PUNE: Over 1,000 local students, including 843 from College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP) alone, have become part of Wikipedia's 'India education program' that aims at generating quality content for the world's largest online encyclopedia with the participation from academic community in India.
Wikipedia, during early June this year, had rolled out this initiative in India with Pune being chosen as preferred location for the pilot launch.
“We have framed courses in seven different disciplines of engineering as a part of 'India education program' and a total 843 students have been enrolled for these courses. Students assessment in these courses will reflect in their internal evaluation,” CoEP director Anil Sahasrabudhe said.
“We have appointed ten faculty members for these courses, while 12 classrooms are practicing this innovation in teaching,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Hishan Mundol, who is leading 'India education program' said that Wikipedia and CoEP faculty members have signed agreement to execute the programme.
“Our initiative has been facilitating innovative ways of teaching and innovative ways of engaging students. Students undergo a lot of written assignments, some of which would be replaced by writing articles for Wikipedia,” he said.
Symbiosis School of Economics, Modern College of Engineering and SNDT Women's University (Pune Campus) are other local institutions, whose students have participated in the 'India education program' in the beginning phase.
Prior to launch of its programme, Wikipedia had trained a group of 22 volunteers, referred as 'campus ambassadors', who are expected to reach out to campuses to aid faculties and students in the matter of editing/creating content on online encyclopedia.
WIKI’S AIM
Wikipedia is of the view that information about India is not adequately represented on the online encyclopedia and filling this void is their main aim.