Education/Newsletter/December 2015/Two Wikimedian adult educators and an adult student present paper on Wikimedia editing at CIE2015 in Greece
By Marios Magioladitis, Mina Theofilatou
Snippet: How adult learners from the Ionian Islands of Corfu and Kefalonia shared cultural heritage on Commons and Wiktionary
On Sunday 11 October 2015 Marios Magioladitis of Corfu Second Chance School and Mina Theofilatou of Argostoli Evening Secondary School presented their paper “Adult Learners from the Ionian Islands of Corfu and Kefalonia Share Cultural Heritage on Wikimedia Commons and Wiktionary” at CIE2015. This year the Conference on Informatics in Education, organized jointly by the Informatics Departments of the University of Piraeus and Ionian University in cooperation with the Greek Computer Society, was held from 9-11 October at the University of Piraeus campus. With over 350 participants and a wide array of parallel sessions and workshops, CIE2015 is one of the most important annual events for Computer Science and ICT in Education in Greece. The paper Marios and Mina co-authored was the only one related to Wikimedia editing and adult education. Marios talked about the Wikiexpedition he held in the area of Lefkimmi with his students and the material they contributed to Wikimedia Commons and Greek & English Wikipedia, while Mina talked about how her students created the “Kefalonian dialect” category on Greek Wiktionary and contributed 50 articles.
The two Ionian Wikimedians collaborated for the first time last year with their paper “OERs in Secondary and Adult Education: the case of Wikipedia”, which was presented at CIE2014 at the Ionian University in Corfu. This year they finally got to meet in person and created a stir with their lively presentation and innovative teaching suggestions… but the Argostoli Evening School student Soula Synodinou was the one who stole the show. Soula is a 55-year-old assistant nurse, grandmother and honor 10th Grade student. The audience was impressed with her passion for knowledge, which literally follows her “round the clock”: she usually works night shifts at the hospital and during the project she would ask the elderly patients to tell her Kefalonian words, which she would jot down in her notebook and then register on Wikitonary in the school computer lab. Says Soula: “I would like to thank my teacher Ms. Mina for encouraging me to join her in the presentation. It was an amazing experience, to be at the University of Piraeus to talk about the Kefalonian dialect. It was perfect!”
After the presentation the team was approached by a teacher from another charming Ionian island: Mr. D. Leventis of Kythira Secondary School expressed his interest in exploring the possibility of collaboration on a joint Wikimedia project. By means of team-based learning and the Wikipedia Education Programs, the rich cultural heritage of the Ionian Islands is adding value to the world of free and open knowledge!
The authors would like to thank the Wikimedia Foundation for providing TPS grants to cover their travel expenses and the Teachers’ Association of Kefalonia & Ithaca for covering the student’s expenses. Thanks also to Dr. V. Belesiotis of the CIE2015 organizing committee for his positive response to our request to have Soula join us in the presentation.
Full paper (in English): Adult Learners from the Ionian Islands of Corfu and Kefalonia Share Cultural Heritage on Wikimedia Commons and Wiktionary, CIE 2015, pp. 361-370 and in the Conference proceedings (ISBN 978-960-578-010-4)
Read more about the Wikipedia Education Program in Greece here.