Education/Wikipedia Education Program Survey Report 2017-18

Wikipedia Education Program Survey Report 2017-18

Participants in Wikimedia Argentina's education activities.

Does Wikipedia belong in Education?

The perception of the Wikipedia Education Program from multiple stakeholders.

Foreword

What we do matters most, but how we talk about what we do matters almost as much. The Wikipedia Education Program at the Wikimedia Foundation enjoys a global view of education activities across the Wikimedia movement, and from this vantage point, it is clear to us that the work already accomplished via education programs — the content created, the relationships forged, and the learning achieved — is immense and valuable. But we are also aware that we could be doing much more to support and nurture this work across our communities, and to effectively communicate the value of Wikimedia in education to teachers and policymakers. This is why we set out to do this survey and to produce this report.

Although more work remains to engage the education sector beyond our active networks, this study reveals some interesting awareness and perception gaps within our existing community of practice, and even within the Wikimedia Foundation itself. As the Wikimedia movement organizes itself around the ambitious and visionary goals laid out in the 2030 Strategic Direction, the findings presented in this report will help us to refocus the message and identity of the Education Program, to more effectively advocate for needed tools and infrastructure, and to revitalize the resources and communication channels that we maintain for educators and program leaders across the world.

We see this as groundwork for what we believe to be an exciting new chapter for the Wikimedia movement and education: a time where contribution to Wikimedia projects is expanding beyond Wikipedia into platforms like Commons and Wikidata; and where steadily growing acceptance (even embrace) of Wikipedia by educators sets the stage for a more expansive conversation about the value that Wikimedia projects brings to student learning, digital literacy, and the cultivation of 21st century skills. This report is of course just a snapshot in time from a small (but diverse) set of respondents. As you read, questions and ideas may arise for how some of these learnings might be translated into action and response. We encourage you to share your perspectives in Wikimedia forums, on social media, in community and professional gatherings, and by continuing the conversation with us here at the Wikimedia Foundation.

Ben Vershbow
Lead Programs Manager (libraries, education, cultural heritage)
Wikimedia Foundation

Acknowledgements

The education team would like to thank:

The Wikimedia community who helped us to translate the survey into 10 languages.

Joseph Allemandou, Juliana Bastos Marques, Nurunnaby Hasive, Reem Al-Kashif,Vahid Masrour, Vira Motorko, Nebojša Ratković, Liang-chih Shang Kuan, Gabriel Thullen.

The WMF Learning and Evaluation team, particularly Edward Galvez for his detailed review of the survey and recommendations, and Maria Cruz who graciously helped with the design at the last minute.

Aeryn Palmer for their legal review, support and recommendations.  

The staff, affiliates and educators who reviewed the first version of the survey and provided helpful feedback.

Those who helped us share the survey within their communities.  

All those who took the survey, helping us to understand and improve our support, communications and resources.

Thank you word cloud

Definitions of key terms

Affiliates: Organizations that focus on supporting volunteer activities and promoting the use of the Wikimedia platform to geographical or thematic populations.  They can be formal, such as “chapters”, that work with budgets and complex programs, or nimbler such as “User Groups”.  They collaborate with volunteers to carry out their projects, often using funding -provided by the Wikimedia Foundation or other sources- to promote the creation and use of contents on the Wikimedia platform.

Education: In the context of the “Wikipedia Education Program”, Education refers mostly (but not exclusively) to activities that happen within the sphere of formal and informal education systems, at the elementary, secondary and tertiary level (even at the PhD level), and in extra curricular activities in the forms of clubs, senior citizen programs or “Wiki Camps” where a learning component is involved.  

Program Leader: A volunteer that endeavors to create activities that bring Wikimedia projects to the educational context.  If the program leader is not an educator themselves, they will partner with and collaborate closely with institutions, administrators and educators to carry out those activities.

Wikimedia Foundation: The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.  is a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual, educational content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge.  The Wikimedia Foundation operates some of the largest collaboratively edited reference projects in the world, including Wikipedia, a top-ten internet property.

Wikimedian: Wikimedian: a person who participates in Wikimedia projects or the Wikimedia movement, generally a broader definition than a “Wikipedian”. Wikimedians contribute to projects hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation or participate in the mission, activities or values of the Wikimedia movement at large.  

Wikipedia: “The free encyclopedia that anyone can edit”.  One of the most accessed resources of knowledge on the Internet.  17 years in the works, it has been built by volunteers generously sharing and structuring knowledge for everyone to access.  Everyone is invited to partake in the creation of its content (taking in considerations its norms).

