Thank you everyone for your inputs. I appreciate your feedback and your good ideas! I will take the time to synthesize the ideas, and make sure we have something that aligns with our communications goals and the needs of the community. I think one thing that was lost in translation is that the theme would be used to spark a conversation--hopefully attracting education professionals to join in or better understand how Wikipedia fits into education programs. I was not at all thinking of the newsletter being like an academic journal, but it seems like it came off that way. We also must consider our limitations in terms of team and volunteer bandwidth. In any case, I'm excited to work on this with you all, and I know that we will make something great. 

best,

Nichole



On Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 6:10 AM, Leigh Thelmadatter <osamadre@hotmail.com> wrote:

I like it

From: Education <education-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org> on behalf of Mina Theofilatou <saintfevrier@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2016 11:11:07 AM
To: Wikimedia Education
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia Education] Newsletter updates--your participation requested
 
Asaf I think that is an excellent way to combine the two approaches :)

On Dec 17, 2016 7:48 PM, "Asaf Bartov" <abartov@wikimedia.org> wrote:
A theme can be highlighted separately -- say, in a quarterly "spotlight" publication, drawn from and based on the monthly reports (and not necessarily only from the very last quarter).

  A.

On Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 10:24 AM Mina Theofilatou <saintfevrier@gmail.com> wrote:
I too agree that it is a good idea to go back to the monthly format but as Shani has pointed out, we are volunteers: a theme is fine for a professional journal, not for educators volunteering their time to share practices across wikis and continents. I was actually looking forward to writing about the work we are doing at school this year - I am quite sure the simple but value-adding tasks I have assigned have never been done before in an education setting - but if the theme is not related I won't be writing of course (if thematic newsletters are the way we will be working from now on)

Looking forward to hearing from other educators, have a great weekend :)

Mina (Saintfevrier)

On Dec 16, 2016 7:25 PM, "Jackie Koerner" <jackie.koerner@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Friends,

I agree with not limiting by theme or area of education. So much can inform and inspire other areas of education. Many higher education conferences I plan and participate in in the US removed themes because a theme limited creativity and showcasing strong work. 

A monthly newsletter can be challenging in the creation process as well as the consumption. With so many other publications professionals are reading and other demands on time, maybe have smaller "abstract" entries on the newsletter and then a "read more" option (similar to the Blog section on the example you sent)? I could see how this would make sure key points are getting across to a larger portion of the population. 

Finally, what is the plan to monitor response like from the community about readership and what they find valuable? Is there a plan to regularly include some newsletter pieces where others outside of education would see (like included in Wikimedia blog posts)? Some educators are doing really incredible work and I think other Wikipedians should know. 🙂 

Thanks, Nichole, for taking this on. I know we all have our comments but we appreciate you getting the information together to share. 

Jackie

--
Jackie Koerner, Ph.D.
Researcher & Visiting Scholar
jackiekoerner.com

On Dec 16, 2016, at 10:46 AM, Vojtěch Dostál <vojtech.dostal@wikimedia.cz> wrote:

Hi all! I understand why thematic issues could be attractive (putting together similar initiatives from all over the world and thus putting them into context). However I agree with Shani that it would be too restricting for people who just want to spread the word about their news. 

If we want to group similar initiatives based on topic, lets introduce some sort of hashtagging into the newsletter. Then we can group it across different issues.

I don't mind going back to monthy issues but only if there is a plan to ensure a sufficient number of contributions. Active contact with education leaders and seeking possible topics might be some of the ways to achieve this.

Cheers
Vojta

Dne 16. 12. 2016 16:18 napsal uživatel "Shani" <shani.even@gmail.com>:
Hi Nichole, 

I support getting back to a monthly newsletter is great - a lot is happening worldwide and a quarterly newspaper means is dense and too restricting.

I do *not* support the idea of limiting the articles to only 4, nor the idea of working only around one selected theme. 
We are a volunteer-based movement, not a professional education journal. Volunteers should be able to share their news from around the world whenever *they* want to and as things happen. They should not be limited by number of submissions or a theme. In other words, we should make it easier on them, not harder. 

That said, I believe your idea of thematic news could be incorporated in a less restrictive way. One way of going about it is having a featured spot in the newspaper, dedicated to thematic headlines or anything else the community / editors think should be featured there. 

But, that's just me. :) I would love to hear what other members of this group think about it. 

Cheers, 
Shani.



On Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 6:07 AM, Nichole Saad <nsaad@wikimedia.org> wrote:
Dear WEP community, 

I know we've been introduced before, but let me reintroduce myself and some exciting new things I'll be working with you on. I'm Nichole, the new addition to the education team, and I'll be working on communications and as the regional focal point for Asia. 

I've been working on a plan to improve communication about the education program, including thematic elements, and along with Tighe and Vahid have concluded that the best place to start is with the newsletter. I know some of you were volunteering to produce the newsletter before, and I would love to hear from you if you have worked on this or are interested in starting. 

We've already got some great submissions in the Newsroom. Thanks to everyone who submitted their stories--The December Newsletter will go out by the end of the month :) 

Now for news about news! 

While we've currently been producing quarterly newsletters, I'm proposing to go back to monthly newsletters but smaller in scale with only 4 features per newsletter (the learning quarterly offers a good example). Each issue would be thematic, with a preceding community conversation around the theme taking place on Twitter, Facebook, the mailing list, and on the Wiki and synthesized as one of the features for the newsletter. The other features will be submissions from the community on project highlights or op-eds relevant to the theme. 

I would really like to get this off the ground for January, and that will require your cooperation! How can you get involved?

1. Submit your ideas for newsletter themes. Submissions needed by 12/24 on the Newsroom page, under the heading "Theme Ideas" 

To get the ball rolling here are a few general ideas:

  • Teacher Training/Professional Development
  • K-12
  • Higher Education 
  • Politics in Wikipedia Education Projects
  • Regional themes
  • Themes on specific Wiki projects
2. Once the theme is announced participate in the conversation! 

3. Volunteer to help produce the newsletter. We're going to need a team to help with: 
  • content curating 
  • revising the newsletter pages on the wiki 
  • formatting and publishing the monthly newsletters
  • distribution/promotion on various channels

Any questions can be directed to me nsaad@wikimedia.org. 

I'm looking forward to working closely with you all! 



best regards,

Nichole 

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_______________________________________________
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https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education


_______________________________________________
Education mailing list
Education@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education

_______________________________________________
Education mailing list
Education@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education

_______________________________________________
Education mailing list
Education@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education

_______________________________________________
Education mailing list
Education@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education


_______________________________________________
Education mailing list
Education@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education