Web architecture for Wikis/Wikiversity Main Page

This is only a copy of Wikiversity:Main_Page and is being used by the Web architecture for Wikis Learning Project to discuss the architectural and design aspects of this page.

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Welcome to Wikiversity Set learning free with 18,271 learning resources and growing.

"Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom." -Benjamin N. Cardozo

Welcome Wikiversity is a Wikimedia Foundation project devoted to learning resources, learning projects, and research for use in all levels, types, and styles of education from pre-school to university, including professional training and informal learning. We invite teachers, students, and researchers to join us in creating open educational resources and collaborative learning communities. To learn more about Wikiversity, try a guided tour or start editing now.

Today's Featured Project Economic Classroom Experiments Economic Classroom Experiments is a growing collection (currently 28 resources) of lesson plans and ideas for games in the economics classroom. The experiments are suitable for both secondary and tertiary education. Economics teachers and others are welcome to add to the collection. Visit this resource · see more featured content Community Start editing, join the discussion (on the colloquium) and become part of the Wikiversity community! For real-time advice or assistance, you can join our Wikiversity's IRC channel, or our mailing list, or add learner questions on our help desk. The community portal is a listing of notices, projects, activities, guidelines and resources, and learn more about us through the history of Wikiversity.

Educational Picture of the Day Battle of the Little Big Horn This map shows the battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, at which the Sioux defeated the US Army under General Custer. Battle plans of many other battles are available to use in educational resources. Click on the image for a full size version which you can freely re-use and modify. Print it and use it for your lessons, integrate it into your pages on Wikiversity, or use it in other learning resources and websites. Use the links below to find more images like this one. Battle maps - Battle paintings - Military maps Indigenous peoples of North America - Images relating to the history of the United States History images in general This image is a part of the Educational Media Awareness Campaign, raising awareness among educators about the availability and usage of millions of free internet media in education. Development At Wikiversity we are committed both to conventional learning patterns and resources, and to innovation and experimentation. Wikiversity is open to reconceptualising how web education can occur and how open educational resources can be made, and we are open to new ideas about the use of the Mediawiki environment for learning and research. Check out and help develop our learning projects and how learning works on Wikiversity, see how Wikiversity can help you, and explore how to get involved and start adding content. The sandbox server project is also a centre of learning experimentation.

Explore Wikiversity Catalogue | Guided tours ► Schools ► Portals ► Resources ► Learning projects ► Help News 2012 RCC2012 preparations, University of Canberra 2011 (see all here): Fall 2011: Principles of Engineering Analysis 1, University of Florida August 2011: Motivation and emotion, University of Canberra April 2011: OER for School Teachers from Developing Nations January 2011: Psycholinguistics Political Simulation + Gaming Composing free + open OER Complex socio-ecological systems Help Creating educational content at Wikiversity (teacher-oriented tour). Starting out at Wikiversity (student-oriented tour). If you missed the main welcome page, try again! ► Help

Wikiversity's sister projects Wikiversity is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other multilingual and free-content projects: Wikipedia Free-content encyclopedia Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wikinews Free-content news Wikispecies Directory of species Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikisource Free-content library Commons Shared media repository Meta-Wiki Wikimedia project coordination

Main Page

Other pages that explore proposed changes: Wikiversity:Main page design changes and .Talk:Main Page.

Critique of the current main page

The current Main Page was first designed at User:Trevor MacInnis/MainPage starting in the first week after the Wikiversity project launch. Additional development of that design took place at Wikiversity:Main Page/Design. Like the original Main Page design, the current design arguably still contains many links that are irrelevant to new visitors. The current design was influenced by experienced Wikipedia participants who have since pehraps not contributed significantly to the Wikiversity project. As such, the current Main Page may serve best experienced Wikipedians who follow a link to Wikiversity.

As a young project, Wikiversity needs is to attract new participants, most of whom may not be experienced wiki editors. Does the main page serve the needs of Wikiversity or is it an artifact resulting from the efforts of a few Wikipedians who created it and then went back to Wikipedia?

Main Page namespace

Which namespace should the Main Page be in? The current Main Page is in the "Wikiversity:" namespace because it is viewed as a "meta page" about the Wikiversity project. An alternative would be to return the Main Page to the main namespace so that it can take on the primary function of being a learning resource; a page where new visitors can learn about the Wikiversity project.

Main Page target audience

The Main Page should be designed for the least knowledgeable visitors with the least wiki experience. These "Wikiversity naive" visitors need to be efficiently guided to basic information about wiki, the purpose and mission of Wikiversity and the current status of Wikiversity (essentially, a content development effort). New visitors who are not experienced wiki editors need to be shown how easy it is to participate by editing Wikiversity pages. More experienced wiki users can take care of themselves and make use of the pages linked to in the "navigation" and "community" side boxes. Can we identify a few key types of Wikiversity Main Page visitors and re-design the main page so as to better serve them?

Current redesign is 0.3, available here.