Wikipedia Education Program: A planned series of activities in the educational context that involve work by students (often accompanied by their educators) to contribute to Wikimedia projects while they gain valuable skills relevant for the 21st century.  Most of the time, they are initiated by volunteers that have experience with the Wikimedia platform, but they also have been initiated by educators, students, or organizations that see the value in bringing one of the sister projects to the educational context.

Wikipedia Sister Projects: While Wikipedia is the most well known and used project of the Wikimedia platform, several other projects have emerged over time to satisfy the needs of other types of knowledge. For example, Wikibooks allows people to create online books, Commons is a multimedia repository of contents that can be freely used (on other projects and for almost anything else) … more information.

Executive Summary

The research

From September-October 2017, the Education Team at the Wikimedia Foundation ran a survey with the aim of collecting data about the perception of the Wikipedia Education Program and its communications to key stakeholders. More than 200 people completed the survey in 10 different languages. Additionally, the Education Team conducted interviews with Wikimedia affiliates that helped to qualify the survey data.

Key findings

While stakeholders are aware of the Wikipedia Education Program and the Education Team at the Wikimedia Foundation, there is not a consensus about what “Wikipedia in education” means for the Wikimedia movement. Likewise, the goals and activities of the education team are not well understood. Lack of awareness among internal stakeholders like WMF staff hinders potential collaborations that could benefit the movement. Educators who are exposed to using Wikimedia projects in the classroom find value in it. They do not tell their students to avoid reading Wikipedia articles, and encourage them to contribute. Educators need more support with pedagogical resources that link Wikimedia projects with student learning outcomes.

The current branding and materials used by the Wikipedia Education Program and the Education Team do not sufficiently represent the relationship between the Wikimedia movement and the education sector. The portal is not utilized as often as it should be, and it is difficult for our stakeholders to find the resources that they need. It is not as user friendly to non-Wikimedians as it should be. Our visual identity also needs to be revised to be more welcoming, inspiring, and oriented towards education.

Recommendations

1. Improve communication both internally and externally about how using Wikimedia projects in education benefits the Wikimedia movement and contributes to global goals for education:

• Seek out and create opportunities to share impact and collaborate with internal stakeholders
• Develop communications materials and resources that make it easier for educators to become contributors

2. Revise the scope and workflows of the Education Team in order to better align with the new movement strategy and support the diverse needs of stakeholders at scale:

• Define the relationship between the Wikimedia movement and the education sector
• Align the goals of the education team to the new movement strategy
• Improve communications to potential partners who can help achieve shared goals

3. Develop communications materials that are accurate, up to date, and user friendly for non-Wikimedians:

• Redesign the logo and other branding materials
• Develop a portal for Wikimedia and education that is welcoming, inspiring, and informative. It should also be user friendly for non-Wikimedians
• Develop systems and workflows in partnership with other stakeholders that ensure the information we present is accurate and up-to-date

Introduction

What we now know as the Wikipedia Education Program at the Wikimedia Foundation emerged out of the Public Policy Initiative in 2010,  “a pilot project, run by the Wikimedia Foundation...to explore the use of Wikipedia as a teaching tool in higher education.” It must be mentioned, however, that education work has been happening in the Wikimedia movement since Wikipedia’s inception, even without a formal program to support it. The pilot program and the focus of the subsequent Wikipedia Education Program put a strong focus on higher education, supporting professors to incorporate Wikipedia writing assignments into their lessons. Throughout the evolution of the Education Program a team at the Wikimedia Foundation has continued to support diverse programs that involve students editing Wikipedia. These programs are not limited by region or level of education. The Wikipedia Education Program currently involves projects in every region of the world and at every level of education from primary school to senior citizens in lifelong learning programs.

To meet the needs of the ever expanding global education community in the Wikimedia movement, the education team has evolved to include individuals with educational and international programmatic expertise. However, the education program’s materials and resources have not been updated to reflect that diversity. Moreover, with a new strategic direction for the Wikimedia movement, it is expected that programmatic work, specifically in education, will play a greater role in achieving the movement’s mission. This means the education program and the education team need to evolve even further in order to best serve the needs of the movement, and to ensure the quality of programs.

In the fall of 2017, the education team at the Wikimedia Foundation surveyed and interviewed multiple stakeholders groups involved in Education programs around the world. We consulted Wikimedia contributors, program leaders, affiliates, WMF staff, educators and other education sector professionals. The results of the research will help us to improve advocacy and outreach efforts. It will help the team to advocate for the value of education activities within the movement and to stakeholders in the education sector.

