The Wikipedia Education Program offers a variety of resources and support for education programs: the portal, the toolkit, printed materials, instructional materials, online trainings, technical tools, case studies, best practices, a mailing list, a monthly newsletter, the education collaborative, and the education team.
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The portal
editThe education portal at education.wikimedia.org has a variety of materials for volunteers and educators. It is the gateway from which to access instructional materials, online trainings, technical tools, case studies, best practices, the newsletter and more. Thanks to our community of volunteers, these are available in many languages.
The toolkit
editThe education program toolkit collects the shared knowledge of Wikimedians and educators who have taught students around the world to contribute to Wikimedia projects for more than ten years. It contains resources and strategies that they have tested and refined through their practice. It shares best practices from the experiences of Wikimedia program leaders from around the world and aims to be a blueprint for designing successful Wikimedia Education Programs.
The learning patterns library
editThe Learning Patterns Library on Meta wiki is a collection of solutions and best practices for overcoming recurring problems in the Wikimedia world. A learning pattern explains a successful strategy for a particular wiki activity, such as running an edit-a-thon. There are 50+ education program learning patterns.
Printed brochures
editA series of brochures were developed by the Wikimedia Foundation for course instructors and were created or updated in 2013-14. The file pages include links download the source files and to translations, if available. This localization guide can be used to adapt any of the brochures to your wiki's local language and specific needs. Additional materials can be found on Wikimedia Commons. To request printed copies, please contact the Wikimedia Foundation's Wikipedia Education Program team at education.
wikimedia.org
Editing brochures
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| Editing Wikipedia | Illustrating Wikipedia | Evaluating Wikipedia |
Education brochures
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| Instructor Basics | The Essentials | Case Studies | Sample Syllabus |
Instructional materials
editWelcome brochures
editThis manual covers what Wikipedia is, how Wikipedia works, account creation, the user interface, how to contribute, the life of an article, article quality, and article creation. You can access and contribute on-wiki translations here. You can also download the source files.
Classroom handouts
editHere is a selected set of one-page handouts, covering the specifics of many of the common tasks and problems that come up in typical wiki-based assignments. The handouts can be printed and given out to students. Click to see the file page, which will include links to translations, if available. You can also download the source files.
Online trainings
editWe have developed a series of online trainings for participants in education programs. The trainings can be translated, localized, and customized to suit other contexts. See the instructions for porting the trainings to another wiki.
- The Wikipedia Adventure is an interactive guided tour / tutorial / learning game. It teaches new Wikipedia contributors basic editing, cooperation and collaboration skills. It introduces project mechanics, philosophy and policy. The setting is an interstellar mission to outer space. The focus is a hypothetical article about Earth. Participants receive rewards (in the form of badges on their user pages) automatically after completing each of the 7 missions.
- Training for students, which takes about an hour, covers the basic rules and community norms of Wikipedia, the mechanics of basic editing with wikitext, and advice for choosing good articles and working effectively with other editors. The version on English Wikipedia also includes some interactive editing tutorials to give newcomers a chance to practice.
- Training for educators covers the editing basics and community norms just like the student training, but also includes information on designing effective Wikipedia assignments, how to avoid common problems, and how to use the Education Program Extension's course page system.
- Training for volunteers is intended for volunteers who are supporting courses with Wikipedia editing assignments (often designated as "Wikipedia Ambassadors"). It covers largely the same material as the training for educators, with a slight difference tailored to people helping with courses rather than leading (and grading) them.
- Training for program leaders walks you through the actual creation of a program plan for your pilot, as well as what you can expect as you enact your plan, and how you can think about expanding your program once your pilot has been completed.
Technical tools
editMany measurable program goals can be assessed with the WikiMetrics tool developed by the Wikimedia Analytics team. All you need to do is ensure that you collect all student usernames. The Education Program Extension offers a way to capture student usernames automatically.
The Education Program Extension for MediaWiki adds features to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects that support classes of students editing articles. It includes structured Institution and Course pages and feeds of recent activity by students. You can learn more about it here.
Visual identity
editThe Wikipedia Education Program has developed a visual identity of logos, banners, and other marks that identify the brand of the program. We've created a set of assets that you can use to localize the program marks for your regional program –- by country, by city, by university. These marks give you the flexibility to create a local visual identity for your Wikipedia Education Program, but still connect the program in Canada to the program in Cairo. The visual identity gives you the flexibility to share what makes your region special while maintaining consistency across programs.
Use the handbook to design your localized Wikipedia Education Program logo. You can also download this manual as a PDF: File:WikipediaEducationProgramGraphicHandbook.pdf
Case studies and best practices
editThe Learnings page on the eduction portal contains a collection of shared learnings, both for participants in up-and-running education programs and for people who want to start a new program, including the benefits and challenges of Wikipedia assignments, case studies & research, best practices of program management, and program evaluation tools.
Grants programs
editThe Wikimedia Foundation offers several grants programs. Our colleagues from the Grantmaking and Programs team support Wikipedia Education Programs, volunteers, and affiliate organizations with a variety of movement resources, including funding, project incubation, program evaluation, a library and more. They provide guidance and support to grantees and applicants while they are developing their ideas, throughout the application process, when they receive their grants, while they are doing their projects, and after projects are complete. Visit the portal on Meta to learn more.
The mailing list
editThe education mailing list is a vital network for educators using Wikipedia in education. Join and connect with our community of educators and Wikimedians.
The newsletter
editThe education newsletter shares monthly updates from programs around the world. Subscribe and see how we are transforming education together.
Wikipedia is being used as a teaching tool in education around the world (see list of countries). The Wikipedia Education Collaborative brings together program leaders from around the world to set the agenda for the Wikipedia Education Program and to mentor other up-and-coming programs. Membership is open to all interested program leaders and volunteers who support the vision for Wikipedia in education, from veteran programs to newbies.
The Wikipedia Education Program wouldn’t function without the vast community of volunteers and educators who bring it all together. Supporting them are four staff members at the Wikimedia Foundation.
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Tighe Flanagan
Senior Manager -
Vahid Masrour
Community Capacity Manager -
Nichole Saad
Program Manager
- Tighe Flanagan
- Tighe leads the team and is responsible for coordinating with the education programs in the Arab region and Africa. Tighe helps program leaders track and measure and evaluate their work with Wikimetrics. Tighe is a returned Peace Corps volunteer and a former USAID contractor and World Bank consultant.
- Community Engagement
- The Wikipedia Education Program staff are part of the Community Engagement team at the Wikimedia Foundation. This team also includes: Community Advocacy, Community Liaison, Community Resources, Developer Relations, Program Capacity and Learning, and The Wikipedia Library.
The takeaway
editWe believe that Wikipedia belongs in education! We will support you to start and scale your education program sustainably. We are here to help! We hope you will join us!