I've decided to "*BE BOLD*" and start a new course or learning experience on Wikiversity. I know there are several attempts right now to start at the top and work down to corses, and a few "bottom up" ideas, but I'm really going to try and push forward the model that has been explained and described, but not actually done so far in any large degree. One of the things that case up on the IRC discussion today (August 17th) is that there was a need for a few critical "core" subjects that really are prerequisites for just about anything else. While I'm not quite as comfortable doing this as perhaps others might be, I have selected as one of these core subjects to be College Algebra, which is often a graduation requirement for just about every college student unless you are lucky enough (I was) to have to take even more advanded math as a requirement instead because of the technical nature of the program. I'm seeking a little bit of in-depth throught on this subject in terms of how to organize it for an on-line experience. I've considered trying to come up with formal lesson plans that would be followed on a weekly basis as a sort of "topic of the week" for participants in this learning group. I would also hold "classes" via IRC to explain some of the details and give a bit of a lecture of sorts, although this is also more a way for us to try and study the topic together. A homework "study area" would also be set up on Wikiversity that would go over some homework problems (there is going to be homework for this class) and to try and get into depth on that topic. There would also be required reading from various sources including web content from other sites, including non-Wikimedia websites. Just as in real life, you will get out of this as much as you put into it. As there isn't going to be a grade or "transcript" kept of your participation (yet... this is a detail we should seriously talk about) your ability to learn is going to be directly proportional to the effort that you put into this subject. My thought was to try and go through cycles of about 10-15 weeks where at the end of the 15 weeks we would start all over again at the beginning. At that time you should move on to another subject, and hopefully feel comfortable with what we are discussing, although I hope that a few "students" will stick around for the next round and act as instructors for the new group. The idea here is that I would like this to become a self-sustaining community unto itself after a fashion that would be able to continue the idea and make modifications to the curriculum even if the originator of the course has moved on. I think this would definitely be possible for some of these core subjects if they could be properly organized and set up. I also am planning on using the Algebra Wikibook, and I'm hoping that the students who are going to be involved with also help partially write that Wikibook as they find blatant errors and want to add more depth to the material. In this way (as has been suggested in the past) Wikibooks and Wikiversity can also achieve a type of synergy that can help each other out and bring these core textbooks up to a standard that they might actually be used for other educational environments besides Wikiversity. BTW, I was thinking of putting that explictly into the "homework" requirements of making some sort of modest change each week on the Wikibook. I know this sounds like a tough goal, but I would like to be able to get this up to the point that those who are serious about participating with this study group can start from scratch and then have the ability to "test out" of any College Algebra course at a major university. This is a high goal, but I don't think it is impossible even with a small group of Wikiversity participants. The amount of material already available is pretty substantial, and for those that are trying to push for some sort of degree program, this would be a very important first step. My goal is that by the week of September 3rd to be ready for my first group of students. I know I'm going to make a few mistakes along the way, and this first round isn't going to be quite up to my stated goals and wishes, but we need to make a start and meet the expectations of people coming to Wikiversity. Another goal is to use this as a sort of "gold standard" to compare other learning groups, although I'm not trying to suck the wind out of any other efforts. I am also openly admitting that this is but one idea for how people can learn via Wikiversity, but it is something concrete and something that people can relate to that are familar with in terms of a more traditional learning environment. -- Robert Scott Horning _______________________________________________ Wikiversity-l mailing list Wikiversity-l(a)wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikiversity-l

I would also hold "classes" via IRC to explain some of the details and give a bit of a lecture of sorts, although this is also more a way for us to try and study the topic together.

I've decided to "*BE BOLD*" and start a new course or learning experience on Wikiversity. I know there are several attempts right now to start at the top and work down to corses, and a few "bottom up" ideas, but I'm really going to try and push forward the model that has been explained and described, but not actually done so far in any large degree.