Research methods

The education team set out to answer four main questions:

1. How do stakeholders within the Wikimedia movement perceive the Wikipedia Education Program and its role?
2. What is the perceived value of Wikipedia among known stakeholders (educators, policy makers, etc.) within the field of education?  
3. How do program leaders perceive the support provided by the education team?
4. Does the current branding of the Wikipedia Education Program adequately represent what the education team does or should do for Wikipedia in education?

We developed a Qualtrics survey to answer these questions, which we distributed to stakeholders via mailing lists, salesforce, and social media. To be inclusive of our international community, volunteers translated the English survey into nine additional languages: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (simplified and traditional), French, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish and Ukrainian.

To qualify and expand on the survey data, the education team also reached out to individuals with experience implementing education programs in each of five regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Focus group and individual interviews were conducted with individuals who responded to the request using the following question prompts:

1. How would you describe the Wikipedia Education Program?
2. What will happen if students and/or teachers are trained to contribute to the Wikimedia projects?
3. What kind of value can Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects add to the classroom/learning?
4. Where/How do you find what you need?
5. In your opinion, what should the user experience be when you visit the Education Portal? If we had no limits, how would it look, feel and function?

Limits to the research

While the survey was shared in multiple channels, it was not shared via Central Notice as a banner on Wikipedia,  possibly limiting responses from contributors and affiliates who were not already aware of the education team and Wikipedia Education Program. Similarly, our reach to educators and education sector professionals who were not already familiar with the Wikipedia Education Program was limited. Therefore, the data should be considered biased towards those already aware of these topics to a certain extent. Further data needs to be collected from contributors, affiliates, and educators who are unaware of the education team and the Wikipedia Education Program to provide a more well rounded understanding of the perception and needs of those audiences.

The interviews conducted lacked participation, and only a few individuals were able to participate from the Asia, Europe and Latin America regions. While their perspectives helped us to qualify the data, more qualitative data from other diverse regions and individuals is needed to provide a holistic understanding of program leaders’ experiences.

Results

Wiki Photo School in Serbia

Who participated in the research?

The survey asked participants to self identify with a number of stakeholder groups, and to check all that may apply as represented by figure 1.1.  65% of respondents identified as contributors to Wikimedia projects. 45% identified as members of affiliate organizations. 25% identified as program leaders. 41% identified as educators. 27% identified as education sector professionals, and 13% identified as WMF staff.

Figure 1.1

Overall, 204 participants took the survey. Figure 1.2 represents participants by country (of those who chose to disclose their residence).

Figure 1.2, participants by country.

Do our stakeholders know who we are and what we do?

The Education Program kicks off in Finland.

The education team at the Wikimedia Foundation, at the time of writing, consists of three individuals who act as regional focal points for education program inquiries, and who own workflows relating to administration, community capacity development, and communications. In addition to these workflows, accountability for other  “Wikimedia in Education” needs, goals and resources are owned by team members including: strategy development and support, advocacy for “Wikimedia in Education” within the movement at movement conferences, events, and activities, advocacy for “Wikimedia in Education” to external stakeholders including educators, policy makers, related non-profits and international organizations, and academic institutions.

The education team hypothesized that among these various stakeholders, there is little known about the work that the team does within the movement and within the field of education. We developed questions for this survey to gauge what stakeholders think the team does and what they think we should be doing. The following section is a report on the data collected from these questions under this theme.

[I like to] catch up with all what the Education Team are doing. I would like for them to invite me to their videoconferences, and to continue participating with all of them. I really admire [them] a lot.
- A Wikipedia Education Program Leader

Generally, respondents reported that they were aware of the education team (83%) and the Wikipedia education program (88%), as well as the program being global in nature (82%). Different stakeholders were more or less aware, with those identifying as program leaders being the most aware, and those identifying as WMF staff being the least aware as figure 1.3 demonstrates.

Figure 1.3 a

Figure 1.3 b

Figure 1.3 c

The data revealed that stakeholders believe that the education team prioritizes activities that focus on supporting educators to use Wikimedia projects in diverse educational settings, providing tools and resources that help program leaders to support educators, and advocating for the value of Wikipedia in education. Figure 1.4 illustrates the distribution of the overall perception of the work of that the education team does.

Figure 1.4

When asked what the WMF education team should prioritize, participants held a consensus for two main activities: “supporting educators around the world to use Wikimedia projects in diverse settings” and “provide educators with professional development, curriculum and lesson plans about using Wikimedia projects for classroom learning.” While “Work to increase the number of editors through converting students to Wikimedians” was prioritized by only 28% of total respondents, of those who identified as contributors 72% prioritized that answer. Figure 1.5 illustrates the responses to this question.  

