Education/Newsletter/December 2015/Teachers in Serbia professionally trained to use Wikipedia in the classroom by Wikimedians
By Milica Žarković & Ivana Guslarević (Wikimedia Serbia)
Snippet: Wikimedia Serbia organized first professional development trainings to teach teachers in Serbia how to use the Wikipedia in the classroom.
Wikimedia Serbia, in addition to regular Education Program activities - which include supporting student editors at 11 secondary schools and five universities in 14 faculties on two Wikimedia projects, have organized and facilitated four trainings for over 100 teachers in three different cities in Serbia, developed for teachers to learn about the use of Wikipedia in the classroom. The seminar is a recognized course option in the official teacher-development training catalog since the school year 2014/2015, and it is accredited by the State Institute for Improvement of Education. Participants were teachers from primary and secondary schools from all over Serbia, so training was designed to address their specific needs and experiences. Since using wiki tools is now a legislated/required component of the national educational curriculum for the second year of secondary school, these seminars are a great opportunity for teachers to get support and knowledge about wiki technologies.