Wikiversity:Course formats

In search of Wikiversity course formats that are well-suited for the wiki user interface.

Background and proposals
In November 2005 the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees rejected the first Wikiversity project proposal and instructed the Wikiversity community to modify the proposal to "exclude online-courses". The Board requested that the Wikiversity community "clarify [the] concept of e-learning" that will guide Wikiversity. The modified Wikiversity project proposal that was approved by the Board calls for two major components of Wikiversity:1) learning materialsand2) learning activities.The Wikiversity model for e-learning is discussed at the Wikiversity Education Portal.

If we assume that "exclude online-courses" meant to avoid traditional and conventional online courses, then which formats of learning projects would be acceptable wiki-courses?

Wikiversity:Practicums
I've proposed another namespace (or boilerplate, at least) that can perhaps split up the burgeoning Topic: namespace and add what I think is a useful structural element to WV. I call it the Practicum boilerplate. It is partially inspired by the Learning to learn a wiki way presentation, which I liked so much that I redirected Learning Group in the main namespace to it.

The Practicum: namespace would be a learning environment for PAR, based on participation, action, research, empowerment, community-building, positive social change, public discourse and critical reflection. I think this meshes well with the pedagogy of "real-world" academia.

Practicum:Multilingualism (broad prime example) – I was working on the Multilingual worksheet resource, and serveral others at the same time when I concieved of this. A Multilingualism practicum would have to integrate Learning Groups, Materials, Schools, Portals, Categories, Templates, Help, Talk and many things at once. It could however produce an Interwiki-international macro-community of certified translators and provide them with tools to expedite the work of translating Wikiversity.

Practicum:Sounds of the Wikiverse (another broad example) – I've sortof primed all this up in peripherals to the Wikiversity the Movie project, (tentative name, Wikio) combining everything from lessons like Introduction to Portuguese and groups like A Wikivervity Garage Band through Topic:Internet Audio building cross-school collaborations between School:Music, School:Journalism with ecclectic stubs to School:Computer Science toward a complex holistic form, which to me is a definative Academic Practicum.

Just thinking out loud. Follow the breadcrumbs I've left and let me know what ya'll think. CQ 04:03, 19 October 2006 (UTC)