I'm hoping you & yours are all well, safe and healthy in these unprecedented times we have all found ourselves in.
I'm writing you today with my 'educator & researcher' hat on, with a special request to help Piotr Konieczny & I spread the word about a new global research we are conducting.
While using Wikimedia-related assignments (Wikipedia, Commons, WikiBooks, WikiSource, Wikidata, Wiktionary etc) in the classroom has been used all over the world for over a decade, very little research was conducted about what instructors who have tried it actually think about the experience.
We are hoping that answering the questions in the survey will help us better understand:
- Whether this teaching approach is effective (or not)
- What are some of the challenges experienced by instructors
- How the process could be improved
The questions are meant for any instructors running a wiki assignment, whether it is in k-12 or higher education, formal or informal educational setting. We are hoping the results will allow us to globally share experiences and learn from one another, so we can make it smoother, easier and more effective for educators joining these efforts.
It is important to note that this would be the first time (that we know of!) that an academic research of this type has been conducted around the world, so we really need your help in spreading the word about it in your local communities. We're hoping that any of you, supporting such initiatives around the world over the years, would forward it to your local Education contacts and ask them to participate. The more instructors participating, the better.
We realize that it would have been great to have the questionnaire in a variety of languages, but in order for us to process the data properly and not via third-party translations and keep the anonymity and privacy of participants, it was decided to release the survey just in English.
Thank you all in advance, and of course, if there are any questions, Piotr & I are here.
Stay healthy & safe!
Shani.