User:Carpet49/sandbox

= Swaraj University: Portfolio =

Topic Paragraph
I have chosen to write my article on the Swaraj University in India. I Chose this topic as i have always had an interest in traditional schooling system and the impacts that colonialism has had on schools in this country. As an alternative university it is interesting to look at and see what is often describes as the future of education and discover what differentiated it from traditional Indian schools and colonial schools. As this school is located in India it is particularly interesting due to the rich and varied history of the country; as it was once one of the most impacted by British Imperialism it will be interesting to compare this university to my experience at a British university.

Annotated Bibliography
1. https://ecoversities.org/ecoversity/swaraj-university/

This website represents a number of universities and schools around the globe which focus on using unusual or alterative teaching methods. It provides a summary of basic information about the school and methods used. However, this information is mainly taken from the website of the university so doesnt provide massive amounts of information on top of that. Additionally as it is advertising the school it will be showing it in an overly positive light.

2. https://www.swarajuniversity.org/

This is the website for the university. This makes it incredibly useful because it contains a massive amount of information about the university. It is not referenced but as it is a primary source this is less important as we know the information is coming from a knowledgeable place. The downside of this source is that as it coming directly from the university it may try to paint it in an overly positive light therefore making it biased.

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gesJTwkga0&t=216s

This is a Ted talk from the founder of the Swaraj university. This is helpful as in it she explains her beliefs about what university should comprise of and the type of curriculum and assessments she believes it will involve. This gives me background into the university and the goals that the university has. However this is also going to be a biased source as it can contain her opinion.

4. http://www.normanjackson.co.uk/uploads/1/0/8/4/10842717/swaraj_final.pdf

This source was written by a teacher at the Swaraj university meaning it has similar advantages, disadvantages and biases as the TED talk and the university websites. It is useful because it details the specifics of the teaching methods and the ideas behind them but it is important to member the biased viewpoint it is being written from when talking about the benefits of these methods.

5. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jan-Visser-4/publication/259673533_Swaraj_University_Reflections_on_an_experience/links/0046352d4344b8afbb000000/Swaraj-University-Reflections-on-an-experience.pdf

This source differs from the previous sources because it is written from an outsider viewpoints. It covers similar stuff to the other sources; methods, justifications etc, but shows a more balanced view on the impacts of this style of schooling. This is useful as it allows me to check the validity of previous claims and ensure my article remains free from bias.

6. https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4i1RDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA205&dq=swaraj+university&ots=gF2XpFvzrB&sig=GgUxfc_VKrB0lEvExenYfj_yiIo&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=swaraj%20university&f=false

This book is an extremely useful source as it provides an overview of a number of different alternatives universities with one chapter focusing on Swaraj University. This gives it a well rounded insight. It is also fairly recent, being published in 2018 making it useful for my article.

7. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.5822/978-1-61091-843-5_17

The website for the university will be the most useful in writing the Wikipedia article. This is because it provides the largely factual information which Wikipedia is known for. However it will be important that i use the other sources as well to ensure that the article is well balanced and avoids bias as far as possible.

First draft article
** NOTE*** pictures and references don't appear on draft article because they are in the main article and can't be featured twice on the same page and formatting is not correct - correct formatting can be found on submitted first draft on canvas

Swaraj University
The Swaraj University is an alternative university located in Rajasthan, India. It was founded in 2010 and offers a number of different programs to anyone over the age of 16, regardless of previous education level. Programs at the Swaraj University differ from traditional establishments by focusing on student-led self-designed learning without curriculums and assessments.

The school was created by a number of Indian academics from a variety of backgrounds based on the idea of self-governance in learning often labelled swaraj and inspired by the traditional story of Ekalavya and Guru Dronacharya.

The story of Ekalavya
An illustrated depiction of Ekalavya meeting Guru Dronacharya

The creation of the university was inspired by the ancient story of Ekalavya. In the story, Eklavya was the son the chief of hunters and wanted to grow up to be a great warrior and archer. When Eklayva asked his father if he could go and study under the Guru Dronacharya he was at first met with silence but ultimately was given his blessing. However when Eklayava arrived at the school of Guru Dronacharya he was told he came from the lowest caste so could not be taught. Eklavya didn't give up and decided to teach himself in the forest becoming a master and later being rewarded by Guru Dronacharya. This example of successful student-led learning inspired the foundation of Swaraj University.

