Hi there,
My name is Jamal Ahmed, I'm a junior at Wesleyan University in Middletown,
Connecticut. I have an idea to help the growth of Wikiversity. I figure,
there are a lot of college students who are doing homework on a regular
basis to help themselves understand the material we hope to one day see in
Wikiversity. But at the end of the day, their homework is only of use
to themselves, and at the end of the semester, it gets thrown away. Maybe
we can harness the intellectual productive potential of college students to
produce mass amounts of Wiki material.
What I have in mind is starting programs in many universities where a
homework assignment given to a student is to complete a section on
Wikipedia /Wikiversity in his/her assigned subject, such as a higher level
math student writing a section on differentiation of polynomials, or an
upper level Spanish student making an interactive vocabulary list of
household items. This could even be extra credit, and guessing the number
of people out there who would love some extra credit, I have a feeling it
would be popular.
Start with contacting one university, and setting up a meeting with
any/all willing professors. Given the drive that a lot of professors have
for education and giving back to the community, I have the feeling the
response will be popular (nearly all would at the very least include an
extra credit assignment). If there is one class of about 30 upperclassmen,
and each of them is assigned to write a comprehensive section on a
relatively easy topic for their level of understanding, then for that one
assignment you can develop 30 complete sections. Given that academic
caliber material will be sourced too, this will add very complete chapters
to Wikiversity.
I would love to help out in this project, even starting the first chapter
here in Wesleyan University. Please contact me if you'd be on board for
something like this.
Sincerely,
Jamal Ahmed