Re: [Foundation-l] Fwd: wikiEducation: The Classroom Wikipedia

Forwarded to the list on behalf of a non-member. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jacob Franklin <jake.franklin2(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 7:39 PM Subject: wikiEducation: The Classroom Wikipedia To: foundation-l-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org Dear WikiMedia, In recent weeks I have been reading about the work of your foundation and all of the wikipages you have created. The scope of your organization is vast, along with the amount of people who use its tools. I believe that this incredible reach gives you a wonderful opportunity to positively affect the lives of many people. My name is Jake Franklin and I am an educator. I graduated from Colby College with a degree in Philosophy in 2008. Since then I have been teaching English in Shenyang, China and studying Chinese. Next year I am planning to return to the US to go to graduate school for a Masters in Educational Policy or International Education. I am extremely passionate about improving the educational opportunities, tools, and resources for all students. I believe that giving all students access to quality education both enriches their educational experience and provides them with a strong foundation to build towards a better future. It is because of this dedication to the enrichment of education that I wish to develop a relationship with your foundation. I have an idea that I am passionate about and dedicated to and am writing this email to introduce it to you. The basic idea is to create a version of wikipedia that is exclusively written and edited by students. It is called wikiEducation. There is one site for each grade level, and teachers can sign up their classes to be writers and editors. The site grows through students submitting their work as wikiEducation articles, which are then edited by other students. By pairing collective responsibility and a published presence, wikiEducation gives both writers and editors a sense of achievement, a feeling of responsibility and a relationship with each other that would be absent without this tool. Moreover giving students ownership of the information on the site motivates them to develop more intimate and long-lasting relationships with the material. I think the idea would work best if implemented through the Wikimedia Foundation and therefore have come to you first. I think that you have the people and experience to build the site in the best possible way. I would like to work with you to bring this idea to fruition. I don’t have the technical know-how to build a website but I do have the desire, drive and experience to bridge the gap between the technical aspects of website building and the creation of an effective teaching tool. WikiEducation’s success depends on teacher use. I can work with the teachers and the builders to create a highly functional website that teachers will enjoy using. The detailed business plan includes; a more detailed description of the site, information about the site’s special features, market analysis, and potential problems along with suggested solutions. Please let me know whom I should send the plan to, and how I can continue to play a role in its creation. Sincerely, Jake Franklin Email: jake.franklin2(a)gmail.com Skype: jakefranklin2 -- [[User:Ral315]] _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l