Wikiversity talk:Course protection policy
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I propose that this be finalized and enough consensus be built so that this (or some permutation) can be made into an official policy. --Remi 00:38, 25 August 2007 (UTC)
- Try requesting input at Wikiversity:Colloquium. --JWSchmidt 02:21, 25 August 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Identifying a responsible person
One of the biggest problems with the recent Technical writing case was that it was difficult to identify or contact the person who was responsible. A course protection policy should probably have some guidance in it about formally naming a contact person in any protection template, and advising them to be available during active course times. If course participants then start running amok with their lack of wiki-ability, it is easier for custodians to take non-invasive action. McCormack 04:22, 25 August 2007 (UTC)
- Maybe we need to be sure that pages such as Wikiversity:Wikiversity teachers and Wikiversity:School and university projects clearly explain the idea that teachers bringing students to Wikiversity should first create a plan and ask if their plan makes sense. Such a "plan" could be very short, and the main purpose of asking that a plan be posted on wiki would be to identify the person in charge. I think the entire Main Page should be re-done to be more simple and direct about leading new visitors to information about how to participate. --JWSchmidt 14:27, 25 August 2007 (UTC)
After teaching the first round of Technical writing I'd like to add a few observations...
- No clear course writing workflow. I just jumped in and started making a course. I had no idea what the process should be, so I just put text on pages, learning by doing. It would be helpful if there were some sort of step-by-step instructions for course originators.
- Unclear policies. Most policies are still not obligatory, leading the unsuspecting (me!) to think they are only suggestions. Hence, my class violated namespace rules, redirect rules, and who knows what else. This wasn't through ill-will, but lack of knowledge. As JWSchmidt notes, the Main Page could have this sort of information along with the new instructor guidelines. Will there be a push to formalize policies soon?
- Need for student/instructor spaces. Instructors and students ought to have someplace where they
- Put their contact information (preferably using the wikiversity mail so real names need not be shown)
- Put their completed assignments (in the writing course this was a big problem, resulting in our annoying namespace violations). I suppose the current username setup could be made to work, but I'm sure there's a better solution. Consider that a single user could be simultaneously the instructor of two courses and a student in three. Should that be split into five unique pages, or kept all together on one? Could we have sub-pages for users?
I'm sure I'll have more comments soon, and I look forward to the next round of the course where I can put some of our experiences into improving the course. TWFred 14:12, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Subpages
Although subpages are clearly the best way of organising a group of course pages, I wouldn't know where to send someone to find that out. But then I'm not the brightest spark here. But then on the other hand one shouldn't need to be either. I tend to agree with TWFred. -- McCormack 14:26, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
- Personal resources/blogs/notes/contact info/etc can be kept on each participant's user pages. Feel free to create subpages of your userpage. I think the Main Page needs to be changed. There are several pages where such changes have been discussed (Wikiversity:Main page design changes, Wikiversity:Introduction Overhaul Taskforce, Talk:Main Page). Someday we may actually make changes! "step-by-step instructions for course originators" <-- We can always use more/better help pages, tutorials, policy pages, etc. Wikiversity:Content development and Wikiversity:Wikiversity teachers need to be improved. Wikiversity is so new that almost everything still needs to be done. --JWSchmidt 14:31, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Maybe this page could be renamed to just Wikiversity:Course protection.
Maybe this page could be renamed to just Wikiversity:Course protection. What say you? --Remi 19:55, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
