User talk:EricNeel

 Hello and Welcome to Wikiversity EricNeel! You can contact us with questions at the colloquium or me personally when you need help. Please remember to sign and date your finished comments when participating in discussions. The signature icon above the edit window makes it simple. All users are expected to abide by our Privacy, Civility, and the Terms of Use policies while at Wikiversity.

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You do not need to be an educator to edit. You only need to be bold to contribute and to experiment with the sandbox or your userpage. See you around Wikiversity! --Guy vandegrift (discuss • contribs) 14:39, 22 November 2015 (UTC)

First contact
Thanks for your posting on the Colloquium. You know exactly what Wikiversity needs to do. But you might find that accomplishing that goal will be extremely difficult.

The best to start is right here on this talk page. Use "Add topic" at the top of this screen. Your page is on my "watch list" and I will respond, usually within 24 hours. --Guy vandegrift (discuss • contribs) 14:04, 22 November 2015 (UTC)

Refining my goals
Thank you for your interest.

So after some more research and more than a few conversations I've come to a better understanding...I think.

Perhaps there are enough materials online and enough people to forward that movement already. What I can't find is a portal that contains all of the educational material available. If there is a site that doesn't resemble a mosaic of click bait, I would love to know about it.

If there isn't, would it be possible to create a portal that compartmentalized links to these resources. Separating the levels of the course material so that building course plans would be manageable. So for example if you wanted to study up on architecture then the links to the compartments for Freehand Drawing, Architectural History, Calculus and Analytical Geometry, and the like would present themselves as recommended material.

This way if content was uploaded then all you would have to do is make sure the content was properly "tagged" with what courses would benefit from it. Let me know your thoughts.


 * I don't think there is a site that contains all of the educational materials available, but see https://www.merlot.org for one that contains many resources and no click bait. We're doing our best to make Wikiversity a site that meets this description well.  Yes, I agree completely that there is less need to develop content than there is to point learners to appropriate content.  Content here can be tagged with categories, and the categories can be used to find lessons.  Others prefer creating a series of lessons (a course) themselves.  Both styles work here.  Something else to consider is that the lessons on a subject that would be appropriate for primary school aren't the same lessons that would be used in secondary education, and those aren't the same lessons that would be used in a college course.  A variety may be necessary, depending on the audience.


 * Look around at some of the different Category:Courses and Category:Lessons here and see if you can find a style that matches your vision. Then either improve on existing content or start developing a new resource.  Let us know when you have questions.  -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 02:30, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

Education Web Portal Vision as of 11/27/2015

 * Home page
 * Contains the basics (Link to master course directory, FAQ, Help page, Links to application pages if the materials require Java or Flash etc., possibly a link to a page specifically crafted to educate the user in how humans learn.)


 * Master "fields of study" directory
 * Contains inter-site links to fields of study (The materials should be divided by complexity. I feel a majority of our user base would seek undergraduate degree related materials and that level of material should be a point of focus in the start.)


 * Individual field of study page
 * Contains a a few links regarding the level of education the user is seeking.(elementary, undergrad, Ph.D., again I think the main focus here is the undergraduate material)


 * Field of study, level specific
 * Contains a course list (Each course listed is a link and each course should deal with preparing the user to be able to understand the concepts in this and ultimately the next level of educations courses.)


 * Course page
 * Contains links to verified external specific educational resources (these should be grouped by type: Text, video, online course, etc. there should probably be a rating feature to help the community filter the most beneficial material and a flag feature for reviewing inappropriate content.) ~Note: it may be beneficial to pull the link from an internal database that applies material, submitted to the site with tags, to be applied automatically to the course pages that it relates to.

EricNeel (discuss • contribs) 05:16, 28 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Wikiversity is an education portal. So, start with Main Page.  What needs to be added or changed to support your vision?  -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 13:31, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

Are we sure we want to change Wikiversity? People have come to expect a certain type of experience, I think, from this page. Might it be a better approach to create a portal and use Wikiversity as one of the end products? Something to think about anyway. EricNeel (discuss • contribs) 23:18, 28 November 2015 (UTC)


 * We're not sure yet, because we don't have any specific details. :-)  But from what I read in your outline above, there's not that much that would need to be changed.  I added a link to the Courses category, something I suggested a couple of years ago, but didn't get any response to.  We already have FAQs and Help, but may need to improve them.  There are no required applications.  The only thing I'm not sure we have is a page that describes how humans learn from your perspective.  And until that page is written, we won't know whether others find value in it or not.  Be bold.  Find something to improve and either make the change or tell us what you think should be changed.  If it makes sense, we'll change it.  if we're not sure after seeing the change, we'll take a vote.  -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 04:13, 29 November 2015 (UTC)