Education/About/Education Team/Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom
Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom
In the information era, learning how to read Wikipedia should be as integral to the education experience as learning your abc’s. This project introduces teachers to the communities and practices behind Wikipedia - the largest free encyclopedia in the world. Through a localized set of tools and professional training opportunities, this project helps both educators and students to develop vital media and information literacy skills for the 21st century: understanding how information is produced, how to access and evaluate content online, and how to understand biases and knowledge gaps in the information they consume.
Additionally, this project introduces a model that facilitates collaboration between civil society actors in the open knowledge sector and teachers and government authorities. Through this collaboration we seek to form a coalition that advances the competencies in UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy framework, and therefore SDG 4 -- Quality Education. All of this through the power of Wikipedia!
Where are we working?
[edit]We are piloting this project with the help of our local affiliates in three different countries, Morocco, Bolivia and the Philippines. Different indicators of the education system have been studied for these countries, information on the country’s school system, teacher qualifications, curriculum, and media and information literacy.
The following pages describe and provide information about the general education system and other indicators:
- About the research
This background research was conducted by Priyal Gala and Meng Zhou, graduate fellows from George Washington University. Their research is helping us to understand how this project will work within the existing systems, and improve outcomes for teachers, students, and the Wikimedia movement.
Benefit to education
[edit]This project will introduce teachers to the communities and practices behind Wikipedia.
It will help both educators and students to develop vital information literacy skills for the 21st century: understanding how information is produced, how to evaluate knowledge integrity, and how to understand biases and knowledge gaps in the information they consume.
To achieve the project goals, partner schools will benefit from:
- A localized toolkit for teachers on how to use Wikipedia to develop information literacy skills
- Teacher development training for selected teachers in the use of the toolkit
- Ongoing support from local coordinators to teachers implementing these resources and practices in their classroom
- Professional development recognition for participating teachers and schools
- Integration to the international network of Wikimedia education leaders
Impact on Wikimedia movement
[edit]This project aims to change attitudes towards Wikipedia in schools, leading to an increase in readership, and an increased understanding of the Wikimedia movement.
Referential timeline of the project
[edit]
Partner with us
[edit]We seek to partner with schools and teachers who recognize the importance of fostering information literacy skills through a multidisciplinary approach.
In each country, we are working with 25 teachers who teach students between the ages of 12-14, and who come from various backgrounds and teach a variety of subjects. We are looking for partners who are excited to embark on this opportunity to innovate in their classroom practices and join a diverse international network of education leaders!
|
|