The meaning of Swaraj
The university was names after and modelled around the idea of swaraj. This was an idea popularised by Mahatma Gandhi in his political pursuits and historically focuses on India's goal of Independence from foreign domination. However since then it has been used more widely in reference to all forms of self-governance including in education giving name to the swaraj university due to their focus on each individual controlling their own education.

Course Design
The Swaraj University offers a number of different courses all of them focused around their ethos of un-learning. There is an emphasis placed on self-directed learning process with each student choosing what it is they want to study and in what way they want to study it. Students also have control over when they study with the university not providing formal or strict timetables. Teaching is offered in Hindi and local languages to ensure people from a wide range of background can have access to this form of learning.

2-Year Khoji Program
The two year Khoji Program is the main program offered by the Swaraj University. It is for anyone between the ages of 18 to 25 taking the place of traditional university education, despite no degree being awarded at the end. This program focuses on allowing students to navigate their own way through education about leadership, entrepreneurship, ecological sustainability and social justice among other things.

The admission process for this course consists of 4 steps. Step 1 is to simply read through the website and fill in the registration form. Students then have to email an introduction about yourself to the University. The final two stages are after attending an orientation and a mutual selection round. If you are chosen to attend you have to pay your admission fee of 7500 rupees.

Swapathgami Workshop
The Swaraj University also offers a short-term program designed to give of all ages an opportunity to begin discovering more about un-learning and alternative education. The Swapathgami workshop is 3 to 7 days long and aims to give pupils a chance to experience the unique style of learning.

Swaraj Jail University
The Swaraj Jail University attempts to introduce the values of unlearning and self-governance that play a central role in the university to the prisoners and Udaipur Central Jail. This program was set up in October 2018 in a hope to teach them skills that would be helpful to adjust to both the challenges of prison and of life once they were released.

Hunarshala
Another program offered by the Swaraj University is the Hunarshala which focuses on providing self-governed education to those who might usually be excluded from both traditional and alternative education. This focuses on youth from tribes mainly between the ages of 16-25 who often find themselves dropping out of school to do migrant labour in big cities.

Assessments and results
None of the programs offered to students at the Swaraj University feature any form of assessment. This is because it is believed that formal assessment prevents truly free learning by forcing students to learn certain things in order to perform well in exams. The Swaraj University also holds the view that formal assessments are incredibly unfair, favouring people with certain skills and negatively impacting those without previous experience of formal assessments.

As students don't complete assessments and receive no grades or marks for any work that they complete, students also receive no degree or recognised certificate for completing a course at Swaraj University. Instead students are supposed to have learned all the skills they need to achieve success in their own enterprises.

Staff
Nitin Paranjape

Although there is no teachers in the traditional sense, the school consists of a number of mentors who use their expertise to guide students through their own learning journey. There are over 1,000 mentors who each provide their knowledge in different fields including farming, healthcare ecology and art. These people are selected by an international community advisors, who are alternative education experts from around and help decide how the university is run.

Co-founders
The Swaraj University was founded by three people who worked together to create an institution centred around self-governed learning. Nitin Paranjape, who focuses around using media for good, Reva Dandage who has experience in the pedagogy of self directed learning and Manish Jain who plays a big role in the larger unschooling movement in India.

