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March 2016 Newsroom

Welcome to the first This Month in Education newsletter!

By LiAnna Davis

I'm thrilled to write this preface to the first issue of This Month in Education, a new wiki-based newsletter for Wikimedians around the world to learn about education-related projects. Spearheaded by Leigh Thelmadatter, this newsletter is for Wikimedians by Wikimedians -- so a big round of thanks to the first contributors, Leigh from Mexico, Elly Kopf from Germany, Vojtech Dostal from the Czech Republic, Martin Poulter from the U.K., and Everton Zanella Alvarenga from Brazil. Everyone is encouraged to contribute something about your project for the next issue (link to Sept newsroom?), due to come out on September 15.

Our monthly metrics and activities meetings have died off, so I'm thrilled that Leigh has volunteered to continue to lead this newsletter-based initiate to share learnings across different countries. If you'd like to get this newsletter via your talk page, simply add your user name and preferred project to the subscription list.

I look forward to reading more about the amazing projects happening with Wikipedia in education around the world!

-- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk)

Working with International Baccalaureate students at ITESM-Campus Ciudad de México

By Leigh Thelmadatter

In January 2012, ITESM-Campus Ciudad de México began a pilot program to allow their International Baccalaureate (IB) high school students to work with Wikipedia to fulfill their CAS or community service requirement for graduation.

International Baccalaureate is a preparatory level program found in many schools in various parts of the world, which has a standard and rigorous set of classes, exams and other requirements in order to earn the diploma. A major plus for Wikipedia is that this program emphasizes research and academic writing skills! In addition to having classes almost non-stop for seven hours a day, IB students are also required to do 80 hours of community service called “Creativity, Action, Service” or CAS.

Thanks to Laura Sevilla, our campus IB director, working with Wikipedia was added as an option for this requirement. We started in January as a pilot with seven students to see how it could work. I am pleased to say it worked well overall, but as with any other pilot, a number of lessons were learned. The first is that while Wikipedia offers an almost infinite variety of ways to work with it (writing articles, translation, taking photos, etc) in an almost infinite range of topics and interests, it is very important to set up defined projects for high school students, especially in the beginning. This is because having too many choices can be as bad as having none and students of this age group need more direction than older students. For the Fall 2012 semester, I have set up projects with Uriarte Talavera and the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana, primarily working on biographies of Mexican artists associated with these two institutions. Another lesson is that it is very important to have specified time and a particular place for this CAS work to occur. While technically, Wikipedia allows students to work anywhere and at any time, specified times and place is needed to keep students focused. For the Fall 2012 semester, “Wikipedia time” will be from 3:30 to 5:30 pm (when I will be available) in a specified location in the campus library. In this way, students will be “at work” and it will also give us a place to physically organize the materials we need for projects. Thelmadatter (talk) 14:40, 24 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Reaching out to different target groups in Germany

By Elly Köpf

Starting this year, Wikimedia Germany has bundeled its activities in education in a new sector, called "education and knowledge". The aim is to reach out to everybody who wants to know about Wikipedia. For this work we built up a network of speakers (active Wikipedians and new editors) who offer Workshops and give personal feedback. Everybody can ask for support and is supported by material, personal consulting or a workshop.

On top of the sector we are currently running three programms: In "Silberwissen", which I presented with three other chaptes at Wikimania, we work to motivate seniors (60+ years of age) to edit Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. In the school project "Wikipedia macht Schule," we teach teachers how Wikipedia works and what they should know about it. Currently we are working also on teaching material to give away.

The third pilot project, the "Hochschulprogramm" focuses on professors in universities. We train them before the semester in editing and communicating in Wikipedia and give them a personal assistent from whom they can ask for help during the semester. The professors then edit in class with the students.

The new sector is really helping us to be flexible in the work and to be adressable to different groups (for example women).

We have had several experiences with our work we would love to share with other chapters or comunnity members. I am looking forward to the sucess of the education portal. --Elly Koepf (WMDE) (talk) 10:51, 27 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

"Students Write Wikipedia", Czech Republic

By Vojtech Dostal

A well-established project called "Students Write Wikipedia" is on the way at three major universities in the Czech Republic, the one in Prague (Charles University), Brno (Masaryk University) and Olomouc (Palacky University). In the winter and summer term of 2011/2012, more than 200 articles were created by a correspondingly large number of students. Students have proven to be usually easy-to-work-with and basic explanations are enough to sustain good article quality. For more efficient managing of the courses and easier outreach to students and teachers, new teaching materials have been considered, the one using mediawiki software seeming to be the best choice, together with some leaflets that are prepared.

