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
On Dec 16, 2016, at 10:46 AM, Vojtěch Dostál
<vojtech.dostal(a)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(a)gmail.com>om>:
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(a)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(a)wikimedia.org.
I'm looking forward to working closely with you all!
best regards,
Nichole
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Education mailing list
Education(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
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Education mailing list
Education(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education