how-to guide for CM before he disappeared.

(BTW, I'll stop posting here if anyone wants me to. I know I don't really belong)
 
HC from Mission Statement Thread:
I'd probably suggest staying with NS related stuff initially rather than 'RL' subjects though.
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I was thinking about this, and I was wondering if it would be easy to throw together some RL subjects in, just because we will have some basis to go off of and tell how we would need to adapt to the logistics of teaching via invisionfree boards.

I don't think that RL topics would be the eventual point of the University, but they could be an easier way to get started if we have them alongside NS courses.
 
To be fair there are probably some RL topics that would have some pertinence in NS, so courses with that bent might well be worth a look at.

There are several different things going on at once, but I'll try to compile the thoughts I have (and mentioned before the commission was appointed) in the next couple of days.
 
Here are some courses I have thought of:

TNP History (perhaps split into two courses: pre-Great Bight and post-Great Bight)

Feeder politics and legitimacy

NS Judicial systems

Mapmaking (if we could get Thel to agree to teach it >_>)
 
I had some free time and and made a list of the different courses I thought would be good. Each category I made could be a separate "certification" or "degree" program a student could be enrolled in.

Beginner Courses
  • Introduction to Nationstates
  • The Nationstates United Nations I
  • Issues, what are they?
  • Communication between nations and regions
  • Introduction to defending/invading
  • TNP History I
Intermediate Courses
  • Defending I
  • Invading I
  • TNP History II
  • The Nationstates United Nations II
  • NS World History I
  • Forums and their Importance in NS
Advanced Courses
  • Defending II
  • Invading II
  • NS World History II & III
  • NS Intelligence
There could also be specialized "majors" for each student if they wanted to focus in a certain area.
 
That's a good start.

I'd add a couple.

The NSUN for one course is a bit broad; while a lot of players aren't or haven't been interested in UN resolutions, others are; so I would also include some more particular about UN proposals and resolutions drafting (There's a lot involved with it) and that is distinct from the process, which involves knowledge about how to garner approvals and getting votes. And let's not leave out the categories and the historical analysis of the resolutions (some tend to pass and some don't).

i would also think a course on the government and its institutions would be useful. It is evolving over time, and new players might not catch the nuisances.

And as with the UN proposals/resolutions, the handling of writing daily issues could be a course in and of itself, as well as drafting those.

Lastly, I know the NPA has set up its own training, but has the diplomatic corps?
If they don't maybe that could be a special certification as well.
 
Beginner Courses
  • Introduction to Nationstates - 3 credits
  • The Nationstates United Nations, an introduction - 3 credits
  • Introduction to defending/invading - 3 credits
  • TNP History I - 3 credits
  • Issues, what are they? - 2 credits
  • Communication between nations and regions - 2 credits
Intermediate Courses
  • Writing NSUN Resolutions I - 4 credits
  • Defending I - 3 credits
  • Invading I - 3 credits
  • Diplomacy I - 3 credits
  • Writing Issues - 3 credits
  • TNP History II - 3 credits
  • History of NSUN Resolutions I - 3 credits
  • NS World History I - 3 credits
  • NS Role Playing - 2 credits
  • Forums and their Importance in NS - 2 credits
  • Flag Design - 2 credits
  • Cartography - 2 credits
Advanced Courses
  • Defending II - 3 credits
  • Invading II - 3 credits
  • Diplomacy II - 3 credits
  • History of NSUN Resolutions II - 3 credits
  • Writing NSUN Resolutions II - 3 credits
  • NS World History II - 3 credits
  • NS World History III - 3 credits
  • Passing NSUN Resolution - 3 credits
  • Nationstates Government Analysis - 3 credits
  • NS Intelligence I - 3 credits
  • NS Intelligence II - 3 credits
  • The Power of Democracy in NS - 3 credits

I added some more in to my list. Again, this is just some of my ideas combined with what people have suggested. I added the "credits" because I thought that might be a good way to organize the classes and determine if one is ready for the "degree" or "certification" that we were talking about. It would also allow someone to take only certain courses depending on what they were interested in.
 
Grosseschnauzer:
To be fair there are probably some RL topics that would have some pertinence in NS, so courses with that bent might well be worth a look at.

There are several different things going on at once, but I'll try to compile the thoughts I have (and mentioned before the commission was appointed) in the next couple of days.
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Well it depends what you mean by RL subjects. I did mention diplomacy/journalism/legalese as courses which would be good/relevant and if you mean things like that, then yes. My only concern is with teaching stuff like RL history, sciences, etc is that I think, over the internet, you don't really have any idea whether someone really knows what they are talking about. I guess the only way around that is to have standards which require anyone wanting to instruct to be able to provide sources/references for what they are talking about.

Ator, whilst I like your ideas is whether it needs to be split up that much. It does depend on how long you intend courses to be, but is there really enough material for a course just on National Issues? I think it might be better to have a 'beginners' course which covers all that sort of stuff, including the basics of the UN/resolutions rather than individiual courses at that level.
 
I think Ator is on the right track, though.

To work for newbies, we do need to introduce them to all of the different aspects of NS, and it isn't likely that any of the potential topics can be completely covered in a beginning course.

While the specific items may need adjustment, the division of courses does make sense as a starting point.

My preference would be that we start with the beginning level courses, so the U can be used to attract new players and then expand to the more detailed courses over time and as needed. For instance, we might find that advanced courses for diplomacy might be needed sooner because at the moment, there really isn't anything to teach diplomacy in NS. Or we might need courses useful for being in the Regional Assembly. There's isn't one best way to decide this, but having a road map which can be modified as the U gains experience, i would think would meet the immediate need of fixing a framework for growth.
 
I do really like Ator's idea, although I have to question the likelihood of finding faculty to teach such an expansive curriculum. I also agree very much with the idea of working in those RL topics relevant to NS (forum administration, technical intel/counterintel, public speaking and freaking grammar).
 
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