The program is going to continue in the winter term 2012/2013 (starting in October). We have created a small, but reliable team that has representatives in all three cities to serve to teachers' needs and give lectures to students when needed. Newly prepared projects for this term will be gradually updated at this page, section "Připravované projekty". Over the summer holiday, we want to work on the FAQ-styled clicky helppage. You can get all the updates on our program at the corresponding Facebook page (more or less asleep during the holiday, will reemerge in the school year). --Vojtech.dostal (talk) 14:20, 2 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

External links

Students Write Wikipedia homepage
Wikimedia Blog post May 2012

EduWiki Conference, UK

By Martin Poulter

It's not long now until the UK's first EduWiki Conference, hosted jointly by Wikimedia UK and the University of Leicester. Taking place on 5th and 6th September, this will bring Wikimedians together with educators, support staff and managers from universities and schools. On the agenda are the Wikipedia Education Program, other educational uses of Wikimedia projects, and other open-content wiki projects. It is also a chance to discuss how open education communities and formal education will work together in future. Leigh Thelmadatter will be giving the practitioner keynote, with the Foundation and Wikimedia Deutschland also represented.

Involving more professors in the Wikipedia Education Program in Brazil

By Everton Zanella Alvarenga

A pioneer initiative was held by the Brazilian Education Program for the second semester of 2012: an open call for professor took place and we have received 36 proposals from all regions in Brazil in less than one month. Professors really showed interest in joining Wikipedia Education Program. We have selected 8 proposals at first place, who will attend a workshop organized by Wikimedia Foundation on August 11 in São Paulo. The head of the global program, Frank Schulenburg, will visit Brazil and will be present at the workshop. More professors will be invited to join the program during the semester and to attend a second workshop that will be held in Rio de Janeiro (different calendars are due to a federal professors strike in place in Brazil). Wikipedia community also showed interest for the program - we've received more than 80 applications from volunteers to support education activities as ambassadors. And last but not least, while no press release was sent about the call, online media gave proper attention to the program, informing readers about the call in their websites.

Cairo Pilot wraps up successfully with conference

By LiAnna Davis

Professors, Ambassadors, students, and supporters of the Cairo Pilot of the Wikipedia Education Program gathered in Egypt July 4-5 to share their experiences and celebrate the incredible accomplishments of the students. Seven classes participated in the pilot last term, with 54 students editing. Those students added the equivalent of 372 printed pages of content to 246 unique Arabic Wikipedia articles, and the Cairo Pilot succeeded in confirming that the proof of concept of students editing Wikipedia works in Egypt. Read more about the conference.

Day of the Dead Wiki Style at ITESM-Campus Ciudad de México

Day of the Dead display with a Mexican Revolution theme in San Andrés Mixquic

Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos in Spanish) is a major celebration in Mexico. It has roots in both Catholicism and pre Hispanic beliefs, and unlike death rituals in some parts of the world, is not a somber occasion. Quite the opposite, it is when family and friends welcome the return of deceased relatives and friends with offerings of traditional foods and other treats and visits to clean and decorate graves. It can even include picnicking in the cemetery or spending the night there. The actual Day of the Dead is November 2 but many communities celebrate for three days, with each day dedicated to different classes of dead, such as deceased children, adults, saints, etc.

As traditions vary in the country and preparations occurs during the month of October, there are many aspects of this important holiday which lack photographs in Commons, especially local traditions and cultural events. October is Cultural Month in the ITESM school system and it is the beginning of Wiki Loves Libraries. To participate, the campus library director, Lourdes Epstein and Thelmadatter have arranged for a photography contest styles after Wiki Loves Monuments, to present the idea of working with Wikipedia to students and professors. There are three prizes: one for the best photo (the "wow" category), one for the photo of the most original theme and the third for the student who takes the most photos. The second and third categories were created for two reasons: 1) to allow students lacking expensive cameras and training a chance to win and 2) to encourage the documentation local traditions and events.

