Hi Morley,
Your text outline looks pretty good to me. I suggest being bold and placing at the proper location. Be ready for significant editing as you touch on many political issues.
For example: The original proposal was on hold for about a year prior to Wikimedia Foundation Board approval because they did not like the term course or any use of the word which might suggest to someone an accredited learning process.
Obviously similar objections apply to "teacher" or "student" with no way to review or assign credibility or credentials to potential "instructors".
Many of the issues you address below are at the root of major policy discussions that in my view will need to be repeated periodically for newcomers as they flock to Wikiversity before and after it achieves critical mass.
I congratulate you on the initiative shown attempting to coordinate and document these types of discussions for the benefit of current and future users.
sincerely, mirwin
Morley Chalmers wrote:
I'm currently working on improving the new visitor's introduction to the Wikiversity ‹ what it's all about, how to get involved, that sort of thing.
I'm proposing the following text on http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Welcome%2C_newcomers
=== The Wikiversity is for learning, where you'll find a learning materials ready for downloading and courses ready to take. Anyone can participate, no cost, no advertising, no credentials required, no degrees awarded ‹ just learning.
Anyone can upload new teaching materials or revise the ones already here. The Wikiversity is following the traditions of the Wikipedia.
Anyone can take a course. Anyone can teach a course. No entrance requirements. No fees. No certificate at the end. In the context of the Wikiversity, a course is an undertaking of a student to follow through a set of materials under the guidance of someone willing to teach. ===
Here are my current thoughts of what would fill out the balance of the page. What am I leaving out that should be here? Would appreciate your thoughts.
Learning materials: What types of learning materials will be found here. Licensing of content. How it's protected, how freely it can be used. Fairly mature example links to explore, to give the new user a feeling for what to expect. How to download and use this material. How to give back by editing, adding. Whether and how to fork to take a set of materials in a radically different direction. How these materials are currently being protected from vandalism. How to determine the provenance of these learning materials.
Online courses: An overview of how some current Wikiversity online courses are being conducted, with example links. Discussion of how the examples cited are structured. Discussion of our openness to other directions than these particular examples. Discussion of the policy of openness (no credentials, no degrees) and the benefits of having this policy.
Languages currently supported. How to navigate the Wikiversity. How to edit what you see. Long range goals of the Wikiversity. The history of the Wikiversity, how it came to be, its association with Wikipedia, Wikibooks, etc.
Before I start editing the current newcomer page I'd appreciate getting feedback on the above.
I would particularly appreciate specific examples of good learning materials and ongoing courses to cite.
Kind regards,
Morley Chalmers
Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. -- Henry David Thoreau
Wikiversity-l mailing list Wikiversity-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikiversity-l