Hello All,
I'm a new to wikiversity, although I have been using wikipedia for quite some time now. I actually stumbled on the wikiversity site today as I independently thought of an idea for an "internet university" and have been doing research on the idea, only to find that there have been efforts to do something similar for some time.
I feel like I'm jumping into the middle of a discussion that I haven't heard much of, so please forgive me for my ignorance of most things that have been suggested and tossed about before.
I get the sense that the idea for Wikiversity is rather vague and nebulous at the moment, with many conflicting ideas of where it should go and how it should evolve, especially vis-a-vis accreditation.
The vision of a free wikiversity for everyone to attend, a respectable and revolutionary new way to learn and receive high degrees, while very egalitarian, seems like a very difficult task precisely because the idea is so centralized. Every university, whether explicit or implict, has its own values and "opinions" on what constitutes a good education. Any one organization is never going to be able to please everyone and fit everyone, even if nested in the internet.
The approach I had originally considered was in reaction to MITs revolutionary decision to share their curriculum, lectures, ect with the public, effectively allowing one an MIT education if one applied oneself.
The founding of wikiversity is clearly in response to a sense among many of the vast potential of a new model of learning. Rather than arguing about the exact form of wikiversity, I think there is great potential for private setups, whether they be non for profit or otherwise, which can utilize resources such as wiki and MIT.
My own idea is based on the system of Reed College. At Reed students prepare in their first three years, through classes, for the writing of their thesis, which is a requirement for graduation. For the entire senior year they write the thesis with the help and supervision of one or more professors. A successful online university based on such a system might require academic supervisors, a virtual classroom in which to discuss the course material, and teachers, primarily present to assist the student when the student requests help, also serving an evaluative purpose.
I see no reason why a student with a well written and perhaps important thesis should have a problem getting a degree; although the practical problems of this demand a creative solution.
This is one idea and I'm sure there are many other possible formats, as there are many kinds of learners with their own goals and methods. I think wikiversity would be most effective if it was able to operate in conjunction with this and other private efforts.
Respectfully, John Goes
John Goes wrote:
Hello All,
I'm a new to wikiversity, although I have been using wikipedia for quite some time now. I actually stumbled on the wikiversity site today as I independently thought of an idea for an "internet university" and have been doing research on the idea, only to find that there have been efforts to do something similar for some time.
I feel like I'm jumping into the middle of a discussion that I haven't heard much of, so please forgive me for my ignorance of most things that have been suggested and tossed about before.
I get the sense that the idea for Wikiversity is rather vague and nebulous at the moment, with many conflicting ideas of where it should go and how it should evolve, especially vis-a-vis accreditation.
Not as vague as you seem to think. Most of the people in the discussion so far have experience with Wikipedia or Wikibooks and this influences our thoughts of what might be possible with a wiki.
Accreditation near everyone agrees is for the future, if ever, after we have some success. It takes quite a bit of resources and effort which is probably way beyond the volunteer resources available initially. The Wikimedia Foundation (which supports the servers Wikiversity will be set up on) has mandated that we specifically acknowledge for newcomers that we are not accredited and have no intention in the near future of becoming accredited as a condition of their physically hosting the wikiversity.org domain.
The vision of a free wikiversity for everyone to attend, a respectable and revolutionary new way to learn and receive high degrees, while very egalitarian, seems like a very difficult task precisely because the idea is so centralized. Every university, whether explicit or implict, has its own values and "opinions" on what constitutes a good education. Any one organization is never going to be able to please everyone and fit everyone, even if nested in the internet.
The vision to date consists of making learning materials available in an interactive form for participants to study or improve via online collaboration in a wiki supported environment.
The approach I had originally considered was in reaction to MITs revolutionary decision to share their curriculum, lectures, ect with the public, effectively allowing one an MIT education if one applied oneself.
The founding of wikiversity is clearly in response to a sense among many of the vast potential of a new model of learning. Rather than arguing about the exact form of wikiversity, I think there is great potential for private setups, whether they be non for profit or otherwise, which can utilize resources such as wiki and MIT.
My own idea is based on the system of Reed College. At Reed students prepare in their first three years, through classes, for the writing of their thesis, which is a requirement for graduation. For the entire senior year they write the thesis with the help and supervision of one or more professors. A successful online university based on such a system might require academic supervisors, a virtual classroom in which to discuss the course material, and teachers, primarily present to assist the student when the student requests help, also serving an evaluative purpose.