Uploads for the contest category [1] are accepted from 5 October to 5 November with prizes awarded on 15 November. Our judges include a director of the en:Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares a professional artist/writer and four professional photographers. The photos are to be uploaded here [2]

Wikipedia de la A a la W by Tomás Saorin of the University of Murcia

Knowing about Wikipedia is not only cool, is a necessity in the information age. Professor Tomas Saorin of the University of Murcia in Spain has published a book on Wikipedia entitled Wikipedia de la A a la W (Wikipedia from A to W) in Spanish. The purpose of the book is to align with the Wikimedia Foundation’s strategy of promoting collaboration in Wikipedia with educational and cultural institutions.

This book aims to cover Wikipedia from all sides, presenting it both as an information source and as a community. Wikipedia de la A a la W targets librarians, teachers and communication professionals, to give them an easy reference and introduction into the “Wiki-World.” The book joins practical advice in article writing with historical background of modern encyclopaedias, such as Britannica online and Encarta. In a single place, readers can learn how to ask for help, update articles sections, make a template or upload a media. A book is also the kind of thing that may help them realize that it's time to start editing Wikipedia.

As an information literacy tool, as a cultural artifact made collaboratively and as an information resource to improve, it is time to understand it in depth, and this book can guide in this never ending path. As the book is published in Spanish, it focuses Spanish Wikipedia’s community and norms. This is important because despite Spanish’s status as a widespread language spoken on at least four continents, Spanish Wikipedia only ranks sixth in number of articles.

Originally, the book was going to be entitles Wikipedia, a través del espejo (Wikipedia, through the looking glass), an allusion to Alice in Wonderland, as Alice’s second book. The point of this title was to show that Wikipedia is much more than a web site. It's a thrilling adventure where every single scholar, teacher, professor or curator can share their knowledge worldwide and construct a never before seen set of millions of weaving pieces of content, data and ideas.

Note: Proceeds from the book will be donated to the Wikimedia España.

Publisher’s description (Editorial Universitat Oberta de Calalunya

Reviews of the book:

Communicate OER: Help improve Wikipedia content about education!

You may have seen last month's announcement of Communicate OER. This month, we're back – now 25 members strong, spanning at least four continents and numerous professional backgrounds – with some specific suggestions and requests!

Join the Communicate OER team by signing up here
Review a Wikipedia article about education on its talk page, and let us know on the project's talk page
You can now follow us on Twitter: @CommOER
In the next few days (October 16–18), Pete and Sara will be teaching Wikipedia editing at the Open Education conference in Vancouver, Canada. We'll have live video feeds via Google Hangout at 11:45am Tuesday, 11:15am Wednesday, and 2:30pm Thursday (all times Pacific). Watch for details at WP:COMMOER or on our Twitter feed!

We hope to have your help as we build a thriving community of Wikipedians to curate content about openness in education. Please feel free to share your thoughts, questions, or suggestions!

Czech program concentrates on promotion and high-quality guidelines

Winter term 2012/2013 has already started at all Czech universities - and the Students Write Wikipedia team is busy polishing the final details of the upcoming class projects. To promote our 'ambassador program' even more, we have prepared a wall poster (aiming at potential cooperators among the teachers) and a hand-out leaflet (that is to be used mainly at conferences and exhibitions that the local chapter attends). Both papers are in print right now. To sustain a personal contact with our students, we have already made (or are going to make) a few lectures in cities where our projects take place this year - Prague, Olomouc, Brno, but also Teplice.

A small-scale survey among last year students showed that the most 'wanted' form of help are simple, written guidelines, followed by a call for 'explanatory videos' as the second most wanted type of help giving. We materialized these results in FAQ-style guidelines, relating to the most important Wikipedia editing features. Of course, students are still encouraged to write us an e-mail (studentiwikimedia.cz) or ask at our Facebook page - and so is anyone who wants to find out more about our program.

Editatón at the University of the Cloister of Sor Juana

UCSJ students working on their first Wikipedia articles at the university library

On Monday, October 8, the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana (University of the Cloister of Sor Juana) in the historic center of Mexico City held its first ever editathon to explore the concept of the social construction of knowledge. The University is a private liberal arts institution located in the former San Jerónimo monastery, a colonial-era institution best-known for having been the home of writer and thinker Sor Juana de la Cruz.

