Education November 2017

education@lists.wikimedia.org

9 participants
12 discussions

Writing or Editing a Wikipedia Article for Law School Credit
by Kleefeld, John 25 Nov '25

25 Nov '25

Dear fellow Wikipedians: This is to let you know about my most recent article, co-authored with former student Kate Rattray. We’re especially proud of this piece, in which we make a pedagogical and public-service case for writing and editing Wikipedia articles for law school credit. The article has just been published in the Journal of Legal Education, which, appropriately, is an open-access journal. The current volume can be found here: http://jle.aals.org/home/. You can also read an abstract and download the article from my SSRN (Social Sciences Research Network) website, here: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2729241. Yours truly, John Kleefeld Associate Professor, College of Law University of Saskatchewan 15 Campus Drive Saskatoon SK S7N 5A6 tel: (+1) 306.966.1039 email: john.kleefeld(a)usask.ca skype: johnkleefeld twitter: @johnkleefeld web: http://law.usask.ca/find-people/faculty/kleefeld-john.php

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Wikipedia assignment at Ulster University
by Lixxx235＠Wikipedia 22 Nov '25

22 Nov '25

Good evening, Professor Christie. My name is Lixxx235, and I'm a Wikipedia editor and an Online Ambassador with the Wikipedia Education Program. ( userpage <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Lixxx235>) It's come to my attention (through a student's request for help via Wikipedia's live chat) that you have given your students assignments relating to editing Wikipedia. While the Wikipedia Education Program fully supports such assignments, and endorses a number of courses at various universities around the world, according to one of your students, an assignment you've given seems to have students confused and is causing submissions in violation of some Wikipedia policies and wasting volunteer and student time. For example, this <https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Fuel_controlled_fires_…> is an entry one of your students tried to get help on from our live help chat. This submission does not meet Wikipedia guidelines such as notability policies, policies requiring verifiability of material, and policies requiring a neutral point of view (NPOV) to be kept. In addition, it was not in Wikipedia's standard format. We'd love to get in touch with you. Please reply back to lixxx235wikipedia(a)gmail.com and education(a)lists.wikimedia.org to see how we can help you develop good assignments for editing Wikipedia and how we can resolve some issues with your current assignment. All the best, Lixxx235 English Wikipedia

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Participate in the community wishlist - Voting open until December 10
by Tighe Flanagan 28 Nov '17

28 Nov '17

Hello Education folks, I wanted to call your attention to the Community Wishlist, which has opened voting on potential projects until December 10. The full list of 215 proposals can be found on the main survey page: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2017_Community_Wishlist_Survey <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2016_Community_Wishlist_Survey> There are also categories to help you sort through all the proposals, like "Programs and Events," which may be more relevant to people on this list: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2017_Community_Wishlist_Survey/Programs_and… There are also wishes in the Miscelaneous section that may be relevant to education programs, like: * Word count statistics https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2017_Community_Wishlist_Survey/Miscellaneou… * Making MediaWiki Mooc-ready https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2017_Community_Wishlist_Survey/Miscellaneou… If you spot other proposals/wishes that are relevant to folks on this list, please share as well! I encourage you to browse through and vote for any projects you would like to see be considered by the Community Tech team in future. Best, Tighe -- Tighe Flanagan Senior Manager, Wikipedia Education Program Wikimedia Foundation tflanagan(a)wikimedia.org education.wikimedia.org

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Tatarstan student convinces high school principal to try WP in Edication
by Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin 28 Nov '17

28 Nov '17

Dear colleagues, 16 y.o. Timerkhan Shaykhutdinov of Zelenodolsk obtained his high school director approval to work on improving https://tt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Галимҗан_Ибраһимов article instead of writing a regular research essay for Tatar language and literature class. Photos from his presentation of the results in front of his class are available on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/352291514949017/permalink/887636508081179/ This is the first such precedent in Tatar-speaking world, in the Republic of Tatarstan and, possibly, even within the Russian Federation. I'm obviously proud to have been mentoring the guy within Selet WikiSchool project https://tt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Википедия:Сәләт_викимәктәбе regards, farhad -- Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 / skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan

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Need help writing your case study? Come to office hours!
by Nichole Saad 27 Nov '17

27 Nov '17

Hi all, We wanted to remind you about the Case Studies campaign from the Programs team at the Wikimedia Foundation: our hope is to collect case studies of program or activities that haven’t been documented before. We hope to collect more representatives case studies for Education, GLAM and other program areas to better support and inspire other program leaders! To learn more see: https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Case_studies If you would like to learn more about what might make great Case Studies, or if you want some help thinking through what might be in a good case study, we are holding office hours on Tuesday: - 1800 MYT/1000 UTC on November 28: https://hangouts.google.com/hangouts/_/wikimedia.org/case-studies_utc0800 - 1200 EST/1600 UTC on November 28: https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/wikimedia.org/case-studies <https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/wikimedia.org/case-studies?hceid=YXN0aW5…> If you can’t attend these office hours, but would like help thinking about your potential case study, please let us know: astinson(a)wikimedia.org or nsaad(a)wikimedia.org Hope you share! Nichole Saad, Education Program Manager Alex Stinson, GLAM-Wiki Strategist

