Best practices in blogging about the Wikipedia Education Program
This page is meant to supplement existing Wikimedia Blog Guidelines with information specific to blog posts about the Wikipedia Education Program.
Volunteers are the cornerstone of the Wikipedia Education Program — and the story of the Wikipedia Education Program is best told through their words. That's why we want to encourage more participation on the Wikimedia Foundation blog from professors, Ambassadors, students, and other participants.
Do you have a story that can make up a blog post?
[edit]Before writing you might be thinking about the idea in your mind. Is it worth sharing it in a blog post? A blog post needs a story, details, lessons learned, or interesting ideas. If you have an update with no further details to make up a long blog post but you think the update is still worth sharing it, then may be a short post in the monthly Education Newsletter is the space you need to share your update. Please go to The Education Newsroom to draft your post there.
If there was a story behind your update, the volunteer you want to profile had achievements, the event you want to cover had good results/expectations/clear plans or expected numbers or stories that you think would be sufficient to make up a plot for a whole blog post then go for it. You may include different ideas, if they are related, in the same blog post. For instance, writing a blog post about the Education Program achievements in your country during the last term, that would include a brief update about a celebration you had at the end of your term, the achievements your students had so far in this term and one or two short stories of students who were an example for others.
If you are still not sure what is the best way to feature your update, please, contact us on the mentioned above e-mail address.
Getting inspired to write
[edit]This page documents some best practices that volunteers from the Wikipedia Education Program can use when drafting blog posts for the Wikimedia Foundation blog.
Below are general suggestions about different types of blog posts one might write for the Wikipedia Education Program. General blogging guidelines are available on meta:Wikimedia_Blog/Guidelines; please peruse this information before you start writing.
Blogging about an event
[edit]Did your campus just host an event about Wikipedia's use as a teaching tool? Submit a blog post about it! We're always eager to hear about Wikipedia events around the world.
What to include:
- Information on who spoke and what they spoke about (including links to slides as appropriate)
- Information on the audience: Who was there (professors, students, etc.)? How many people could attend?
- How was the idea of Wikipedia's use in higher education received? What questions did people ask?
- Next steps: How can other volunteers join the initiative and become involved in what's happening on your campus?
- A photo! Be sure to take a picture of the speakers and the crowd (ask a friend do to do this if you'll be speaking), then upload the image to Wikimedia Commons.
Blogging about your experiences
[edit]Share your experiences in the Wikipedia Education Program so far. If you're a professor, Ambassador, or student, we'd love to hear your perspective. What did you have your students do? How did you support students? Tell a thoughtful story about interactions with one student or one Ambassador. Explain why you feel the Global Education Program is worthwhile.
Some hints:
- Speak from experience. Share your specific involvement in the program and why you enjoy being a part of it.
- Explain everything. The readership of the Wikimedia blog includes people from all educational levels and many countries around the world. What may be obvious to someone in the U.S. education system is not obvious to someone in the Indian education system and vice versa. Not everyone knows what a Campus Ambassador is. The clearer you are about your activities, the better, and use links to relevant Wikimedia Foundaiton wiki pages to explain some aspects!
Profiling a volunteer
[edit]Don't want to write about yourself? Profile someone you know who's participating in the program instead. Profiles can be as simple as a Q&A, or you can write it into a narrative about that person's experience in the program. Find one aspect that makes that person unique: what about their experience is different from everyone else's? Why did they participate? Adapt the sample questions below to make sure you're getting that unique angle from what you already know about that person.
- Sample questions for student profile
- What year in school are you? Which course are you taking that is participating in the Wikipedia Education Program? What's your major/focus of study? Where are you from?
- What was your first reaction when you learned you were going to be writing for Wikipedia?
- What article(s) did you work on, and why did you choose to write on that topic(s)?
- How did you work with your Campus Ambassador?
- What was your interaction with the Wikipedia community of editors so far?
- How did you feel the assignment compared to a traditional assignment?
- Would you prefer to do a Wikipedia assignment or a traditional term paper? Why?
- What was your favorite part about writing for Wikipedia?
- What was your least favorite part?
- Will you continue to edit?
- Anything else you'd like to add about your experience with the Wikipedia assignment?
- Is there a photo(s) of you on Wikimedia Commons? If not, would you be willing to upload a photo of yourself to Wikimedia Commons that I can use on the blog?
- Sample questions for professor profile
- What courses do you teach that are using the Wikipedia assignment for class?
- How did you originally hear about the idea of using Wikipedia as a teaching tool?
- Why were you interested in incorporating Wikipedia into your class?
- How have your colleagues reacted to learning that you're using Wikipedia in your classroom?
- How did you work with your Campus Ambassador if there is one or more helping you?
- How did you feel the assignment compared to a traditional assignment in terms of student learning?
- What motivates you to do a Wikipedia assignment in place of a traditional assignment?
- What was your favorite part about incorporating Wikipedia into your classroom?
- What was your least favorite part?
- Anything else you'd like to add about your experience with the Wikipedia assignment?
- Is there a photo(s) of you on Wikimedia Commons? If not, would you be willing to upload a photo of yourself to Wikimedia Commons that I can use on the blog?
Getting your post published
[edit]All posts about the Wikipedia Education Program will be published on the Global Wikimedia Blog: http://blog.wikimedia.org/c/global/
Once your draft is ready, email Samir Elsharbaty at selsharbaty
wikimedia.org or on-wiki User:Selsharbaty (WMF) and he will review your post, offer suggestions, and get it scheduled for the next available slot on the blog calendar.