I have launched a permanent home for the Medulla project on GitHub at this link: https://foundinantiquity.github.io/Medulla/

It is currently in the form of a static webpage (created from the GitHub repository’s ReadMe file) outlining the rationale and procedures of the project. 

GitHub was chosen for hosting for a number of reasons. GitHub provides transparent public changelogs and version control. It also allows users to “fork” a project, meaning that other parties can duplicate it and take ownership of the new copy, modifying it as they see fit. These features are helpful for the long term maintenance and usefulness of any open source project.

Because the project is quite meta and abstract, it is important to define it succinctly and place constraints on what it is trying (or not trying) to achieve.

Project Summary

Here is my succinct definition of the Medulla project:

The Medulla Project is an open-source initiative to develop a shared planning document that outlines a core sequence of Latin vocabulary and grammar. This sequence enables chapter-by-chapter compatibility across different Latin textbooks, allowing educators to interchange materials more easily.

Core Values

In order to clarify the decision-making process, I also outlined a set of core values in this project.

1. The Medulla project will be released under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, dedicating its content to the public domain and allowing unrestricted commercial and non-commercial use.

Creative Commons Zero (CC0) is the most unrestricted license. Releasing the planning document in this form will allow any number of third parties to create textbooks based on the core sequence. They can repackage it in their copyrighted content without paying any royalties or observing any restrictions in use. This allows authors of textbooks to develop and commercialise their intellectual property, while leaving the door open for other parties to publish content that uses the same schema.

Unlike CC-BY, CC0 does not legally require authors to credit the Medulla project for being the source of the core sequence. Instead I would simply encourage adopters to label their materials as Medulla-compatible for the practical benefit of informing their audience about the ease of using their materials in conjunction with other resources.

2. The document specifies a standardised sequence of core grammar and vocabulary to enable chapter-by-chapter cross-compatibility between resources.

My definition of chapter-by-chapter cross-compatibility would be this: there is no significant barrier to using material from another textbook.

A core grammar sequence outlining the major grammar points is fairly straightforward to imagine.

The core vocabulary sequence is less easy to foresee. It needs to be lean and not overly prescriptive, so as not to violate the principle below about freedom of subject matter.

Because courses must have freedom to introduce their own topical vocabulary on unit themes of their choice, there will still be a gap in vocabulary used between courses. This gap needs to be reasonably surmountable.

The current situation (as I will show in a future post about vocabulary) has students cramming the equivalent of over 10 chapters of words when switching courses at the exact midpoint. If this is reduced to levels comparable to learning about 2 chapters’ worth of vocabulary at the midpoint, it becomes a lot more viable to mix in outside materials or use textbooks interchangeably. In a future post I will outline ways we might achieve this with a reasonably lean vocabulary sequence.

3. Beyond the core sequence, the project aims to allow for maximal freedom of implementation. This includes such choices as pedagogical approach, story setting and subject matter, modes of delivery, use of L1, role of metalanguage, teaching of derivatives, etc.

The Medulla needs to be written in such a way that it serves a diverse range of textbooks.

I have seen examples of resources sharing the same sequence while implementing a very different pedagogical approach – Wheelock’s Latin has the reading supplement 38 Latin Stories, and Familia Romana has the grammar supplements Latine Disco (by Ørberg) and A Companion to Familia Romana (by Neumann).

The advantage of the Medulla project is that it can be purposely built for flexibility of approach, rather than just being a custom sequence devised for one textbook that is adopted by another author.

I do not believe it is suitable to use one of the 100-year-old public domain Latin textbooks as the basis of the Medulla project. The approach to grammar sequencing in hundred-year-old textbooks is often at odds with the pragmatic needs of reader-style courses that have emerged since the latter half of the 20th century. Furthermore, pedagogy continues to evolve and adapt in our generation and will continue to change in the years to come. Lifting a core grammar sequence from a century ago would require many modifications to satisfy modern expectations. We should instead start by developing a sequence that at least resembles our current textbooks, and better yet try to build in a degree of allowance for future developments in pedagogy. 

4. The Medulla framework does not serve as an endorsement of textbook quality; it is designed solely for cross-compatibility. Responsibility for textbook quality remains with individual authors and publishers.

The Medulla is not an award or certificate of quality. The purpose of the core grammar and vocabulary sequence is cross-compatibility only. Because of the need for flexibility of implementation, it  would necessarily be lean. The Medulla can only really control the sequence of major items of grammar and topic-neutral vocabulary. 

Meeting the bare minimum requirements for cross-compatibility is different from meeting reader expectations of a fully fleshed-out, high-quality textbook. It is the task of textbook authors to decide how best to present the language in all its fullness and richness.

5. Community involvement is essential to ensure the framework is relevant, representative, and adaptable across contexts. We actively seek feedback from Latin teachers from different regions, demographics, and pedagogical approaches.

The community of Latin teachers possesses valuable knowledge about how textbooks really work in practice across multiple contexts. An individual Latin teacher such as myself can only  directly experience a small piece of this bigger mosaic of Latin teaching practice.

For the project to succeed, it needs to be informed by this wider community.

6. The Medulla framework will be maintained with transparent versioning and changelogs, allowing users to track updates and ensure compatibility across editions.

As stated above in this blog post, the need for transparency, version control and public changelogs is part of why the project is hosted at GitHub rather than somewhere else such as Google Docs or WordPress.

I hope these summaries and rationale statements help clarify what Medulla is trying achieve. I look forward to sharing further updates on this project as time permits. Thank you to everyone who has contacted me so far offering their support.