Hello All,
A middle school has approached us to run a Wikipedia program for them. We are considering training the students on how to effectively use Wikipedia as well as hinting them on the ability to correct basic things such as typos and grammar. We also intend to teach them how to play the Wikidata game.
Is our approach good? or what alternative activities we can have with the school.
Thanks in advance for your comments or suggestions.
Regards,
Hi Felix,
I think that Wikimedia Armenia has a middle school program, and that Wikimedia Israel was considering developing a middle school program, so you might consider reaching out to them individually if you don't hear back from them on this list.
Good luck,
Pine ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
On Thu, Aug 30, 2018 at 11:06 PM Felix Nartey flixtey@gmail.com wrote:
Hello All,
A middle school has approached us to run a Wikipedia program for them. We are considering training the students on how to effectively use Wikipedia as well as hinting them on the ability to correct basic things such as typos and grammar. We also intend to teach them how to play the Wikidata game.
Is our approach good? or what alternative activities we can have with the school.
Thanks in advance for your comments or suggestions.
Regards,
*Felix Nartey* *Open Foundation West Africa https://openfoundationwestafrica.org/* *+233242844987 | **+447452508504* *Skype:Flixtey* *Website: **https://openfoundationwestafrica.org/ https://openfoundationwestafrica.org/*
ᐧ _______________________________________________ Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
Hi Felix,
The education program at Wikimedia Israel runs in Middle schools and in High schools as well in both Hebrew and Arabic for few years now. In both programs, the students write new articles and improve articles too by enriching the content. Choosing a theme https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News/February_2018/The_Multidisciplinary_Choices_of_High_School_Students:_The_Arabic_Education_Program;_Wikimedia_Israel for each group would be a good start especially if there is a common template to the topic on Wikipedia (i.e. flags); another interesting project was working with students on expanding Wiktionary https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News/April_2018/Students_Write_Wiktionary, students added expressions in Hebrew following a research instructed by the teacher and assisted by an editing tool developed by WMIL. In multilingual educational systems, translating short articles can be a good exercise especially if a glossary was determined ahead by the instructional team. The organization accompanies the school staff and the students throughout the program by 1) introducing Wikipedia which is essential to the process, 2) providing instructional tools which enable students to self-train themselves at home too, 3) running editing workshops at schools. Some schools would run the program as of part of their "project based learning" activities, which ensures efficiency.
I hope my answer was helpful, and good luck with the initiative!
Best, Bekriah Mawasi Arabic Education Coordinator, WMIL
On Fri, Aug 31, 2018 at 2:06 AM Felix Nartey flixtey@gmail.com wrote:
Hello All,
A middle school has approached us to run a Wikipedia program for them. We are considering training the students on how to effectively use Wikipedia as well as hinting them on the ability to correct basic things such as typos and grammar. We also intend to teach them how to play the Wikidata game.
Is our approach good? or what alternative activities we can have with the school.
Thanks in advance for your comments or suggestions.
Regards,
*Felix Nartey* *Open Foundation West Africa https://openfoundationwestafrica.org/* *+233242844987 | **+447452508504* *Skype:Flixtey* *Website: **https://openfoundationwestafrica.org/ https://openfoundationwestafrica.org/*
ᐧ _______________________________________________ Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
Hi Felix,
It is great that a Middle school approached you for running a Wikipedia program. In my experience, it works best if the teachers themselves are the ones doing the training. This means that you first have to get the teachers personally involved in the project, train the teachers and show them where they can get (immediate) help if they have any questions. The teachers have to be comfortable with editing Wikipedia before they can pass those skills on to their students.
In Middle school, the students still have a close bond with their assigned teachers, it is more difficult for an external trainer to come into a classroom and teach the kids something without cooperating closely with the regular teacher. If their current teacher has a negative view of Wikipedia, most of the students will share that view. That can change, and as teachers we know that in a following year when a teacher no longer have certain students in his or her class, most of his/her credibility will have been lost overnight (as well as his/her negative view of Wikipedia). But it would be easier to first change that teachers negative view than waiting for next school year and hoping that the students will have another teacher.
So basically you have to be sure that the teachers will support and go along with the project. The school authorities, of course, but the teachers must agree. We are all volunteer contributors, nobody forces us to write and there is no way that an activity like the one you are looking into can be imposed on the individual teachers. Get the teachers excited about Wikipedia editing and the students will join in!
There are a number of good suggestions in the answers, so I will not add to them. If you want to talk about what I do in Middle school please contact me.
I really hope that your project will work, and I am very interested in the outcome. Best regards
Gabriel Thullen
On Wed, Sep 12, 2018 at 11:53 AM Bekriah Mawasi bekriahm@wikimedia.org.il wrote:
Hi Felix,
The education program at Wikimedia Israel runs in Middle schools and in High schools as well in both Hebrew and Arabic for few years now. In both programs, the students write new articles and improve articles too by enriching the content. Choosing a theme < https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News/February_2018/The_Multidi...
for each group would be a good start especially if there is a common template to the topic on Wikipedia (i.e. flags); another interesting project was working with students on expanding Wiktionary < https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News/April_2018/Students_Write...