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Re: [Wikimedia Education] [Wikimedia-l] non-technical community wish: Invitational essay authorship contest
by James Salsman 24 Nov '17

24 Nov '17

Hi Mathieu, I was heartened to read your questions and conclusions: > If you take that into consideration, how might you even begin to consider > that there are any consensual ordering possible? ... > you can not provide a well-order[ing.] Referring to why I want to offer eligibility in the essay contest to the top half of student editors, I agree with you that any assessment of overall student rank from any set of metrics will not be a scalar value, but a confidence interval or a central tendency and variance. Therefore, since my actual intent was to offer eligibility to the top 35%, I nominally offer it to the top 50%. The present value of outcomes is not always equal to nominal values, e.g. in societies which could die of preventable communicable diseases arising among the poor and thus would all be better off if the rich are taxed to pay for the healthcare of the poor -- thereby increasing the actual wealth of everyone including those whose nominal wealth decreases -- but the proportion of optimal transfer incidence relative to the expected amount of charity and philanthropy is another matter for a future essay proposal. > what if "the best" essay writer in the pool you are targeting will be on the contrary repelled by such a contest? That is a risk well worth taking. > I'm not against fostering the idea of writing orignal essays around and within > the Wikimedia movement.... > maybe a dedicated project for essays might make some sense. I am only proposing a periodic contest, to be archived e.g. on Meta. I look forward to further engagement from the foundations. Back when I was the only one arguing for market rate Foundation staff salaries, some of the most fervent opponents were in the Foundation. It is not uncommon to see people voting against their own interests occasionally. It's quite common in some parts of the U.S. Thank goodness the foundations have a higher grade of thinkers. Best regards, Jim On Thu, Nov 23, 2017 at 1:57 PM, mathieu stumpf guntz <psychoslave(a)culture-libre.org> wrote: > Saluton, > > To my mind, this whole discussion doesn't make any sense as it is all > grounded on suspect hypotheses. > > First, what do you call an essay? I think that for such a work the author > must instill selfness in it. As say Montaigne "c’eſt moy que ie peins". If > you take that into consideration, how might you even begin to consider that > there are any consensual ordering possible? Actually, a "commissioned essay" > sounds more like an oxymoron than anything else. > > Concerning the proposed subject, I would advise any person considering > answering such a tricksy question to first question its premises. You might > even explore the strict opposite question: can any institution ever give > enough to a person for all the time dedicated into integrating its > expectations? All this time that nothing will ever give back, and not spent > in other life experiences that the said institution might not care about but > that would be far more enjoyable. > > So, to answer the last question, that's not simply your dichotomy which is > false, it's the whole underlying premise set your are pushing that is total > nonsense. No, you can not provide a well-order relation on any set for any > property. > > Moreover you seems to think that it suffices to drop money to achieve > attracting "the best possible essay" in the scope of your nonsense contest. > But what if "the best" essay writer in the pool you are targeting will be on > the contrary repelled by such a contest? > > Now, I'm not against fostering the idea of writing orignal essays around and > within the Wikimedia movement. Currently, I don't think we have a clear > dedicated project for that, although I come across some of them which are > usually stored on Meta, in user namespaces, or on Wikibooks (for example A > Lecture on the Limits of Human Knowledge). So maybe a dedicated project for > essays might make some sense. > > Eseete, > mathieu > > Le 22/11/2017 à 19:05, James Salsman a écrit : > > Thanks, Lucas. I am happy to discuss the idea. > > I believe that there is strong evidence against the proposition that > the best editors are skilled in writing articles but not essays. > > LiAnna and Tighe, do you have any reasons to believe that editors > skilled in composing both articles and essays are not superior to > editors skilled in articles only? Is there a false dichotomy in > believing that one or the other could be preferable to both? > > Best regards, > Jim > > > On Tue, Nov 21, 2017 at 6:18 PM, Lucas Teles <teleswiki(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Maybe you should first discuss any contest like this with community and > then come with a suitable idea. > > Your willingness to invest on this is something valuable and should be used > on a project that fits with WMF goals. > > Teles > > Em ter, 21 de nov de 2017 às 14:19, Tighe Flanagan <tflanagan(a)wikimedia.org> > escreveu: > > To echo LiAnna and Wiki Education's take, the Wikimedia Foundation's > education team support activities that get students to contribute to > Wikimedia projects as part of their learning. While the contexts may vary > from country to country and classroom to classroom, the students contribute > according to Wikimedia project norms (neutrality, citations, etc). This > type of proposed assignment/competition seems out of scope and we could not > support it on our end either. > > Best, > Tighe > > -- > Tighe Flanagan > Senior Manager, Wikipedia Education Program > Wikimedia Foundation > tflanagan(a)wikimedia.org > education.wikimedia.org > > On Tue, Nov 21, 2017 at 11:52 AM, LiAnna Davis <lianna(a)wikiedu.org> wrote: > > On Tue, Nov 21, 2017 at 1:27 AM, James Salsman <jsalsman(a)gmail.com> > > wrote: > > I offer $50 USD first prize and $25 for the runner-up for the best > twelve paragraph essay on the topic of whether college students are > likely to pay more in income taxes over their lifetime than the > present value of the entire amount of their college tuition, room, and > board expenses. > > This contest is open only to the top 50% of participants in the > Wikimedia Education Program or WikiEd Foundation's student editors. > > If there are any objections to this contest, please let me know. If > there are any reasons it shouldn't be communicated to the eligible, > please let me know. I ask both foundations to match my award, taking > the prizes to $150 and $75 if they agree. Thank you! > > > No. At the Wiki Education Foundation, we focus on teaching students to > write neutral, fact-based encyclopedia articles instead of essays; our > asking them to write essays would be counterproductive given the mission > > of > > our program, our organization, and the Wikimedia movement. We will not > support this effort, and ask that you do not reach out to them on your > > own. > > LiAnna > > > -- > LiAnna Davis > Director of Programs; Deputy Director > Wiki Education > www.wikiedu.org > _______________________________________________ > Education mailing list > Education(a)lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > -- > Steward for Wikimedia projects. Administrator at Portuguese Wikipedia and > Wikimedia Commons. > Sent from mobile. Please, excuse my brevity. > > +55 (71) 99707 6409 > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > >

