Wikipedia Education Program/News/6 August 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.

Watch the education video.

Video encourages Wikipedia's use in classrooms

Wikimedia Sweden wanted to create a video about Wikipedia's use in classrooms -- and the result is a fun, creative story. Incorporating characters including the teacher who hates Wikipedia and the star pupil as well as a fun ditty teachers can hum, and starring the incredible Sophie Österberg playing all the roles, the video is sure to be a hit with teachers around the globe. Learn more and watch the video.

Wikimedia Commons brochure released

A new brochure about Wikimedia Commons is now available. Designed to be a companion brochure to the Welcome to Wikipedia brochure, the Commons brochure, titled "Illustrating Wikipedia: A guide to contributing content to Wikimedia Commons", covers what Commons is, how to upload files, how to use files, and the basics of free licenses. The brochure will be useful for any classroom assignment that includes a media component, including adding an image to a Wikipedia article. The brochure is available in PDF or in print from the Wikimedia Foundation. Download the brochure.

New book includes chapter on Wikipedia

Professor Lori Britt of James Madison University has participated in the Wikipedia Education Program in the United States since 2011, so she has several terms' worth of experience teaching with Wikipedia. She used that experience to author a chapter on teaching with Wikipedia in a new book, "The Plugged-In Professor," now available from Woodhead Publishing. Lori's chapter is called "Writing for Wikipedia: co-constructing knowledge and writing for a public audience". Read more or order the book.

Welcome, Tighe Flanagan!

A warm welcome to the newest member of the Wikimedia Foundation's Wikipedia Education Program team, Tighe Flanagan. Tighe will be serving as the new Arab World Program Manager, focused on expanding the program currently in operation in Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia. While in graduate school at Georgetown University, Tighe wrote three articles on the English Wikipedia about the Arab World as part of his coursework through the United States program, and he is excited to use his knowledge of the program to guide the direction of the Arab World programs. Leave a message for Tighe on his user page, welcoming him to the Wikimedia Foundation.