Figure 1.5

Awareness of the movement’s educational goals was distributed among stakeholders with the most aware being program leaders of whom only 4% disagreed to the question “I understand the educational goals of the Wikimedia movement”, and the least aware being WMF staff of whom 36% disagreed. The distribution of awareness of the educational goals of the Wikimedia movement demonstrates that the movement lacks a cohesive vision of its relationship to the education sector. That said, stakeholders reported that they do value Wikipedia in education globally as figure 1.6 illustrates.  

Overall, data suggests that there is a gap in awareness about the role that the Education Team plays at the foundation and within the movement. The largest awareness gap is internal, with WMF staff being the least aware of the work that the education team does.

Figure 1.6

Finally, educational activities, whether Wikipedia assignments or other activities, should be about student learning outcomes. However, Wikimedia contributors set aside this outcome in favor of converting students to become Wikimedians. This is an outcome that doesn’t fall within the scope of the Wikipedia Education Program, which is built around student contribution and learning (figure 1.7). Moreover, the Education Team’s theory of change states explicitly, “The Wikimedia Foundation’s Wikipedia Education Program team believes that Wikipedia editors are born, not made. We believe that you can teach someone the skills required to contribute to Wikipedia, but can’t teach someone to become a Wikipedian — if you’re predisposed to contributing to Wikipedia, then exposure to Wikipedia editing as part of a class assignment will encourage you to transition from reader to editor. But we believe that if you’re not already inclined to edit, you will never become a long-term contributor. Instead, we focus on generating significant high-quality content from student editors each term. A small fraction of these students will continue to edit, but recruiting them to become long-term Wikipedians is not the focus of our program.” It is clear that the Education Team needs to find a way to more clearly articulate what they do, how it serves the movement, and how it contributes to the goals of the education sector.

Figure 1.7

How do stakeholders within the Wikimedia movement perceive the Wikipedia Education Program and its role?

Approaching History students as pilot Education program in Iran

The education team interacts with a subset of Wikimedians regularly, but Wikimedians, represent a wide range of contributors, affiliates, program leaders, and staff. The work of the education team and the Wikipedia Education Program benefits the movement in a multitude of ways, the best known of which is generating content on local Wiki projects. However, anecdotally, some Wikimedians have communicated that they see student contributors as burdensome, difficult to work with, and have even blocked education programs from working on certain Wikis. For this reason, It is important to consider how Wikimedians view the Wikimedia Education Program and the work of the Education Team at the WMF, in order to see where communications and resources can improve.

Currently the education team interacts with Wikimedians through community conferences, our monthly newsletter, social media, and directly through email communication to inquiries. We wanted to know how effective these communication tools have been at communicating the value of education programs to the Wikimedia movement.

The following section will report on the survey questions that shed light on how Wikimedians perceive the Wikipedia Education Program and its role within the movement.

It’s important for the students to have a tool that they can both learn from and contribute to.
- A Wikipedia Education Program Leader

Wikimedians believe that they understand the educational goals of the Wikimedia Movement, and value Wikipedia in education globally. 96% of respondents from the Wikimedia community agreed with the statement, “I value Wikipedia in education globally.” Wikimedians also believe that students make valuable contributions to Wikipedia, and that students can become capable contributors (figures 2.1 and 2.2)

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.2

Wikimedians also believe that education programs can enhance the reputation of Wikipedia. 95% of Wikimedians agreed that working with higher education institutions enhances the reputation of Wikipedia. 66% of Wikimedians agree that using Wikipedia in the classroom can increase the perception of Wikipedia as a reliable source (figures 2.3 and 2.4).

Figure 2.3

Figure 2.4

Though the data acknowledges that some Wikimedians believe that students lack experience and make too many mistakes, 75% of respondents strongly agree that it is important that students learn the value of Wikipedia (figures 2.5 and 2.6).

Figure 2.5

Figure 2.6

Wikimedians see education programs as mostly benefiting the projects in three ways: increasing the quantity of content on Wikimedia projects, increasing quality of content on Wikimedia projects, and teaching more people about Wikipedia and the Wikimedia movement. Few Wikimedians see that education programs will increase the size of their Wiki community or increase the number of editors on Wikimedia projects (figure 2.7).

Wikimedians are also willing to support education programs, with 64% “definitely” willing to support an education program and 25% “probably” willing to support an education program.

