Wikiversity:Activity creation

A suggestion from Wikimania discussions: a curriculum about contributing activities to Wikiversity

Who this is for: Any student in middle school or high school who has ever said "I wish there was a class like this..."

Wikiversity stub creation activity

How to capture a great activity that you've enjoyed or seen, and describe it for others so that they can try it for themselves or with their friends and classmates.

0) Think about a great activity that you have done or a great way that you have learned, and write a brief description. Have you ever wished school was more like... well, something else? Do you have something you and your friends enjoy doing that you'd love to be able to do in your classrooms? This lesson will help you create a Wikiversity module for running your own class; you can share with your teacher and classmates at school.

1) Make an account, learn how to use the wiki

Links: to wikieducator tutorials*, to other welcome pages

2) Starting a new activity : visit browse and search the site for related materials. Select a school that reflects your subject area, and go to the relevant topic page.

3) Pick a title for your page, add a link from the topic page to the new title.

4) Start a stub at this new page, and add category:activity-stub.

5) Write a brief description of the activity, try to link to existing pages on related topics [you may have to search for each link, or create redirects from what you expect to what you want]

If you need help with the description, see these brainstorming pages / guideline templates (some templates exist already by type of activity). If it helps, write a vignette about the specific experience you had on the discussion page, describing what it was like without analyzing it.

5.5) Form or subst:template for a description.

6) identify ways to engage in what you just described -- variations on a theme, tie-ins to other activities; different hooks for learning about a number of other topics [though it may be categorized under a primary topic]

Capture the moments of insight that you had during the activity -- what made it interesting? Was there a point where everyone involved suddenly understood something new? Did you see the activity differently after it was over than when you had first started?

6.5) Form or template for related variations and activities.

7) Choose images to capture the process you have in mind. [You might want to search for photos from Commons, take short videos of key actions or preparation.] Is there anything left that is hard to describe with words alone? Ask for help from an artist if necessary. [link]

7.5) Link to easy image-upload form [suggest commonsist as well?]*

8) Categorization : find relevant categories to add to your pages, and help others find them more easily.

9) Find portals and other pages where you might add links to the new activity.

10) Look into peer review : How to associate this with a stream or group interested in making it better? If this is your first time...

11) Link to help on the creation of outputs of this material, whether PDF, XML, DOC, MediaWiki, HTML

12) followup : what happened after the activity was over? did you find ways to extend your activity into other things you were doing? suggest some related activities that might be used in combination or in series.

Extras

(Help) : WV tutorials, like wikieducator but in context

(Code) : Make a wikiversity bot that parses the form and uploads directly to commons with info on the wv:user and context making the original upload

(Articles) : How to clone existing activity templates and styles; look through related activities for templates and processes that match what you have in mind. If it's not clear how to clone something you like, find the authors and projects involved and ask for help.

likewise for components of an activity -- a plan, list of materials, table, todo list, exercise set, &c.