Education/Recognition

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One of the goals of the Wikipedia Education Collaborative is to develop a global recognition system for Wikipedia Education Programs, program leaders, and participants at all levels: students, teachers, ambassadors, and education program leaders.^[1]^[2] These recognition certificates are a first step toward that goal.

Overview[edit]

There are several types of recognition certificates, both for teachers and students. Some of these will just recognize that the teacher has attended a Wikipedia workshop, others will be a certificate of organizing a Wikipedia assignment.
Certificates will be issued by program leaders and local Wikimedia affiliations, i.e. Wikimedia chapters, user groups and thematic organisations supported by the education team at the Wikimedia Foundation.
It is recommended that programs using the certificates, post an update on this page to let others know about their own experience.
Of course, the usage will not be mandatory. An organic process of joining our recognition initiative will be the best metric of how good or bad this idea of certifying students and teachers is.
Everyone is welcome to localize and develop the existing certificates and/or create new ones for their programs.

Solution[edit]

Options:

A .svg file will be available on Wikimedia Commons, easily translatable using this tool. However: Does it allow quick generation of eg. 10 different certificates (each with a different awardee) without the need to upload them to Commons?
A .doc and a .odt file will be available to enable addition of each country's education program logo in the top-right corner as well as the awardee's name.
A .pdf file which enables working with forms. Does it allow logo addition, though?

Inspiration[edit]

Wikimedia Sweden creates Open Badges - a similar motivation, different solution
Wikipedia Driving License in Nepal

Draft[edit]

Very unofficial first draft as an example

Results[edit]

After lengthy drafting process and collaborative efforts between the recognition group of the Education Collaborative and the education, communications, and legal teams at the Wikimedia Foundation, three fillable form certificates were developed for participating students, instructors and program leaders. See the Certificates section below

Certificates[edit]

The new certificates can be found on this category on Wikimedia Commons.

Editing the certificates[edit]

Download the certificate file(s) from Commons. You can find them all in this category.

If you prefer typing to handwriting, the JPG files are editable. You do not need advanced skills or special software to change the files. Simply follow these instructions:

Click the toolbox button (shown below) to display the markup toolbar.

Click the 'T' button (shown below) to add a text box; drag it to the desired location on the page. Repeat this process for as many fields as you wish to include, for example, the recipient's name, the signer's name, the signer's position, and the signer's affiliation.

Click the 'A' button (shown below) to change the font, text size, text color, etc.

Click the 'J' button (shown below) to add a signature; click 'create signature' then sign with your computer's mouse or trackpad. Or click 'camera' and take a photo of a signature on a piece of paper with your computer's built in webcam. Then save the file and print your certificate(s).

Field marks may appear on your screen but will disappear in previews and printouts.

You may add a logo for the local affiliate organization supporting your education program at the top of the certificate.

If you need help with editing the certificates, please reach out to Samir Elsharbaty at selsharbatywikimedia.org.

If you wish to make changes to the formatting in order to localize the certificate, in this case you will need a program to edit the PDF files, for example, Adobe Acrobat. If you need help with localizing the certificates, please contact Samir Elsharbaty at selsharbatywikimedia.org.

Requesting WMF signatures[edit]

Certificates should be signed locally by program leaders and local Wikimedia affiliates who closely monitor the student activity in each country.
The Wikimedia Foundation's education team is glad to co-sign certificates along with local signers if needed/requested, bearing in mind that the local signature should be the primary one. Local leaders always have a better idea about students' skills and abilities, based on participation in their program.
Please feel free to reach out to your regional program manager at the Wikimedia Foundation to request their signature if you feel that it would support the certificates you are issuing to your students and/or teachers.

Local usage[edit]

This section will document local usage of the recognition certificates in Wikipedia Education Programs around the world.

Armenia[edit]

The volunteer appreciation certificate was presented to Susanna Mkrtchyan of Wikimedia Armenia by Anna Koval from the Wikimedia Foundation. Today it hangs framed at WMAM's office in Yerevan.

Egypt[edit]

In Egypt, certificates were presented to students upon completion of a course in the Wikipedia Education Program.

Greece[edit]

In Greece, localized certificates were presented to students at the Second Chance School in Corfu during their graduation ceremony at City Hall on 26 June 2015.

Mexico[edit]

At the Tec de Monterrey Mexico City Campus, the new certificates were used to acknowledge the contributions of the Spring and Summer 2015 servicio social students.

References[edit]

[1] ttps://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Wikipedia_Education_Collaborative

[2] ttps://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Newsletter/March_2014/Education_Cooperative_Kickoff_Meeting_in_Prague

[1]

[2]