I thought I'd share with you a couple of links that are of relevance to the India Education Program. As you are aware, we are running a pilot of the education program in Pune. We are collating hard numbers to evaluate the pilot - and we'll share a full evaluation as soon as it is ready. However, it is clear that there are a number of mistakes that have been made - some of which ought to have been avoided (especially with regards to communicating stronger with the global wikipedia community, not agreeing to so many students signing up, anticipating the copy-pasting issue, etc.)
There've been many learnings that we're taking from it and Nitika has been collating these at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Educati... Please do note that this page is a draft and is very much work-in-progress. In addition, do also check out the discussion page - which we are trying to have as a focal point for all discussion regarding the education program.
In addition, Signpost covered the education program on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-07/Intervi... and there are some very nuanced and insightful comments on it.
I wanted to share these two pages because some of you might not be aware of them. Please feel free to join the conversations on either/both page.
I also do want to publicly acknowledge the stunning work of the Campus Ambassadors. I know they have taken a lot of flak and my heart goes out to them. You are an awesome team and it's been wonderful to see you at work. Your fingerprints are all over every good article! Thank you!
I also know that there have been wonderful contributions by a bunch of students and I do hope their fantastic accomplishments are not lost out in the discussion on the pilot's problems. Do check out some more of the geat work of students (in addition to the ones Nitika had shared earlier)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenges_of_Inflationary_Policy_In_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_sector_banks_in_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_Control http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_paper_in_India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_money_market http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_management_in_Indian_banks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monetary_policy_of_India
Over the next few weeks, we will take an objective, data and fact driven review of the pilot and then determine the best way forward. We will learn from our mistakes and will do so with brutal integrity and objectivity.
Warm Regards,
hisham
On Sat, Nov 12, 2011 at 6:36 PM, Hisham hmundol@wikimedia.org wrote:
I thought I'd share with you a couple of links that are of relevance to the India Education Program. As you are aware, we are running a pilot of the education program in Pune. We are collating hard numbers to evaluate the pilot - and we'll share a full evaluation as soon as it is ready. However, it is clear that there are a number of mistakes that have been made - some of which ought to have been avoided (especially with regards to communicating stronger with the global wikipedia community, not agreeing to so many students signing up, anticipating the copy-pasting issue, etc.)
There've been many learnings that we're taking from it and Nitika has been collating these at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Educati... Please do note that this page is a draft and is very much work-in-progress. In addition, do also check out the discussion page - which we are trying to have as a focal point for all discussion regarding the education program.
In addition, Signpost covered the education program on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-07/Intervi... and there are some very nuanced and insightful comments on it.
Many thanks for sharing these links, Hisham. I spent the last couple of
hours poring over all of them before my eyes started glazing.
I read this talk page [1] from top to bottom - it was particularly useful in seeing how the whole copyvio issue started, then grew bigger and bigger.
Apart from the content, I was struck by: *the helpful, purposive and constructive suggestions and analysis from editors *a general absence of combativeness or baiting *an overall openness to feedback and responsiveness on the part of the India Education Program team
The statistical discussion on this talk page [2] was very useful to get a sense of the magnitude of the problem.
It looks like many of the suggestions made on these pages have directly been incorporated into the learnings page at [3] - this is an excellent step.
There are so many good points on all these pages, such a willingness to help strengthen the program, and so much openness to doing so, that I now feel more hopeful for the future.
Best Bishakha
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:India_Education_Program [2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Ed... [3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Educati...
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