Dear Wikimedians,
Last year, the Education team at the Wikimedia Foundation launched a pilot
teacher training program that helped teachers use Wikipedia in their
classrooms. Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/our-work/education/reading-wikipedia-in-the-classroom/>
provided a professional development opportunity to over 500 teachers in
Bolivia, Morocco, and the Philippines with a localized curriculum and
resources aligned with UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy framework.
Throughout this 9-week program, teachers developed vital media and
information literacy skills for the 21st century, including understanding
how information is produced, accessing and evaluating content online, and
identifying biases and knowledge gaps. All through the power of Wikipedia
<https://www.k12digest.com/changing-the-narrative-the-power-of-wikipedia-to-foster-21st-century-skills/>!
You can read more details about the pilot program and its impact in our
final report
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reading_Wikipedia_Final_Report.pdf>
[1].
Now, we are opening up the opportunity to more Wikimedians, mission-aligned
organizations, and individuals to participate in a Training of Trainers
(ToT). By the end of the ToT, participants will be certified to lead
training for Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom. They will be able to adapt
& implement the Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom program in their local
contexts to help teachers use Wikipedia as a pedagogical tool. Participants
who successfully complete the ToT will also have access to a pool of
funding that can support their local activities. You can learn more about
the ToT timeline and curriculum on Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Reading_Wikipedia_in_the_Classroom/ToT>
.
We think you or members of your community would be a great fit! We invite
you to attend an information session on Thursday, July 29 at 13:00 UTC via
Zoom <https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/95280050770>. The team will share more
detailed information, answer questions, and announce the open call for
applications. If you have any questions ahead of this event, please don’t
hesitate to reach out to the team at education(a)wikimedia.org
We look forward to seeing you at the information session!
--the Education Team
[1]The program report
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reading_Wikipedia_Final_Report.pdf>
shows us how teachers’ attitudes towards Wikipedia changed as they moved
through the curriculum, responded to practical assignments and reflection
questions, and participated in synchronous sessions led by local
coordinators of the program. For example, one of the participating teachers
from Bolivia said that at first he “thought that Wikipedia was a platform
like Google, but now I value all the volunteer work done by the community
behind it”. The program model also supported members of the local Wikimedia
affiliates to improve their capacity to organize and lead education
initiatives. Currently, the Wikimedians of Bolivia
<https://twitter.com/wikimedia_bo/status/1415057167804162049> user group is
launching the second edition of the program! The resources
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Reading_Wikipedia_in_the_classroom>
created for the program are available on Wikimedia Commons in English,
Spanish, Arabic, and Tagalog, and they are free for anybody to use, adapt
and share.
--
Sailesh Patnaik (He/Him)
Program Officer, Education
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>