A snapshot of Wikimedia education activities in Asia: a report from the 2017 site visit to Nepal, India, and Taiwan

How will the site visits inform what the Education Team does going forward?

The most valuable insight gleaned from the site visits to India, Nepal and Taiwan, was that this kind of in-context observation and support is necessary to help education programs grow in emerging communities. The Education Team is in the process of drafting strategy to streamline and scale up this kind of support through equitable and transparent processes. We will be sharing more information about this strategy in the coming months.

Additionally, three ideas emerged from the site visits, and were based on conversations that happened in-context in each country. These ideas might seem difficult to implement, but the ideas themselves can provide valuable insight into the type of support that the Education Team might provide in the future.

	WikiTeacher	A safe space where educators using Wikimedia projects in the classroom can collaborate, co-create, and give constructive feedback. This idea was brought up during several focus groups in Asia with educators at the secondary and higher ed levels, but especially in Nepal with the teachers at Deerwalk Sifal School. “Open education”, “sharing (pedagogic practices) is learning”, Could be a valuable project to develop with partners in the open education movement.
	Wiki Student and Educator Summit	Intrinsic and extrinsic motivators for participating in education programs are needed for sustainability at the local level. Intrinsic motivation comes from tapping into student interests and being part of a volunteer community. In India, conversations with program leaders, especially Tanveer, and educators led to the idea of an extrinsic motivator in the form of attendance at a Wiki Student and Educator summit that students and educators can earn participation in through a transparent selection criteria. This could be piloted regionally (CIS offered to host) and scaled internationally in years to come.
	Sustained learning for program leaders	Discussions in Taiwan with Liang and other program leaders led to the development of an idea for a pilot of sustained learning for program leaders. Program leaders have the opportunity to earn micro-credentials or some other formal recognition for taking part in sustained learning around planning and evaluating education programs (and/or other programs). The problem being workshops at Wiki Conferences during learning days are not sufficient for program leaders to implement what they have learned. They need more mentorship and sustained guidance and practice.