Typically academic supervisors expect to get paid. Wikiversity will initially be the efforts of volunteers.
I see no reason why a student with a well written and perhaps important thesis should have a problem getting a degree; although the practical problems of this demand a creative solution.
This is one idea and I'm sure there are many other possible formats, as there are many kinds of learners with their own goals and methods. I think wikiversity would be most effective if it was able to operate in conjunction with this and other private efforts.
Respectfully, John Goes
Wikiversity materials are published under the GNU Foundation's FDL license and are thus available to anyone, including private or public universities who choose to use or improve the materials. The only requirement of use is the expectation and requrirement that improvements will be published under the same FDL copyright so they can be incorporated into the growing commons of free human knowledge.
There is an active committee working towards getting our permanent wikispace activated. It will be located at wikiversity.org using various prefixes for various languages identical to the way Wikipedia and Wikibooks are setup within their domains.
Nice to have you with us.
lazyquasar
On 6/29/06, John Goes johnwgoes@gmail.com wrote:
Hello All,
I'm a new to wikiversity, although I have been using wikipedia for quite some time now. I actually stumbled on the wikiversity site today as I independently thought of an idea for an "internet university" and have been doing research on the idea, only to find that there have been efforts to do something similar for some time.
I feel like I'm jumping into the middle of a discussion that I haven't heard much of, so please forgive me for my ignorance of most things that have been suggested and tossed about before.
I get the sense that the idea for Wikiversity is rather vague and nebulous at the moment, with many conflicting ideas of where it should go and how it should evolve, especially vis-a-vis accreditation.
The vision of a free wikiversity for everyone to attend, a respectable and revolutionary new way to learn and receive high degrees, while very egalitarian, seems like a very difficult task precisely because the idea is so centralized. Every university, whether explicit or implict, has its own values and "opinions" on what constitutes a good education. Any one organization is never going to be able to please everyone and fit everyone, even if nested in the internet.
The approach I had originally considered was in reaction to MITs revolutionary decision to share their curriculum, lectures, ect with the public, effectively allowing one an MIT education if one applied oneself.
The founding of wikiversity is clearly in response to a sense among many of the vast potential of a new model of learning. Rather than arguing about the exact form of wikiversity, I think there is great potential for private setups, whether they be non for profit or otherwise, which can utilize resources such as wiki and MIT.
My own idea is based on the system of Reed College. At Reed students prepare in their first three years, through classes, for the writing of their thesis, which is a requirement for graduation. For the entire senior year they write the thesis with the help and supervision of one or more professors. A successful online university based on such a system might require academic supervisors, a virtual classroom in which to discuss the course material, and teachers, primarily present to assist the student when the student requests help, also serving an evaluative purpose.
I see no reason why a student with a well written and perhaps important thesis should have a problem getting a degree; although the practical problems of this demand a creative solution.
This is one idea and I'm sure there are many other possible formats, as there are many kinds of learners with their own goals and methods. I think wikiversity would be most effective if it was able to operate in conjunction with this and other private efforts.
Respectfully, John Goes
Thanks very much for this, John. I'm very happy you've "jumped in" to the discussion after just discovering it today :-)
I think you're right in that Wikiversity is a bit vague and nebulous in its design, but many of us have been arguing that this is quite necessary thing for the creation of the project. A wiki-based centre of learning is a complex thing - unless we opt for a wiki-based repository of learning materials, which has been one of the more conservative options put forward. Once we decide to go for a more ambitious place where people can learn, it becomes more complicated, and, as you say, becomes flavoured by individual people's perceptions and expectations of what education is and how it is done. In allowing for a flexible project structure, I am hoping that individual people are able to pursue their own visions of what the best form of learning is for their subject and for themselves.
As Michael says, there is really no point at this stage in going for an accredited university - it is well beyond our current resources, and possibly even the remit of the Wikimedia Foundation. However, we will be setting up a resource that accredited universities (or other centres of learning) can use in their own courses - and hopefully in the process gain some valuable contributors from their students or lecturers.
It occurs to me to ask what you've seen of Wikiversity so far - have you seen it on Wikibooks or Meta? Have you seen the current proposal? (It's at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikiversity/Modified_project_proposal if you haven't.)
I'm curious about your suggestions though - do you envisage a project where people write their dissertations on Wikiversity, with feedback from supervisors, or other students? How would you see it working exactly?
Anyway, thanks for your input - it's always good to get a fresh perspective.
Cheers, Cormac (User:Cormaggio)
textbook-l@lists.wikimedia.org