Re: [Wikimedia Education] Which kinds of students are successful in education programs?

If we only think about WEP as writing a Wikipedia article as a class assignment, then yes, the overriding qualification is writing ability... same as for any other volunteer doing that work. Fortunately, there are other ways to participate... just like any other Wikimedian. I think what it really comes down to is designing a program/activities that meet the needs and strengths of students. We saw a long time ago that what works for the US and Canada does not necessarily work for other parts of the world. Even at the national level, a single model may not work. At Tec de Monterrey, little of our activity is writing new articles as part of coursework and there are various reasons for this based on our system and culture. Instead, we focus on students doing their community service requirement (WP is a popular option for this) and Semana i (i Week) ... when students work on projects instead of going to class. We do translations, photography, video, audio and animation. (still working on convincing someone to look into hacking opportunities). These activities have worked very well for us so far, and we have excellent contribution stats. ------------------------------ From: wiki.pine(a)gmail.com Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2016 20:49:11 -0700 To: education(a)lists.wikimedia.org Subject: [Wikimedia Education] Which kinds of students are successful in education programs? Hi Education Program participants, I am wondering, for purposes of the "LearnWiki" video series, which kinds of students tend to be successful in Wikipedia Education Program courses. The impression I am getting is that age is less important than writing ability. I have heard that some middle school students with strong writing abilities can do well on Wikipedia, while 1st and 2nd year college students can struggle if their writing skills are weak. Would you agree with that assessment? Are there any "skill checks" that you would recommend educators do with their students to make sure that they have the skills necessary for a WEP course? Thanks, Pine _______________________________________________ Education mailing list Education(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education _______________________________________________ Education mailing list Education(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education