Peer Review I did
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Madsal#Peer_Review (second one) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:315da

Peer Review from others
Peer Feedback: I appreciate how visually appealing the article is, from the images used to the hyperlinks involved. This allows the reader to digest the topic in a much easier manner, with the addition of hyperlinks allowing the reader to easily explore different parts of the article that are not fully expanded upon by linking another article or website for those who may want further knowledge. To improve on this article, I would suggest that a wider variety of references could be used, as many of the reference come from the 'Swaraj University' website. As a result, despite the extremely useful information involved and referenced, the article begins to feels like almost like an emulation or imitation of the official university website. From an immersive perspective, many of the sentences used allows the reader to consume the information easier since they are short, brief and to the point. However, it means that some aspects of the article are only mentioned on a surface level, which may not be enough for those who want to further immerse themselves on this topic, in which I would suggest expanding on certain parts of the article a little more, to perhaps fulfil an additional level of depth. — Preceding unsigned comment added by AO159 (talk • contribs) 01:03, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Positives: introductory sentence states article topic concisely and accurately in a single sentence context is good – all information included is also present in the body of the article clear organisation of headings and subheadings strong explanation of the subject – clear grasp of issues shown through the structure as well as context writing for an audience is good grammatically correct – short sentences – written in plain English using the active tense throughout the level of detail is ideally suited to the type of article being edited the inclusion of WikiLinks gives a useful further reading the writing is a pleasure to read. point of view is good – key points are provided using neutral language diverse sources from multiple perspectives careful explanation of any contentious matters concerning the article topic authors from the country context are cited alongside others images deepen readers’ understanding of the topic and are visually meaningful – captions are clear and concise citations are good – every statement is supported by a reference where required sources are thoughtfully selected – high quality and diverse authors from the country context are cited open-access sources are used where possible all references are complete

Improvements: the lead section should summarise all major points in the article e.g. the first section is about… the second section is about… etc. curation of the further reading and external links sections Yellow1830 (talk) 16:56, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Peer Review Feedback
Positives: introductory sentence states article topic concisely and accurately in a single sentence context is good – all information included is also present in the body of the article clear organisation of headings and subheadings strong explanation of the subject – clear grasp of issues shown through the structure as well as context writing for an audience is good grammatically correct – short sentences – written in plain English using the active tense throughout the level of detail is ideally suited to the type of article being edited the inclusion of WikiLinks gives a useful further reading the writing is a pleasure to read. point of view is good – key points are provided using neutral language diverse sources from multiple perspectives careful explanation of any contentious matters concerning the article topic authors from the country context are cited alongside others images deepen readers’ understanding of the topic and are visually meaningful – captions are clear and concise citations are good – every statement is supported by a reference where required sources are thoughtfully selected – high quality and diverse authors from the country context are cited open-access sources are used where possible all references are complete

Improvements: the lead section should summarise all major points in the article e.g. the first section is about… the second section is about… etc. curation of the further reading and external links sections Yellow1830 (talk) 16:56, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Thankyou so much for all the positive feedback. In regards to the suggested improvements i will not be implementing the formulaic approach sugegsted in the first paragraph as i feel it will detract from the flow of the article. I will add some further reading sections and look at my eternal links — Preceding unsigned comment added by Carpet49 (talk • contribs) 13:16, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

Peer Feedback: I appreciate how visually appealing the article is, from the images used to the hyperlinks involved. This allows the reader to digest the topic in a much easier manner, with the addition of hyperlinks allowing the reader to easily explore different parts of the article that are not fully expanded upon by linking another article or website for those who may want further knowledge. To improve on this article, I would suggest that a wider variety of references could be used, as many of the reference come from the 'Swaraj University' website. As a result, despite the extremely useful information involved and referenced, the article begins to feels like almost like an emulation or imitation of the official university website. From an immersive perspective, many of the sentences used allows the reader to consume the information easier since they are short, brief and to the point. However, it means that some aspects of the article are only mentioned on a surface level, which may not be enough for those who want to further immerse themselves on this topic, in which I would suggest expanding on certain parts of the article a little more, to perhaps fulfil an additional level of depth. — Preceding unsigned comment added by AO159 (talk • contribs) 01:03, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

From this peer feedback i will try to look at adding more references from a wider variety of sources to help create a more well rounded article. I willlook at going into more detail in certain sections — Preceding unsigned comment added by Carpet49 (talk • contribs) 13:21, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

= Swaraj University (final article) =

The Swaraj University is an alternative university located in Rajasthan, India. It was founded in 2010 and offers a number of different programs to anyone over the age of 16, regardless of previous education level. Programs at the Swaraj University differ from traditional establishments by focusing on student-led self-designed learning without curriculums and assessments.