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non-technical community wish: Invitational essay authorship contest
by James Salsman 21 Nov '17

21 Nov '17

I offer $50 USD first prize and $25 for the runner-up for the best twelve paragraph essay on the topic of whether college students are likely to pay more in income taxes over their lifetime than the present value of the entire amount of their college tuition, room, and board expenses. This contest is open only to the top 50% of participants in the Wikimedia Education Program or WikiEd Foundation's student editors. If there are any objections to this contest, please let me know. If there are any reasons it shouldn't be communicated to the eligible, please let me know. I ask both foundations to match my award, taking the prizes to $150 and $75 if they agree. Thank you! Sincerely, James Salsman

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What does leadership mean in the Wikimedia movement? Presentation on Thursday, Nov 16
by Maria Cruz 16 Nov '17

16 Nov '17

Hi all! Since July 2016 [1], the Learning and Evaluation team has been invested in understanding what leadership means in our movement, and how we can best support it. On Thursday, November 16 at 9 am PST (1700 UTC), we will host a public meeting to share what we have learned so far, and how we have been working to support community leaders. Follow the stream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJbg2w0RnFk and ask questions via IRC (#wikimedia-office). The first step was the Leadership Development Dialogue, a conversation about what leadership means for our communities, and how the Wikimedia Foundation can best support it. It was hosted by the Learning and Evaluation team, part of the Community Engagement department. The conversation touched on topics like what words best suited this area of work, and also what skills identified a good leader, and how we could best collaborate across the movement to provide support within our existing infrastructures (e.g., Learning Days [2] and the Wikimedia Resource Center [3]) and beyond. What does this mean to your local community and your work? How can you join these efforts? Join us to learn more about what we have learned from community members about leadership in the movement, and where we want to go next. Participation is encouraged via IRC (#wikimedia-office). A recording of the event will be available later on our youtube channel. Hope to see many of you there! Best, *María Cruz * \\ Communications and Outreach project manager, L&E Team \\ Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. mcruz(a)wikimedia.org | Twitter: @marianarra_ <https://twitter.com/marianarra_> [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Engagement/Leadership_Development… [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Learning_Day_events [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/ <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Engagement/Leadership_Development…>Wikimedia Resource Center

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Call for submissions for the Education Newsletter
by Vahid Masrour 16 Nov '17

16 Nov '17

Hello fellow Education Program Leaders! Let the world know what you are doing in your Education Program! It doesn't have to be very long, if you have a picture or two it will make it more attractive, and remember we can learn from both has worked and what didn't! Go to https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Newsletter/Newsroom, write an indicative headline and then put together 3-4 paragraphs so the world knows what is going on in your education project. Please share your news for the rest of us to learn from! Vahid. -- Vahid Masrour Community Capacity Manager, Wikipedia Education Program vmasrour(a)wikimedia.org https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education

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WMF grant request by Wiki Education Foundation
by Federico Leva (Nemo) 12 Nov '17

12 Nov '17

Probably of interest for people around here: <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2017-2018_round_1/Wiki…> Federico

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Education November 2017