Wikipedia Education Program/News/19 February 2013

Welcome to the Wikipedia Education Program Update -- a newsletter from the Wikimedia Foundation about efforts to bring Wikipedia into higher education classrooms. The newsletter is released on the first and third Tuesday of each month. To be notified of the latest issue, add this page to your watchlist or email LiAnna Davis (ldaviswikimedia.org), the Wikipedia Education Program Communications Manager, to be added to the distribution list.

U.S. professor shares student experiences

Anne Nelson, a professor from Columbia University participating in the Wikipedia Education Program United States, contributed a post to the Wikimedia Foundation blog last week on her experiences with the program. Many of her students are English as a second language learners, and she asked those students to contribute to Wikipedia in both their native languages and English, leading to a unique multilingual learning experience for both Anne and her students. Read more of her reflections on the project.

Spanish Wikipedia's art coverage grows thanks to professor

Lila Pagola, a professor at the National University of Villa María in Argentina, started teaching with Wikipedia back in 2007. The lack of good information on the Spanish Wikipedia on topics related to art, her specialty, spurred her to work with her students to add articles on Latin American photography to Wikipedia, and she's been hard at work using Wikipedia in her classroom ever since. Read about her project in Argentina.

Meet Ambassador Mike Cline!

Unless you're in Montana today, you won't be able to meet him in person, but do check out the Wikimedia Foundation blog for a profile of Ambassador extraordinaire Mike Cline. Mike, a longtime Wikipedia editor, is featured in a series of video profiles about contributors to Wikipedia called "The Impact of Wikipedia" used as part of this year's fundraiser. His post talks about his outdoor activities, including fishing and the geography of Yellowstone National Park. Read the blog post about Mike.

Swedish program shares learnings

Sophie Österberg, the education program leader in Sweden, contributed a long post for the Wikimedia Foundation blog talking about her experiences so far as she has been having workshops with professors and launching the Wikipedia Education Program in Sweden, Wikipedia i utbildning. Sophie's post explains some of the mistakes she has made, and what she has learned from them. Her post encourages people worldwide to share learnings so we can ensure we are not repeating mistakes in different geographic regions. Read her post.

Farewell, Annie!

Annie Lin, who's been with the Wikipedia Education Program since its beginning in 2010, will be leaving the Wikimedia Foundation on February 22 to pursue other opportunities. The entire Wikipedia Education Program team will miss her tremendously. Annie is sad to leave, and she says she is very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with so many brilliant, inspiring educators and volunteers. If you're curious what she's moving on to, or just want to wish her farewell, leave her a message on her talk page.