This editathon was organized by UCSJ student Nvjacobo in collaboration with Wikimedia México. Experienced Wikipedians Correogsk and Wotancito gave a basic introduction to editing in es.wiki. Over fifteen students and professors participtated including representatives from the es:Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana and ITESM-Campus Ciudad de México. The aim of this editathon was to create new articles and improve existing ones related audiovisual communication, to celebrate the institution´s College of Communication Days and held on the campus library. These articles include Comunicación_Audiovisual (Audiovisual Communication), Paisaje sonoro (soundscape) and Tipografía Web (Web typography).

Versión en español

Editatón en la Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana

El lunes 8 de octubre en la Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana en el Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México. Realizó su primer editatón bajo la la idea de la construcción social del conocimiento. La Universidad es una institución privada de humanidades ubicada en el antiguo convento de San Jerónimo, conocido por haber alojado a la poetisa, novelista y ensayista Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

El Editatón fue organizado por el estudiante Jacobo Nájera en colaboración con Wikimedia México. Los wikipedistas Correogsk y Wotancito dieron una introducción para editar la Wikipedia. Alrededor de 15 estudiantes y profesores participaron, incluyendo representantes de la es:Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana y ITESM-Campus Ciudad de México. El objetivo de este editatón era crear artículos nuevos y mejorar los existentes relacionados con el quehacer de la comunicación, realizado en el marco de las Jornadas del Colegio de Comunicación. Estos artículos incluyen Comunicación_Audiovisual (Audiovisual Communication), Paisaje sonoro (soundscape) and Tipografía Web (Web typography).

Research shows students improve English Wikipedia

Spring 2012 U.S. and Canada article quality improvement.

Research data released today shows that Spring 2012 students in the U.S. and Canada programs improved the quality of articles by an average of 6.5 points on a 26-point assessment scale, with 87.9 percent of articles showing noticeable improvement after student edits. The new research is part of our ongoing efforts to determine success factors for future classes in the U.S. and Canada Education Programs. See the results.

Workshops introduce education program in Brazil

Two more workshops have introduced Brazilians to the idea of using Wikipedia as a teaching tool in higher education courses. On September 22, a group of experienced Campus Ambassadors and professors led an orientation in Rio de Janeiro for new program participants. More than 300 people attended a presentation in Porto Alegre the following weekend, with many of them joining three workshops afterward. Read more about the second event (in Portuguese).

Professor argues for Wikipedia's use in class

Wikipedia belongs in university classrooms, argued Michigan State University professor Jonathan Obar in a piece posted on Read Write Web. The highly informative article walks people through why Wikipedia is a valuable tool for both teaching and research, and explains the benefits for each in terms of student learning. Read the article.

Cairo students' translation work featured

The Wikimedia Foundation blog featured a post highlighting the work of two students from the Cairo Pilot, Helana Fola and Mina Saber. Helana and Mina are both French literature students at Ain Shams University, and they discovered a skill for French to Arabic translation through their work with the Cairo Pilot. Learn more about their experiences with the program.

Professor from Brazil profiled on blog

Edivaldo Moura Santos, a professor of physics at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, started using Wikipedia in his classroom in spring 2012 as part of the Wikipedia Education Program. His students improved articles on electromagnetism, and he was thrilled with the unique experience it afforded them, especially in regard to student learning and engagement. His work was featured in a blog post on the Wikimedia Foundation blog. Read the post.

Preliminary results of cooperation about protected areas

As we reported earlier, we started a new year's cooperation between Czech based WikiProject about Protected areas and one class at Charles University in Prague. First students have chosen their articles of interest just a couple of weeks ago, but some of them have already visited these wildlife reserves, taken images, made a presentation and written articles on Czech Wikipedia. We waited impatiently if this term will also be so successful as the previous. Will students achieve same high-quality level as last year? Will they enjoy editing Wikipedia? One of the first article completely dispelled our fears. The article about nature reserve Hostivické rybníky at the periphery of Prague has proudly gone some way towards the status of a Good article on Czech Wikipedia. If other articles succeed like this one, it will be a great achievement for Czech Wikipedia and for our education program as a whole.

