Wikiversity talk:Student union

A discussion on the content of the Student Union page
Ready made to discuss the content of the page, and the content of the page alone. What would you like to discuss? Salmon of Doubt 20:50, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

Here, since you won't discuss, I'll start it for you. This page is designed to welcome new users who are students to this project. Your proposed changes are not welcoming. They are confusing and divisive. This page should be an overview. If you'd like to link to your discussion of deletionism on this page, I think that's a great idea. Salmon of Doubt 20:56, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I think Salmon of Doubt could have made a more helpful change then to completely revert and blank the content. Link to the deletionism page. Dzonatas 21:04, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * "since you won't discuss" <-- You gave me all of 5 minutes to get here? --JWSchmidt 21:05, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * You reverted again, even though I specifically told you I was prepared to discuss. However, please, let's discuss the content of the Student Union page, not other irrelevent issues. Thanks. Salmon of Doubt 21:08, 5 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Saying "I'm prepared to discuss" in an edit summary is not the same as discussing. I did not revert the page, I have been developing the page content. You are the one who has repeatedly reverted the page in violation of policy. --JWSchmidt 21:36, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Let's compare my proposed version of the page to the proposed alternatives. McCormack proposed deleting the page and deleting links to the page. Jade Knight proposed turning the page into a redirect to a page that does not mention students at all. Your preferred version is essentially an attempt to remove a useful learning exercise from the page, an exercise I created in response to a call for the page to be developed. In my view, all of these proposed alternatives are inferior to the learning exercise option that I favor. "not welcoming" <-- feel free to put a welcome message on the page. "confusing" <-- feel free to edit for clarity. "divisive" <-- now why should that be the case? Please explain how it is "divisive" to help students learn about what is going on at Wikiversity? "This page should be an overview" <-- Feel free to add an "overview". You can do so without removing the learning exercise about how some editors are working to destroy the page and attempting to prevent Wikiversity from providing a link to the page from the Main Page and trying to turn the page into a redirect to another page that does not even mention students. That is useful information that new Wikiversity participants should be aware of, and the learning exercise introduces students to active learning at Wikiversity. --JWSchmidt 21:31, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

New Student Portal
Okay, I see the the process of creating a new Student Union here as following three steps: 1. Brainstorm for ideas, set goals, and get a general sense for what we want to see here. 2. Plan. How will we implement the goals and concepts we want to have here? 3. Develop/Create. Put those plans into action.

So, step 1. Brainstorm. What kind of content do we think is going to be important here at the hub for all learning activity? My thoughts: The Jade Knight 21:44, 5 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 1) A prominent link to the java Wikiversity IRC chat applet.
 * 2) A link to the various content guides (guided tours)
 * 3) A prominent link to a page explaining how to find everything, emphasizing the powerful (though still somewhat disorganized ATM) Browse feature.
 * 4) A link to WV policies.
 * 5) Messages telling students that:
 * 6) Wikiversity is a place for them to explore their learning goals and personal interests
 * 7) Wikiversity is a place for them to collaborate and guide the creation of learning resources.
 * 8) Students have to click the edit button to participate in some projects; we all learn by editing.
 * 9) An explanation on how to edit (IMO, this would be best as a prominent link to the appropriate tour or page - JK)
 * 10) What else?


 * The student portal should tell students that Wikiversity is a place for them to explore their learning goals and personal interests. The student portal should tell students that Wikiversity is a place for them to collaborate and guide the creation of learning resources. The student portal should tell students that they have to click the edit button and participate in "learn by doing" projects, that at Wikiversity we all learn by editing. The student portal should help new participants get started on learning how to edit. --JWSchmidt 22:48, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I've incorporated your suggestions into my list. Tell me if I've misinterpreted anything.  The Jade Knight 02:15, 6 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Looks good. --JWSchmidt 03:26, 6 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I also think we want to reduce clutter as much as possible; keep things simple while still including everything we think new students should need. The Jade Knight 06:29, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

Portal:Student Union
This Student union page should now be redirect to Portal:Student Union which I've just fully done - I've found out on the help section, instructions on how to make a portal so I've thought about improving the current one - anyone who wants to work on the Student Union section could redirect it to the new Portal. DarkMage 19:51, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Why Portal: over Wikiversity:? The Jade Knight 03:23, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
 * The standard coding doesn't allow it to be renamed to the Wikiversity name - I've tried it many times, even within my own user-subpage but it created it as a Portal which implies that it can only be as a Portal - truth be known I don't know how to correct it. It also created these Portal:Dark Mage/Wikiversity-Updates/Student Union/Page2/Tasks‎ and other subpages within the Portal section but not in my subpage as I was intended to do so - I'm sort of new to that type of configuration in the portal section, so I don't know everything - it maybe possible to rename it to Student union or to Portal:Learners like McCormack suggested on my talkpage though with those so many redirect links which was accidently created I prefer not to move it, as other users may start to think that I'm trying to make a mess of things, which has happened before when I used to be known as Terra on this site. DarkMage  17:24, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Although I've stated in the above section that it wasn't possible to rename it - I've just transfered a lot of the coding which was being used and placed it as a subpage, it may now be possible to rename it and replace the current student union page though I wouldn't mind approval first. DarkMage  18:02, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Student Union - Update
I've managed to rename the Portal:Student Union to Student Union and left a redirect link from the old Student union page - however there are some issues with the links, for some reason it keeps saying that the page has been redirect from Portal:Student Union and have tried to fix the problem but can't for some reason could someone have a look at the links, if I'm right all of the pages should have been moved correctly. DarkMage 19:03, 11 September 2008 (UTC)