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
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Evaluation/Newsletter/2016/3/10>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(a)wikimedia.org.
I'm looking forward to working closely with you all!
best regards,
Nichole