Winners of the Day of the Dead Wiki Style contest announced

Winner best photograph of the Día de Muertos estilo Wiki contest

On 15 November 2012, the winners of the Día de Muertos estilo Wiki photographic contest ([3]) were announced. The winners are Thetambourinekid with the best photograph ([4]) , Copetevic with the most original photograph ([5]) and Guilleminargp who uploaded the most photographs. In total just over 400 photographs were uploaded in time for judging by a panel of professionals with included the director for scholastic affairs of Mexico’s National Museum of Popular Cultures. All of the photographs that were uploaded can be seen here ([6]) The contest was sponsored by the Campus Library of ITESM- Campus Ciudad de México to promote the working with Wikipedia and its sister projects among students and teachers as well as promote the wide variety of celebrations and commemorations that surround Day of the Dead in Mexico. To this aim, several classes gave students extra credit for participation, and a Chinese language class taught by Lili Sun used it as a regular assignment, with students writing the descriptions of their photographs in Spanish and Chinese, with some adding other languages such as German and French.

U.S. professor blogs about her experiences

Alverno College professor Jennifer Geigel Mikulay wrote a post for the Wikimedia Foundation blog about her experiences incorporating Wikipedia into her classroom. She asks her students to write Wikipedia articles about public artworks or create videos posted on Wikimedia Commons to illustrate article content, and the best part is that all of her students are women, so she's helping to address Wikipedia's gender gap. Learn more about her experiences by reading her post.

More than 20 classes join Egypt program this term

The Wikipedia Education Program in Egypt is kicking off its second term, with courses at the University of Alexandria joining Cairo University and Ain Shams University in participating. More than 20 courses are already on board, with both new and returning professors using Wikipedia in their classrooms this term. At Ain Shams University, courses will be working to translate high quality articles from the English, German, Hebrew, and French Wikipedias onto the Arabic Wikipedia this term. See the full list of courses.

Michigan hosts teaching with Wikipedia workshop

Open.Michigan, a University of Michigan open educational resources initiative, hosted Wikipedia Education Program staff member Jami Mathewson last month for a workshop on teaching with Wikipedia. More than 35 faculty, staff, and students at the University of Michigan attended an information session on the program, and a total of 16 people stayed for the in-depth workshop led by the University of Michigan student club. Learn more about the event by reading Open.Michigan's blog post about the workshop.

Professor in Brazil leads successful editing workshop

Professor Juliana Bastos Marques of Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, led an editing workshop for students last month as part of the Extension Week at her university. She and her Campus Ambassador, User:Otavio1981, introduced 12 students, including students from other universities, how to edit Wikipedia. The students translated five articles from the English Wikipedia onto the Portuguese Wikipedia throughout the four-hour workshop, and left with wiki editing and literacy skills that will stay with them. Learn more by reading Juliana's post.

Updates page provides info on Egypt program

Wikipedia Education Program Egypt consultant Faris El-Gwely is working with Campus Ambassadors to keep a running updates page on the Arabic Wikipedia with information about their activities. The updates pages includes information on in-class editing sessions, students' reactions to Wikipedia editing, and challenges that they faced, such as lack of reliable internet access. It's a great way to keep up with the current status of the Egypt program. Read the updates page.

U.S. student improves article on bird species

A student in the Wikipedia Education Program in the United States dramatically improved the article on the Black-throated Blue Warbler, a species of bird found mainly in eastern North America. The student, who is taking Professor Joan Strassmann's Behavioral Ecology class at Washington University in St. Louis, added sections on the bird's behavior, including feeding, breeding, and sexual selection. Check out the work the student has done and leave suggestions on the talk page.

Malayalam Education Program releases status update

The Malayalam Wikipedia community is leading an extension of the Wikipedia Education Program, focusing on a high school. The first Indic language program, the Malayalam program has recruited 34 students who are active in creating Wikipedia articles. Shiju Alex, who is helping lead the program, wrote a post for the Centre for Internet and Society's blog with updates on the program. Read the post.

Articles of Interest in other publications (this goes last)

The politics of truth: Who wins on Wikipedia? A study of what Wikipedia deletes and who it bans Heather Ford's thesis proposal
The Teacher's Guide to Wikipedia
Wikipedia Somos Todos (in Spanish) by Prof. Alan Lazalde
by Dr Martin Poulter. This is a bit old but has not been shared here I don't think.