h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Alrighty, then.

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I *have* been puzzling over the whole sorting/years issues, and have been doing a bit of research into the subjects. Here's what I propose, given everything we've talked about:

Firstly, regarding the sorting hat, there are several sorting hat quizzes on Selectsmart.com already which would work. I was thinking it might be better to put our own together, though, because that would enable us to track the results. Doing so would require an email address, so I've taken the liberty of securing one on Yahoo. (If you guys don't agree with that idea, I can always cancel it.) If we decide to use it, I'm happy to give the heads of house the address and password so that we can all check it and welcome our new students. If you want to go with this idea for the sorting hat, I'll try to put something together in the next few weeks or so.

As for placing people in years initially, I think putting together a test is a wonderful idea, but I'm not sure how practical it is. I have toyed with several ways of doing it, and I can't find one which really works. If anyone has suggestions as to where I might go to create a free test, that would be helpful. I've got quite a few questions prepared already, getting progressively harder as they go, and I think it would be a really fun way to do things if we can make it work. Unfortunately, I don't think Selectsmart.com will fit the bill, as it would be tough to test people's knowledge via yes or no questions.

Barring the discovery of a practical method of testing, I say we fall back on a combination of the ideas I put forth in post 3. Specifically, I would vote that we:

1. Do not place anyone in first year to start
2. Offer seventh year spots to those who join up early, emphasizing the fact that they will be eligible for cushier positions upon graduation.
3. Sort everyone else into their years randomly.
4. Once we have a good mix of years, make all newcomers start at first year.
5. Advance people by requiring them to remain at their respective levels for a predetermined amount of time, and then require them to apply for "graduation" to the next year.

Any other thoughts?



Myjo

Very well put.

Indeed.

Albus,

I had no idea that Craxus had left. I am sorry to hear that. I'm still here, albeit swamped at work. I am still trying to help out in my own way. I will also gladly plug Hogwarts. I haven't been doing it because I thought the idea was to get the school together before officially "opening" it.

I apologize for letting some of my responsibilities slide. I'll try to get my classroom put together ASAP, and work on the sorting hat. Perhaps this weekend I can get something put together.

Also, unless there is any objection, I would like to make to change my house prefect. Captain Jedi Girl has not been around, and I think it would be better to have a prefect who is participating. Any thoughts?

Thanks



Myjo

I know there's a lot to think about in retooling Hogwarts, but something I just remembered is prefects. We find out in OoP that there are *two* prefects per house, a boy and a girl. Right now we are only set up to accept one per house.

Because you didn't have enough work to do on this already.

Myjo

Alrightie, teachers, I have put together a Sorting Hat quiz at selectsmart.com:

http://www.selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=H2G2SortingHat

Please test it out when you get the chance and let me know what you think.

I set up an email address specifically for Sorting Hat results, with the idea that this would keep people from ignoring the test and just picking their favorite house, but I see two potential problems with that. First of all, people may be loathe to give out their email address, even if we swear to delete it right away (I know I would be). Secondly, people's emails may not match their Hootoo nicknames, which could make it very tough to keep track anyway. Any thoughts or suggestions as to what to do about this?

Have a good weekend!



Myjo

Very nice, professor. A commendable job of enchanting the hat. Shame it often won't shut up...

nifty test thing!

LOL Thank you kindly.

Myjo

Very nice indeed Btw i didnt leave for good, just left for the summer.

It all sounds good to me.

I have started Defence against the Dark Arts up, so we've got one class running.

Alrightie, here is a Sorting Hat Page. If you want to link it to the Great Hall, we can have students go there to be sorted. Hopefully this will even out the houses a bit.

In case anyone is interested, the way this works is when a new student signs up, I will invite them to "put on the hat", which really means that I will direct them to the sorter I put together on selectsmart. If they enter their email address at the end of the test, I can check to see what house they were sorted into (and then promptly delete their address). The "Sorting Hat" will then announce which house they are in.



Myjo

And now should we figure out the whole "years" issue? I didn't get much response to my last posting on the subject, but that was during "the time of upheaval". If you'd rather keep it simple and let students choose for themselves, that's fine by me. If, on the other hand you want something more complicated and ordered, we should probably decided soon what that is, before we get too big and it becomes a gargantuan task.



Myjo

We could let them choose. I will test them judging by their year, so it would be a 'choose your difficulty' thing, then.

So, for example, New Student #1 says, "I'd like to be fifth year, please," to which you reply, "Okay, here's the test for fifth years. If you pass, you can be fifth year?"

Sounds great to me! What happens if they *don't* pass, though. Do they go to fourth year? Or retest? Or test for the next lower grade? I think testing is a fun idea.



Myjo <sleepy.

Oy, looks like I forgot to actually post the link to the Sorting Hat page, way back when. . Let's try that again, shall we?

A1129457



Myjo

That selectsmart thing. Can I have a go!?