HM #1: Settling In

Introduction

It's now been a little over a week since I stepped back into the Headmaster's office, and I think I've found my feet once again. There is a surreal mix of things being the same and... OMG EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT!

My main focus over this past week has been getting a grasp on the current state of things, and trying to make sure business as usual continues as, well, it usually does.

Now it's time to start thinking about what the future looks like and investigating if the ideas in my application for this position are actually feasible to implement. Some of them are ambitious.

Forging a Holo-Guide

While reading through the draft of an upcoming course, there was a small snippet with a comment from A'lora asking if that could be a graphic... or a tooltip... or Clippy.

Frankly, that latched into my brain and the result is a couple of competitions that are running over the next four weeks under the banner "Forging a Holo-Guide":

• Naming a Holo-Guide
• Profiling a Holo-Guide
• Visualizing a Holo-Guide
• Clipped Jigsaw (Because everyone loves puzzle comps?)

In short, these comps will help define the Shadow Academy's "Clippy". The result may end up in course notes, these reports, and even "hosting" Shadow Academy videos.

Scrolls of Foundation

You can infer these from the change log below, but I did want to specifically shout out everyone who has received a Scroll of Foundation over the last week and a bit.

• 1 Scroll for Dek
• 1 Scroll for Wolfe
• 1 Scroll for Bograt
• 2 Scrolls for Tahiri
• 1 Scroll for Len
• 1 Scroll for Eeno
• 1 Scroll for Edgar
• 3 Scrolls for Wuntila
• 2 Scrolls for Centam Javik
• 1 Scroll for Nero
• 1 Scroll for Reltud Silversun

All of these members reached out with an issue or feedback regarding the Shadow Academy. Thank you all for your contributions!

If you spot a bug or have a suggested improvement, please let us know. It helps the Brotherhood and could result in earning a Scroll of Foundation.

Accessibility

Dek's Scroll of Foundation was awarded for reaching out with some ideas about how to make the Shadow Academy and Wiki more accessible. While this wasn't something that was initially on my radar, this feedback was very well received and it's one of the first things I want to focus on.

I'm currently looking into options to make these areas more screen-reader friendly as a first step. I'm not yet ready to share details on that front, but there could well be a "call to action" asking for help, so keep an eye out for that.

Closing

That covers the main updates for my first report. There is plenty of work ahead for myself and the Shadow Academy staff. If you have any questions or want to discuss anything, please reach out.

Windos
Headmaster

Academy Changelog

DEPARTMENT OF GALACTIC STUDIES  

Droids
- Clarified an exam question and related course notes (Reported by Reltud Silversun)

Dogfighting Basics
- Released (thanks to DarkHawk and Kalen Joss!)  
- Fixed formatting in course notes (reported by Centam Javik)  
- Improved exam questions (reported by Centam Javik and Nero Ashraven)

Galactic History 101 - The Era of the Old Republic
- Clarified the wording of a confusing exam question (reported by Eeno)

Galactic History 102 - Twilight of the Galactic Republic
- Improved an exam question that was needlessly strict on answer ordering (reported by Edgar Drachen)

Races and Species
- Fixed syntax error in course notes (reported by Len Iode)

Starfighter Studies
- Corrected error in course metadata (reported by Wolfe)  
- Updated an exam question to insert a missing dropdown box (reported by Bograt and Tahiri Thorn Morte Tarentae)  
- Fixed a typo in course notes (reported by Tahiri Thorn Morte Tarentae)

DEPARTMENT OF LEADERSHIP, LAW, AND COMMUNICATION  

Git 101 Primer
- Fixed multiple formatting errors in course notes (reported by Wuntila)  
- Made headers more readable (reported by Wuntila)

Git 102 Collaboration
- Made headers more readable (reported by Wuntila)