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 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, learn about adding content, or start editing now.

Today's Featured Project Spanish This Spanish course for beginners contains 19 chapters. Each chapter addresses progressively more difficult vocabulary and grammar arranged around a specific everyday topic, and each chapter contains a country focus section with information about a particular hispanophone country. Visit this resource · see more featured content

Educational Picture of the Day Achelousaurus Achelousaurus was a kind of ceratopsid dinosaur related to the better known triceratops. It was identified and named in 1995. 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. Collections of images of dinosaurs and dinosaur-related matters Animal images - Biology images 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.

News 2024 December 5: Pedophilia: Innate or Learned? has been published and is ready for viewers. July 22: Wikiphilosophers has launched on Wikiversity. The goal of this project is to provide an overview of all philosophical ideas of philosophers and thinkers within Wikiversity. May 13: Collaborative authoring using wiki: An open education case study published in the International Journal for Students as Partners March 15: Using open wikis for teaching and learning presentation to the ASCILITE Learning Design Special Interest Group January 5: The Real Good Religion course is now welcoming students seeking adventure

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 Wikipedia Free-content encyclopedia Wikibooks Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Commons Commons Shared media repository Wiktionary Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus Wikiquote Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wikinews Wikinews Free-content news Wikispecies Wikispecies Directory of species Wikisource Wikisource Free-content library Wikivoyage Wikivoyage Open travel guide Meta-Wiki Meta-Wiki Wikimedia project coordination MediaWiki MediaWiki Free software development Wikidata Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikiversity is also available in other languages: Deutsch • Français • Русский • 中文 • Italiano • Čeština • Português • Español • العربية • Svenska • Slovenščina • Suomi • Ελληνικά • हिन्दी • 한국어 • 日本語 • Other

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.