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 to 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.

Saudi Arabia program kicks off
The Wikipedia Education Program officially kicked off in Saudi Arabia last week, when program manager Tighe Flanagan and Jordan program leader Dr. Nidal Yousef visited Riyadh for the introductory workshop. The program is starting at King Saud University's Wikipedia Training Center for Translation, which has had Wikipedia assignments in place since 2011. More than 100 students and faculty members from King Saud University and Princess Nora University received training on Wikipedia basics. The program is also looking to expand in Qatar and Oman in 2014. Learn more about current expansion within the Arab World by reading Tighe's blog post about the trip.

EduWiki Conference features Wikipedia in education
Program leaders, educators, students, staff, and Wikimedians gathered for two days in Cardiff, Wales, in early November for the second annual EduWiki conference. The conference, focusing on U.K. efforts to integrate Wikipedia into education at all levels, featured a keynote by Wikipedia Education Program Director Rod Dunican about the program, as well as several other presentations about the state of education and Wikipedia. Read a wrap-up of the even on the Wikimedia UK blog. 

Saudi visit featured in local media
Arab World Education Program Manager Tighe Flanagan's visit to Riyadh was covered in local media within Saudi Arabia. The Al-Jazirah article focused on the kick-off of the Wikipedia Education Program at King Saud University's Wikipedia translation efforts, part of the coursework. Read the article (in Arabic).

Education Program featured at Diversity Conference
While the Wikipedia Education Program didn't have a specific conference speaking slot, the program was referenced many times throughout the Wikimedia Diversity Conference in Berlin, Germany, last week (see Wikipedia Education Program Communications Manager LiAnna Davis discussing the program with Wikimedia Switzerland's Muriel Staub in the photo). The conference focused on how to create more diversity both with the content of Wikipedia articles and the make-up of the contributor base. With an Arab World ratio of 87% female students and a U.S./Canada ratio of 65% female students, the program has been one of the most successful programs at getting women to contribute to Wikimedia projects. And targeted outreach to disciplines under-covered on specific language Wikipedia has been a good way to improve the diversity of content as well. See more in the documentation page of the conference.