I like it
________________________________
From: Education <education-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org> on behalf of Mina
Theofilatou <saintfevrier(a)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<mailto: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<mailto: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<mailto: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<http://jackiekoerner.com/>
On Dec 16, 2016, at 10:46 AM, Vojtěch Dostál
<vojtech.dostal@wikimedia.cz<mailto: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<mailto: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<mailto: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
<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@wikimedia.org<mailto:nsaad@wikimedia.org>.
I'm looking forward to working closely with you all!
best regards,
Nichole
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