Wikimedia:Starting an education program/Our theory of change
Our theory of change
We focus on generating significant, high-quality content from student editors each term. A small fraction of these students will continue to edit, but recruiting them to become long-term Wikipedians is not the focus of our program. Instead, we wish to recruit the instructors to be long-term users of Wikipedia as a teaching tool. If we recruit and retain one instructor, that instructor will bring 20–30 students to Wikipedia up to two times each year and teach them how to edit Wikipedia. A small fraction of those students may continue editing after the course is over because they are predisposed to editing Wikipedia, but the real value in the program comes from the fact that student editors come each term and add significant high-quality content to Wikipedia, with very little staff resources once the instructor is experienced.
Still not convinced? Read more about our theory of change, then return to this training.
What is your theory of change?
You don't necessarily need to agree with ours. But think about what you believe, and design your program with that theory of change in mind.
