Hi,
(I am Mathias Damour - Astirmays, I opened Vikidia in 2006)
There is not so much resources in English about Vikidia or the
encyclopedic wiki for children generally, yet you can read :
-
https://www.wikimedia.fr/vikidia-in-english-opens-today-lets-build-a-childr…
-
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikikids and its sub-pages and other
links.
There is several definitions and approach of education for sure.
On Vikidia, we have both goal (or maybe three or more...;-)) to build a
valuable documentary resource for children and to let them (not
exclusively) be involved in building it, be it on their own from home or
in a school project, to "train to collaborate" and for several other
benefits.
If education is not only about learning, we think that such a wiki can
meet with some articles of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the
Child. Among other:
"/Article 13 - 1. The child shall have the right to freedom of
expression; this right shall include *freedom to seek, receive and
impart information* and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers,
either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or
through any other media of the child's choice./"
See: Wikikids/Relation to the Rights of the Child
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikikids/Relation_to_the_Rights_of_the_Child>
I would say that to let children and teeagers be involved in such a wiki
is not only a matter of education/training, it's to fulfil their
aspiration to participate, and I dare to say it's also to be frugal on
the adult's time resource and thus make the project sustainable by their
contributions.
Actually, school projects on Vikidia make a part of the content, yet
they hardly participate enough time to know the community and be
involved in it. They are still welcomed and their content, which will be
reviewed and expanded, is useful, especially because they would often
work on subject that are part of the curriculum and therefore much
needed by their fellow student the following years.
In a school project on Vikidia, the teacher can have his own goals
(skills learning, information literacy...) and view on his role in the
exercise, as long as it integrates well in the wiki.
Le 22/02/2021 à 14:02, Ilario Valdelli a écrit :
I think that you have to consider what are your goals
and what is the
role of the teacher.
If you are looking for a Wikipedia written by children, this is a goal
and some projects are more adapt than others.
If you are looking for a tool that teachers can use to train student
to collaborate, this is another goal.
Wikimini.org has been just now migrated in new servers to give it the
possibility to expand but definitely Wikimini is considered a tool for
teachers and the same concepot is followed by Klexikon, I suppose.
But behind everything there is the most important question: what is
education? A young contributor writing content did receive education?
Or behind education there are the skills learning?
If the wikimedia world does not evaluate what is education, what is
the role of the teacher in this process, and if young students need a
support, it would be complicated to say what is the most correct
approach.
Kind regards
--
Mathias Damour
49 rue Carnot
74000 Annecy
04 57 09 10 56
06 27 13 65 51
mathias.damour(a)gmx.fr