Wikiversity:What Wikiversity is not
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This page is a proposed Wikiversity policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. References or links to this page should only describe it as a "proposal". |
- Note: read the Wikiversity project proposal.
Wikiversity is a space for the creation and use of free learning materials and activities. This page is to outline some of the things it does not do.
What Wikiversity is not
- A place to confer titles: Wikiversity does not provide for participants to call themselves a "professor" just by starting or leading a section of its content. If you are a professor in real life (TM), you are free to call yourself such, but Wikiversity does not allow for people to make up their own titles.
- A degree-granting institution: Wikiversity does not currently confer academic degrees/diplomas/certificates etc.
- A duplication of other Wikimedia projects. While Wikiversity complements other Wikimedia projects, it will not simply duplicate their content. So, if you want to read about a topic, you may be better off visiting, say, Wikipedia or Wikibooks, but if you want to learn about this topic, you can do so at Wikiversity. Learning materials will be created and used on Wikiversity, but materials on other projects may also be used as learning materials themselves or even places to consolidate this learning, i.e. writing an article, manual etc based on what you've learned. There may be some overlapping, but each project will maintain its own focus.
- A post-secondary institution. Wikiversity will not confine itself to "higher" or "third" level materials, but rather develop materials for all age groups. It is a university in the sense of a transnational community of teachers, learners, and researchers ("universitas magistrorum et scholarium") dedicated to lifelong learning.
- An advertising platform. Wikiversity makes a distinction between:
- a) creating tutorials about useful software, linking to useful learning resources at other websites and otherwise exploring commercialized products that might be useful to learners
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- b) allowing Wikiversity webpages to be used to advertise commercialized products.
- Please respect the educational mission of Wikiversity. If you want to practice self-promotion, discuss a commercialized product or a personal or commercial website then respect the need to present your information in the form of an objective and informative learning resource. If you do not know what this means, expect Wikiversity participants to flag your contributions as unwelcome advertisements.