Figure 2.7

Figure 2.8

Interviews with affiliates also revealed that Wikimedians truly value the win-win aspect of the Wikipedia Education Program. That students contribute to Wikimedia Projects while learning valuable skills. For example, one affiliate noted: “Students use Wikipedia as a resource. Students need to know how to analyze information and how to find good references. Editing Wikipedia helps them learn how to do this. Students not only know how to find information and interpret information, but how to contribute to knowledge production. This is why this is one of the best initiatives of Wikipedia.” Another affiliate stated, “If you teach someone to edit Wikipedia, they can start to know about how to find good references and how to understand the information they consume. It’s an actual learning process that is very useful in the future. People who edit Wikimedia projects can see things from multiple points of view.”

Programs are making an impact on and off wiki. It is clear that Wikimedians find value in education programs, but are not sure how to provide support--although they are willing to do so. Wikimedians need to be better informed about how they can support education programs.

Students often use Wikipedia, and it’s very useful to them as a reader. Readers becoming editors is so cool, because it moves them from being consumers of information to participating in knowledge production.
- A Wikimedia Affiliate

How do program leaders engage with the Education Program?

Education at Iberoconf 2017

Program leaders are a vital arm of the Wikipedia Education Program. We have defined program leaders as volunteers that endeavor to create activities that bring Wikimedia projects to the educational context. If the program leader is not an educator themselves, they will partner with and collaborate closely with institutions, administrators and educators to carry out those activities.

First, we wanted to know how program leaders engage students on Wikimedia projects during education programs. We found that program leaders overwhelmingly (90%) implement education programs that involve students editing Wikipedia, and learning about Wikipedia (85%). Many also involve students uploading media to commons (64%) and adding media to Wikimedia projects (54%) and teacher professional development (54%). Fewer involve students working on other Wikimedia projects like Wiktionary or Wikisource (33%) (figure 3.1)

Figure 3.1

The Education team also wanted to better understand what motivates program leaders to implement programs. The data revealed that program leaders mainly implement education programs to teach more people about Wikipedia and the Wikimedia movement (28%), and to increase the quality (26%) and quantity (27%) of content on their language Wikis (figure 3.2).

Figure 3.2

The data suggests that we need to understand more about the value of using Wikimedia projects other than Wikipedia and Wiki Commons in education programs. More resources could be developed to support such programs. While Program leaders describe teaching more people about the movement as an important reason for running education programs, programmatic metrics and tracking tools do not emphasize this outcome. Program leaders, and the Wikimedia movement more generally, need to be able to assess the impact of volunteer time and energy, and should develop such tools.

If teachers are excited about the knowledge they find on Wikipedia, they also share it with the students. In my experience, when students and teachers contribute to Wikipedia we improve content in our local languages. Wikipedia is such an easy platform for students and teachers to use in the classroom.
- A Wikipedia Education Program Leader

To help program leaders and the rest of the movement understand how Wikipedia Education Programs contribute to improving the quality and quantity of content on various wikis, the Education

Team supports the Program and Events Dashboard. The Programs & Events Dashboard is a tool which assists the management of wiki programs and events.

The survey found that while many programs leaders do use the Programs and Events Dashboard, 55% reported not using the tool (figure 3.3). Those who did use the Dashboard responded that they have found the tool at least somewhat useful (94%). This data suggests that more needs to be done to promote the use of the dashboard among program leaders. Communicating how it helps to measure and communicate impact will be an important factor in weather and how it gets used.

Figure 3.3

Figure 3.4

Do educators think Wikipedia belongs in education?

Grant project distributing WikiReaders to Schools

It is safe to say that without the support of educators, the Wikipedia Education Program cannot succeed. It is also true that many educators are apprehensive of Wikipedia and students use of Wikipedia as a source of information. Understanding the true value of Wikipedia and the sister projects (that editing helps students learn vital 21st century skills while becoming content creators and contributing to knowledge equity) often comes only after engaging in a Wikipedia Education Program, or hearing about the Wikipedia Education Program at conferences and other events where program leaders speak publicly about their work.

Due to the fact that educators are so vital to Wikipedia Education Programs, it was important for the Education Team to learn more about how educators perceive Wikipedia in Education. The educators we surveyed represent a group that is not only regionally diverse, but also representing a wide variety of subjects (figure 4.1). The data showed that while 41% of respondents identified as educators, many were already aware of the education program or have implemented Wikipedia Education Programs in their classroom already (figure 4.2). We would need more data to make generalized conclusions about educators unfamiliar with the program. Still, there is much to be gleaned from the data, as the following section will demonstrate.

