[Textbook-l] wikiversity and private universities with multiple models

Thu Jun 29 07:53:45 UTC 2006

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