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WIKIVERSITY
Wikiversity is a Wikimedia Foundation beta project[1], devoted to learning materials and activities, located at http://www.wikiversity.org. Wikiversity's beta phase officially began on August 15th, 2006 with the English language Wikiversity. New language Wikiversity projects in other languages are in development at the beta.wikiversity site.
Project details
Wikiversity is a centre for the creation and use of free learning materials and activities. Its primary priorities and goals are to:
- Create and host a range of free-content, multilingual learning materials/resources, for all age groups in all languages
- Host scholarly/learning projects and communities that support these materials
The Wikiversity e-Learning model places emphasis on "learning groups" and "learning by doing". These groups/communities of Wikiversity participants engage in scholarly learning projects. Learning is through collaboration on projects that involve editing Wikiversity pages. Wikiversity learning projects consist of collections of wiki webpages concerned with the scholarly exploration of a particular topic. Wikiversity participants express their learning goals and the Wikiversity community collaborates to develop learning activities and projects to accommodate those goals.
Learning resources are developed by learning groups engaged in learning projects. These resources include teaching aids, lesson plans, curricula, links to off-site resources, reading lists, etc. Learning groups with interests in each subject area create a web of resources that form the basis of discussions and activities at Wikiversity. Some of the developed learning resources can be used by educators outside of Wikiversity for their own purposes.
An important goal for the Wikiversity community during the six month beta phase is the creation of policies governing research activities. Wikiversity could act as a repository of research carried out by the Wikimedia Research Network or others who are involved in wiki-based research. Whether or not Wikiversity will ever host original research in addition to secondary research is the subject of debate. Guidelines for what would be appropriate research will be developed during the beta phase of the project through a community consensus process.
Wikiversity is under development as a free, open learning environment and research community.
History
Wikiversity was originally started at Wikibooks in 2003. In 2005, a formal proposal[2] to start Wikiversity as an independent project was voted on.[3] The Wikiversity project was discussed at the November 2005 Wikimedia Board meeting.[4] The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees requested that some changes be made before the project would start at its own website. The Modified project proposal was approved by the Board. By the time it was approved, 17 language portals had been developed on Wikibooks.
Notes and references
- ^ Welcome speech, Jimbo Wales, Wikimania 2006 (audio)
- ^ Wikimedia Meta-Wiki: Original Wikiversity proposal (not approved)
- ^ Wikimedia Meta-Wiki: Wikiversity Vote
- ^ Wikimedia Meta-Wiki: Board agenda for the Wikimedia Foundation
See also
External links
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