Figure 4.1

Educators from all levels of education responded to the survey, but the majority of responders (46%) teach at the university level. Educators believe students benefit from Wikipedia in education (61%) more than other stakeholders such as schools or readers (figure 4.3).

Figure 4.2

Figure 4.3

The data also indicates that educators believe that using Wikimedia projects in the classroom benefits the field of education by helping students achieve vital skills (40%) providing free educational resources (23%) and improving teachers’ capacity to use digital resources in the classroom (14%) (figure 4.4). Overall, 88% of educators have used Wikipedia in the classroom. The ways in which educators use Wikipedia in the classroom varied from letting students check Wikipedia for information (30%), teaching students how to understand the information they find on Wikipedia (30%) and having students edit Wikipedia as a classroom assignment (23%). To a lesser extent educators have students upload media on Wikimedia Commons (15%) (figure 4.5).

Figure 4.4

Figure 4.5

All of the educators who responded strongly or somewhat agreed that they see value in using Wikipedia in the classroom (figure 4.6). The majority of educators responded that they did not tell their students to avoid Wikipedia. 15% of the respondents indicated that they believe that using Wikipedia in the classroom helps students to learn critical thinking skills. Similarly 92% of educators answered agreed to the statement, “I trust Wikipedia.” It is clear from the data that educators who are exposed to using Wikipedia (and other Wikimedia projects) in the classroom find value in it.

Figure 4.6

I certainly do not tell students to avoid Wikipedia. There are pages with good information and there are pages with worse ones but students (and readers) with good skills can tell those apart. And, of course, make the pages better.
- An educator

How do stakeholders perceive the support provided by the Education Team?

The Education Collab meets in Yerevan in June 2017

The Education Team is the staff embedded at the Wikimedia Foundation that support education programs around the world. However, it is not necessarily the case that all stakeholders involved in Wikimedia and education have interacted with the Education Team, or found the support they need from them. It is important for the Education Team to understand the support needs of various stakeholders, and the quality of their interactions with the team.

The support we need from the education team is Intensive collaboration with weak local communities to motivate and help them creating edu-centric content
- A Wikimedia affiliate

Overall, 58% of contributors, 69% of affiliates, 86% of program leaders, 70% of educators, 86% of education sector professionals, and 42% of WMF staff who participated in the survey reported that they have interacted with the Education Team (figure 5.1).

Figure 5.1

Helping to plan, implement or evaluate an education program and helping to understand more about the value of Wikipedia in education were the primary ways that they have interacted with the Education Team (figure 5.2).

Figure 5.2

However, the data also indicated that stakeholders somewhat lack an understanding of the Education Team’s goals, priorities and activities. The stakeholder group with the most reported understanding were program leaders, and the group with the least reported understanding were WMF staff (figure 5.3).

Figure 5.3

Similarly, stakeholders are mostly satisfied with the support they receive from the Education Team, but there is room for improvement. The group who reported the highest levels of satisfaction were program leaders (77% strongly or somewhat agree) and those who reported the lowest levels of satisfaction were education sector professionals and WMF staff (figure 5.4).

Figure 5.4

Stakeholders indicated that the types of support they most need from the Education Team include curricula and syllabi, community support, technical support, training and tutorials, and grants (figure 5.5). To a lesser extent stakeholders indicated that they need localized content, access to research resources, and support for tracking impact, planning, and in-person visits. Similarly, when asked what resources they would like to see added or revised, stakeholders listed localized content, case studies, brochures, documentation of best practices, and curricula as their top priorities (figure 5.6).

Figure 5.5

[We need] better resources on the Dashboard; better documentation and tutorials; more work on providing specific cases to get inspired with.
- A Wikimedia affiliate

Figure 5.6

[We need] Scaffolding of constructivist learning strategies with Wikipedia as a pedagogical tool.
- An educator

With such varied and contextual support needs, it can be difficult for a small team of three to scale the Education Program. The current model of support may need to change in order to support stakeholders globally to implement high quality education programs. Additionally, it is clear that more resources need to be developed with localized content and along the lines of pedagogical support for educators.

Does the current branding of the Wikipedia Education Program adequately represent what the Education Team does or should do for Wikipedia in education?

Maithili Wikimedians start an Education Program at Caliber International College in Nepal

The Education Team’s main communication channels include the Education Portal on Outreach Wiki, the Wikipedia & Education facebook group, the monthly newsletter, and Twitter. Overall, 58% of respondents have visited the Education Portal on Outreach Wiki. 92% of Program Leaders have visited the Portal, while only 46% of staff have visited the portal (figure 6.2).

