[US-Ambassador-Announce] Fwd: Research data released, Professor profiled - a newsletter from Wikipedia

Hi, Ambassadors! I hope you all get a chance to check out the first article in the newsletter today (and the rest of it, of course!). The initial results from this research project show that the students in the Wikipedia Education Program are truly improving article quality. We know a lot of new users struggle to figure out the community norms and best practices, and I am confident you guys are the reason our students are able to turn assignments into good content on-wiki. We probably don't say it enough, so I just wanted to thank you for everything you do as volunteers. Our students wouldn't have the experiences they're having without you there to facilitate their introduction to this wonderful encyclopedia, so, sincerely, thank you for all of your hard work. Looking forward to this semester! Jami ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Wikipedia Education Program Update &lt;ldavis(a)wikimedia.org&gt; Date: Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 3:16 PM Subject: [US-Ambassador-Announce] Research data released, Professor profiled - a newsletter from Wikipedia To: Wikipedia Ambassadors &lt;ambassador-announce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org&gt; [image: Wikipedia Education Program Update]<https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/… Welcome to the Wikipedia Education Update — a newsletter from the Wikimedia Foundation that is distributed the first and third Tuesday of each month. Someone from our staff has talked with you about our Wikipedia Education Program<https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/… bring Wikipedia into higher education classrooms around the world, and we wanted to keep you in the loop on all of our exciting activities. If you would prefer not to receive these messages, simply reply to the email and ask for your address to be removed. Learn more about subscribing or read the archives.<https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/exter… Research shows students improve Wikipedia<https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/exter… [image: Article quality improvement]<https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/ex… 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.<https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern… Workshops introduce education program in Brazil<https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/u… [image: Workshop participants]<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wpwucapacitacaorio.… 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). <https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=774&qid=19273> Professor argues for Wikipedia's use in class<https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/ur… 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.<https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern… Cairo students' translation work featured<https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern… 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. <https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=776&qid=19273> Professor from Brazil profiled on WMF blog<https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url… [image: Edivaldo Moura Santos]<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EdivaldoMouraSantos.jpg&g… 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. <https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=777&qid=19273> To unsubscribe from this newsletter, click here<https://contacts.wikimedia.org/index.php?q=civicrm/mailing/unsubscr… . To unsubscribe from all Wikimedia Foundation newsletters, click here<https://contacts.wikimedia.org/index.php?q=civicrm/mailing/optout&a… . This email is sent from: Wikimedia Foundation 149 New Montgomery Street, 3rd Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 United States _______________________________________________ Ambassador-announce-l mailing list Ambassador-announce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/ambassador-announce-l -- Jami Mathewson U.S./Canada Education Program Associate Wikimedia Foundation jmathewson(a)wikimedia.org http://education.wikimedia.org Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! *https://donate.wikimedia.org*