,
students added expressions in Hebrew following a research instructed by the teacher and assisted by an editing tool developed by WMIL. In multilingual educational systems, translating short articles can be a good exercise especially if a glossary was determined ahead by the instructional team. The organization accompanies the school staff and the students throughout the program by 1) introducing Wikipedia which is essential to the process, 2) providing instructional tools which enable students to self-train themselves at home too, 3) running editing workshops at schools. Some schools would run the program as of part of their "project based learning" activities, which ensures efficiency.
I hope my answer was helpful, and good luck with the initiative!
Best, Bekriah Mawasi Arabic Education Coordinator, WMIL
On Fri, Aug 31, 2018 at 2:06 AM Felix Nartey flixtey@gmail.com wrote:
Hello All,
A middle school has approached us to run a Wikipedia program for them.
We
are considering training the students on how to effectively use Wikipedia as well as hinting them on the ability to correct basic things such as typos and grammar. We also intend to teach them how to play the Wikidata game.
Is our approach good? or what alternative activities we can have with the school.
Thanks in advance for your comments or suggestions.
Regards,
*Felix Nartey* *Open Foundation West Africa https://openfoundationwestafrica.org/* *+233242844987 | **+447452508504* *Skype:Flixtey* *Website: **https://openfoundationwestafrica.org/ https://openfoundationwestafrica.org/*
ᐧ _______________________________________________ Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
-- *بكريّة مواسي* *منسّقة المشاريع التّربويّة* *Bekriah Mawasi* *Arabic Education Coordinator, WMIL* _______________________________________________ Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
Hello people, thank you for the many good ideas and considerations. In my experience, sometimes the involved parties don't make clear what are actually the goals. What is the goal of the school, what exactly does it want to teach the children. And what is the goal of the involved Wikipedians or Wikimedia organization. Is it about creating content for a wiki, or is it about spreading some concepts and values cherished by the Wikipedia community. Kind regards Ziko
2018-09-12 12:24 GMT+02:00 Gabriel Thullen gabriel@thullen.com:
Hi Felix,
It is great that a Middle school approached you for running a Wikipedia program. In my experience, it works best if the teachers themselves are the ones doing the training. This means that you first have to get the teachers personally involved in the project, train the teachers and show them where they can get (immediate) help if they have any questions. The teachers have to be comfortable with editing Wikipedia before they can pass those skills on to their students.
In Middle school, the students still have a close bond with their assigned teachers, it is more difficult for an external trainer to come into a classroom and teach the kids something without cooperating closely with the regular teacher. If their current teacher has a negative view of Wikipedia, most of the students will share that view. That can change, and as teachers we know that in a following year when a teacher no longer have certain students in his or her class, most of his/her credibility will have been lost overnight (as well as his/her negative view of Wikipedia). But it would be easier to first change that teachers negative view than waiting for next school year and hoping that the students will have another teacher.
So basically you have to be sure that the teachers will support and go along with the project. The school authorities, of course, but the teachers must agree. We are all volunteer contributors, nobody forces us to write and there is no way that an activity like the one you are looking into can be imposed on the individual teachers. Get the teachers excited about Wikipedia editing and the students will join in!
There are a number of good suggestions in the answers, so I will not add to them. If you want to talk about what I do in Middle school please contact me.
I really hope that your project will work, and I am very interested in the outcome. Best regards
Gabriel Thullen
On Wed, Sep 12, 2018 at 11:53 AM Bekriah Mawasi bekriahm@wikimedia.org.il wrote:
Hi Felix,
The education program at Wikimedia Israel runs in Middle schools and in High schools as well in both Hebrew and Arabic for few years now. In both programs, the students write new articles and improve articles too by enriching the content. Choosing a theme < https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News/February_2018/The_Multidi...
for each group would be a good start especially if there is a common template to the topic on Wikipedia (i.e. flags); another interesting project was working with students on expanding Wiktionary < https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News/April_2018/Students_Write...
,
students added expressions in Hebrew following a research instructed by the teacher and assisted by an editing tool developed by WMIL. In multilingual educational systems, translating short articles can be a good exercise especially if a glossary was determined ahead by the instructional team. The organization accompanies the school staff and the students throughout the program by 1) introducing Wikipedia which is essential to the process, 2) providing instructional tools which enable students to self-train themselves at home too, 3) running editing workshops at schools. Some schools would run the program as of part of their "project based learning" activities, which ensures efficiency.
I hope my answer was helpful, and good luck with the initiative!
Best, Bekriah Mawasi Arabic Education Coordinator, WMIL
On Fri, Aug 31, 2018 at 2:06 AM Felix Nartey flixtey@gmail.com wrote:
Hello All,
A middle school has approached us to run a Wikipedia program for them.
We
are considering training the students on how to effectively use Wikipedia as well as hinting them on the ability to correct basic things such as typos and grammar. We also intend to teach them how to play the Wikidata game.
Is our approach good? or what alternative activities we can have with the school.
Thanks in advance for your comments or suggestions.
Regards,
*Felix Nartey* *Open Foundation West Africa https://openfoundationwestafrica.org/* *+233242844987 | **+447452508504* *Skype:Flixtey* *Website: **https://openfoundationwestafrica.org/ https://openfoundationwestafrica.org/*
ᐧ _______________________________________________ Education mailing list Education@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
-- *بكريّة مواسي* *منسّقة المشاريع التّربويّة* *Bekriah Mawasi* *Arabic Education Coordinator, WMIL* _______________________________________________ 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