Figure 6.1, screenshot of the Education portal on Outreach wiki.

Figure 6.2

Of those who have visited the Portal, the majority visit once a month or less (figure 6.3). The main reasons that stakeholders visit the portal are to learn more about Wikipedia in education, find resources, and read the newsletter (figure 6.3).

Figure 6.3

Figure 6.4

The Education Portal on Outreach Wiki is the main source for resources about the Wikipedia Education Program. Resources include but are not limited to brochures, the toolkit, case studies, and the Program and Events Dashboard. Of these resources, stakeholders find the case studies most helpful (29%). The Programs and Events Dashboard and brochures were also found helpful (25% and 26%). Least helpful was the toolkit (12%). Program leaders favored the Dashboard (32%), while staff and contributors favored the case studies (44% and 30%). Respondents would like to see the addition of more localized content, updated case studies and brochures, and the sharing of best practices (figure 6.5).

Figure 6.5

With the Education Portal being the main source of information about the Wikipedia Education Program, it is important that users be able to easily find the information that they need, and that the information presented is an accurate representation of the program. The data revealed that navigation of the Education Portal is an aspect that can be much improved (figure 6.6). Additionally, the global nature of the Wikipedia Education Program is a point that can be better communicated (figure 6.7).

Figure 6.6

Figure 6.7

It was clear from the data that the education portal does not adequately meet the needs of those who are not already familiar with the wiki format. Since the Education Team and Program Leaders often engage with external stakeholders in the education, government and nonprofit sectors, the team wanted to know whether we need communication channels that specifically target those audiences. 91% of respondents agreed that the Wikipedia Education Program needs outward facing communication channels (figure 6.8), and 80% agreed that they would support an external web page geared towards non-Wikimedians. 60% of respondents believe that the most important audience for the domain name “education.wikimedia.org” are public audiences such as partners, educators, students and non-profits (figure 6.10).

Figure 6.8

Figure 6.9

Figure 6.10

If any new students or educators go to the portal it is not easy. We need something that can help initiate the newcomers. For me, a separate website for newcomers would be best. For me personally, I can find information from the portal, but I think for newcomers they won’t be able to find resources easily.
- A Wikimedia affiliate

The Education Team also wanted quantitative feedback on the name “Wikipedia Education Program.” We have received anecdotal feedback that the name does not adequately represent what is happening in education throughout the movement, or the potential scope of activities given the new strategic direction of the Wikimedia movement. The data revealed this to be the case, with only 37% of respondents strongly agreeing that they are satisfied with the name “Wikipedia Education Program” (figure 6.11). Alternative suggestions strongly favored Wikimedia over Wikipedia, and favored the word “learning” to be included in the name (figure 6.12).

Figure 6.11

I would name it the Wikipedia Education Network -- (“program” sounds like something that might stop being supported, or limited options)
- A Wikimedia affiliate

Figure 6.12

Finally, the Education Team wanted to learn about the perception of their branding, specifically related to the logo (figure 6.13). Overwhelmingly, respondents had negative reactions to the logo. Suggestions included making it more friendly, adding colors, and including more education related imagery.

The logo doesn’t look branded or designed to me. I want something that says “We’re inspiring educators.”
- A Wikimedia affiliate

Figure 6.13, the Wikipedia Education Program logo.

Figure 6.14

Recommendations

Wikipedia Education Program Algeria 2016-2017 Awards Ceremony.

Recommendation 1

Improve communication both internally and externally about how using Wikimedia projects in education benefits the Wikimedia movement and contributes to global goals for education:

• Seek out and create opportunities to share impact and collaborate with internal stakeholders
• Develop communications materials and resources that make it easier for educators to become contributors

The survey results made clear what we already suspected--that there is no universally understood definition of “the Wikipedia Education Program.” Different stakeholders have different ideas about what Wikipedia in education should mean, and comprehension of the true impact they can have on one another is not as prevalent among stakeholders as we would like or expect. The results of the survey lead us to ask the question: “How can we improve communication both internally and externally about how using Wikimedia projects in education benefits the Wikimedia movement and contributes to global goals for education?”

Internal stakeholders include contributors to Wikimedia projects, affiliates, program leaders, and staff. Among these groups, contributors and staff need a targeted intervention in order to improve their understanding of the current activities involving Wikimedia projects in education, how those activities are benefiting the movement, and how they can get involved. We need to actively seek out and create opportunities to share what program leaders and educators are doing, and the impact they are having on movement goals. On another level, if we want to improve understanding of the value of Wikimedia projects in education among external stakeholders like educators, policy makers, and other potential partners, we will have to improve buy-in within the movement, and work more closely with other teams and projects.