The school was created by a number of Indian academics from a variety of backgrounds based on the idea of self-governance in learning often labelled swaraj and inspired by the traditional story of Ekalavya and Guru Dronacharya.

The story of Ekalavya
The creation of the university was inspired by the ancient story of Ekalavya. In the story, Eklavya was the son the chief of hunters and wanted to grow up to be a great warrior and archer. When Eklayva asked his father if he could go and study under the Guru Dronacharya he was at first met with silence but ultimately was given his blessing. However when Eklayava arrived at the school of Guru Dronacharya he was told he came from the lowest caste so could not be taught. Eklavya didn't give up and decided to teach himself in the forest becoming a master and later being rewarded by Guru Dronacharya. This example of successful student-led learning inspired the foundation of Swaraj University.

The meaning of Swaraj
The university was names after and modelled around the idea of swaraj. This was an idea popularised by Mahatma Gandhi in his political pursuits and historically focuses on India's goal of Independence from foreign domination. However since then it has been used more widely in reference to all forms of self-governance including in education giving name to the swaraj university due to their focus on each individual controlling their own education.

Course Design
The Swaraj University offers a number of different courses all of them focused around their ethos of un-learning. There is an emphasis placed on self-directed learning process with each student choosing what it is they want to study and in what way they want to study it. Students also have control over when they study with the university not providing formal or strict timetables. Teaching is offered in Hindi and local languages to ensure people from a wide range of background can have access to this form of learning.

2-Year Khoji Program
The two year Khoji Program is the main program offered by the Swaraj University. It is for anyone between the ages of 18 to 25 taking the place of traditional university education, despite no degree being awarded at the end. This program focuses on allowing students to navigate their own way through education about leadership, entrepreneurship, ecological sustainability and social justice among other things.

The admission process for this course consists of 4 steps. Step 1 is to simply read through the website and fill in the registration form. Students then have to email an introduction about yourself to the University. The final two stages are after attending an orientation and a mutual selection round. If you are chosen to attend you have to pay your admission fee of 7500 rupees.

Swapathgami Workshop
The Swaraj University also offers a short-term program designed to give of all ages an opportunity to begin discovering more about un-learning and alternative education. The Swapathgami workshop is 3 to 7 days long and aims to give pupils a chance to experience the unique style of learning.

Swaraj Jail University
The Swaraj Jail University attempts to introduce the values of unlearning and self-governance that play a central role in the university to the prisoners and Udaipur Central Jail. This program was set up in October 2018 in a hope to teach them skills that would be helpful to adjust to both the challenges of prison and of life once they were released.

Hunarshala

Another program offered by the Swaraj University is the Hunarshala which focuses on providing self-governed education to those who might usually be excluded from both traditional and alternative education. This focuses on youth from tribes mainly between the ages of 16-25 who often find themselves dropping out of school to do migrant labour in big cities.

Assessments and results
None of the programs offered to students at the Swaraj University feature any form of assessment. This is because it is believed that formal assessment prevents truly free learning by forcing students to learn certain things in order to perform well in exams. The Swaraj University also holds the view that formal assessments are incredibly unfair, favouring people with certain skills and negatively impacting those without previous experience of formal assessments.

As students don't complete assessments and receive no grades or marks for any work that they complete, students also receive no degree or recognised certificate for completing a course at Swaraj University. Instead students are supposed to have learned all the skills they need to achieve success in their own enterprises.

Staff
Although there is no teachers in the traditional sense, the school consists of a number of mentors who use their expertise to guide students through their own learning journey. There are over 1,000 mentors who each provide their knowledge in different fields including farming, healthcare ecology and art. These people are selected by an international community advisors, who are alternative education experts from around and help decide how the university is run.

Co-founders
The Swaraj University was founded by three people who worked together to create an institution centred around self-governed learning. Nitin Paranjape, who focuses around using media for good, Reva Dandage who has experience in the pedagogy of self directed learning and Manish Jain who plays a big role in the larger unschooling movement in India.