External stakeholders made it clear that they need more communication about how using Wikimedia projects in education helps achieve global education goals--like helping students acquire digital literacy and other 21st century skills. They asked for resources such as curricula and training. We need to develop communications channels that reach this audience, and share resources that will make it easier for them to buy into the concept of using Wikimedia projects in the classroom. We need to make it easier for educators to become contributors.

Recommendation 2

Revise the scope and workflows of the Education Team in order to better align with the new movement strategy and support the diverse needs of stakeholders at scale:

• Define the relationship between the Wikimedia movement and the education sector
• Align the goals of the education team to the new movement strategy
• Improve communications to potential partners who can help achieve shared goals

The survey made clear that we need to define what we mean when we say “Wikipedia Education Program,” and perhaps even expand beyond the word “program” to be inclusive of the many ways in which we can engage with the education sector. We need to tap into the true potential of Wikimedia in education. The survey revealed that all stakeholders value the idea of Wikipedia in education. They believe there is a symbiotic relationship. The way the Education Team has engaged with the movement and with the education sector has been limited by a program structure that was built for universities in the US and Canada.  A better definition will help us to better serve our diverse stakeholders. Based on the new definition, the scope and purpose of how the education team supports Wikimedia in education could, and should, evolve. This task alone will require participation from all of our stakeholders, internal and external.

Additionally, the new movement strategy should inform our activities going forward. We need to make sure that what we are doing aligns with “knowledge as service” and “knowledge as equity.” We need to explicitly map out this alignment, developing goals and evaluation metrics. This mapping should include a strategy to build the capacity of stakeholders to ensure their education activities also align. This task should go hand in hand with defining the relationship between the Wikimedia movement and the education sector.  

The survey showed us that educators who are exposed to using Wikimedia projects in education value it and advocate for it. It is now up to us to scale up that exposure.  Once we’ve established our goals and metrics, we need to sufficiently communicate them. We need to engage with partners who share these goals, so that we can get the help we need to achieve them.

Recommendation 3

Develop communications materials that are accurate, up to date, and user friendly for non-Wikimedians:

• Redesign the logo and other branding materials
• Develop a portal for Wikimedia and education that is welcoming, inspiring, and informative. It should also be user friendly for non-Wikimedians
• Develop systems and workflows in partnership with other stakeholders that ensure the information we present is accurate and up-to-date

The most salient finding from the survey was the need for the education program to revise our branding, materials and resources. Users who visit our web portal should feel welcomed and inspired. They should be able to easily find what they need, and it should be relevant, up-to-date and accurate information. The education portal should feel like home to anyone involved in activities involving Wikimedia and education. Moreover, aligning the Education Team’s workflows to a shared definition of Wikimedia in education could mean more significant changes to branding--like a change to the name “Wikipedia Education Program.”

The survey showed us that our logo gets more negative responses than positive ones. It is a stark black square--not necessarily evocative of what people would like to see: something colorful, inspirational, with educational imagery. Redesigning our logo will be one of the first steps we need to take.

We learned a lot about what people are looking for when they visit wikimedia.education.org and we will need to apply this information while developing a new portal. The new portal will need to have revised resources as well as new resources, all of which should be easily localized. We will use the data from this survey to prioritize the revision and development of resources.

It is unquestionable that a significant amount of work needs to be done. We need to have branding and materials that reflect the breadth and depth of what is happening with Wikimedia in education. We need to have outward facing resources that make it easy for non-Wikimedians to engage with us. This is a clear-cut priority for the Education Team.

Conclusion

With the help of those who participated in the survey, we now have a better understanding of how our stakeholders perceive the Wikipedia Education Program, and the work of the Education Team at the Wikimedia Foundation. The survey itself, and also the process of engaging in this research, has been an incredible learning experience. We will use this information to make necessary changes, and hope these changes help us to better serve Wikimedians and educators in their efforts to bridge these two important domains. While we learned what needs to change in order for us to improve and scale, we were also affirmed in the knowledge that Wikipedia (and other Wikimedia Projects) do belong in education.

References

Alin (WMF). File:Cairo faculty workshop23.jpg Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cairo_faculty_workshop23.jpg

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TFlanagan-WMF File:Wikipedia belongs in education sticker, yellow.png. CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_belongs_in_education_sticker,_yellow.svg

Wikimedia Finland. Editing Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 2.0  via Wikimedia Commons.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AEditing_Wikipedia_(15431378770).jpg