Wikipedia Education Program/MENA/Timeplan
Concrete time-plan for Campus Ambassadors, Online Ambassadors, professors, and students in the Wikipedia in Arabic Education Program in Egypt. Please note that these are not inflexible requirements; instead, they're highly-recommended best practices that should be adapted to changes in local circumstances.
Time plan
editCAs = Campus Ambassadors
OAs = Online Ambassadors
Profs = Professors
Students = Students
August 2012
edit| Deadline | Who | Activity | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8/27 | New CAs | Meet to have an open discussion about how to make the program better. | Annie Lin from Wikimedia Foundation will join this meeting. |
September 2012
edit| Deadline | Who | Activity | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/5 | Annie Lin (with help from CAs) | Finalize tutorial topics. | Current tutorial topics are here. |
| 9/10 | CAs, OAs, Profs, Students | Tell other professors about the program and encourage them to teach with Wikipedia. | If you meet a professor who is interested in participating, connect the professor with Faris immediately. |
| 9/10 | CAs, OAs, Profs, Students | Tell friends (especially students) about the program and encourage them to become Ambassadors. | If you meet someone who is interested in being an Ambassador, connect that person with Faris immediately. |
| 9/10 | Profs interested in joining program | Confirm with Faris that they want to join the program (by email, phone, or in-person). | |
| 9/15 | Faris El-Gwely (with approval from Annie Lin) | Finish selecting 20–25 professors to participate in the program this term. Inform all interested professors about the selection results. | |
| 9/20 | Faris El-Gwely | Pair up at least 2 CAs and 1 OA with each class, and clearly explain the role of the CAs and OAs to the professor. | Make sure the new CAs can easily reach the experienced CAs (and Wikipedians) if they have questions. |
| 9/30 | CAs | Meet in-person with the professor(s) you're paired with, and confirm the dates of the 5 Wikipedia Workshops you will do with students this term. | |
| 9/30 | Faris El-Gwely (with help from Nader Gaber and approval from Annie Lin) | Finish all tutorial videos. | The tutorial videos should correspond to the list of tutorial topics on this page. |
October 2012
edit| Deadline | Who | Activity | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10/10 | CAs | Wikipedia Workshop #1: what is Wikipedia, why contribute to Wikipedia, how to create an user account, how to create an user page, how to leave messages on talk pages (and sign your name). | More details about this workshop are here. |
| 10/20 | CAs | Wikipedia Workshop #2: Wikipedia interface, good articles vs. bad articles, writing style on Wikipedia, basic wiki markup (bolding, italicizing, sections, sub-sections, internal links). | More details about this workshop are here. |
| 10/31 | Profs | Confirm with Faris which students from your class will be part of the Wikipedia project this term. | Only students who are really motivated to edit Wikipedia and who have good Arabic writing skills should be involved in the project. |
November 2012
edit| Deadline | Who | Activity | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11/5 | CAs | Wikipedia Workshop #3: How to add references, what sources are reliable, how to create a new article, sandboxes. | More details about this workshop are here. |
| 11/5 | OAs | OA Coaching Round #1: read through what students have created so far, fix any wiki markup and wiki etiquette problems for students, and send constructive feedback to students on what they're doing well on and how they can further improve their work. | More details about this feedback round are here. |
| 11/5 | Students (with approval from Profs and CAs) | Finalize which article(s) you will work on this term. | - |
| 11/30 | CAs | Wikipedia Workshop #4: how to add images, Wikipedia shortcuts and tips; check-in on how students are doing with their articles and answer questions students have. | More details about this workshop are here. |
December 2012
edit| Deadline | Who | Activity | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/1 | OAs | OA Coaching Round #2: read through what students have created so far, fix any wiki markup and wiki etiquette problems for students, and send constructive feedback to students on what they're doing well on and how they can further improve their work. | More details about this feedback round are here. |
| 12/15 | CAs | Wikipedia Workshop #5: check-in on how students are doing with their articles and answer questions students have | - |
| 12/15 | OAs | OA Coaching Round #3: read through what students have created so far, fix any wiki markup and wiki etiquette problems for students, and send constructive feedback to students on what they're doing well on and how they can further improve their work. | More details about this feedback round are here. |
| 12/15 | Students | Complete at least 25–50% of the Wikipedia assignment. | - |
January 2013
edit| Deadline | Who | Activity | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/1 | OAs | OA Coaching Round #4: read through what students have created so far, fix any wiki markup and wiki etiquette problems for students, and send constructive feedback to students on what they're doing well on and how they can further improve their work. | More details about this feedback round are here. |
| 1/10 | OAs | OA Coaching Round #5: read through what students have created so far, fix any wiki markup and wiki etiquette problems for students, and send constructive feedback to students on what they're doing well on and how they can further improve their work. | More details about this feedback round are here. |
| 1/15 | Students | Finish the Wikipedia assignment completely. | - |
February 2013
edit| Deadline | Who | Activity | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2/1 (date not certain) | Profs, CAs, OAs, some Students | Participate in end-of-term celebration conference | - |
Wikipedia Workshops (done by CAs)
editWikipedia Workshops are face-to-face sessions where Campus Ambassadors teach students how to edit the Arabic Wikipedia. Ideally, these would take place in a computer lab setting with internet access. They usually take 2–3 hours each.
Wikipedia Workshop #1
editDate: around 10 October
Topics to teach students during this workshop:
- What is Wikipedia
- Why contribute to Wikipedia
- How to create an user account
- How to create an user page
- How to leave messages on talk pages (and sign your name)
Wikipedia Workshop #2
editDate: around 20 October
Topics to teach students during this workshop:
- Wikipedia interface
- What do good articles look like vs. bad articles
- Writing style on Wikipedia
- Basic wiki markup (bolding, italicizing, sections, sub-sections, internal links)
Wikipedia Workshop #3
editDate: around 5 November
Topics to teach students during this workshop:
- How to add references
- What sources are reliable
- How to create a new article
- Sandboxes
Wikipedia Workshop #4
editDate: around 30 November
Topics to teach students during this workshop:
- How to add images
- Wikipedia shortcuts and tips
Also: check in on how students are doing with their articles and answer questions students have
Wikipedia Workshop #5
editDate: around 15 December
Topics to teach students during this workshop: nothing specific, except more advanced topics that students might ask you to teach them.
Also: check in on how students are doing with their articles and answer questions students have
OA Coaching Rounds (done by OAs)
editIn all OA Coaching Rounds, Online Ambassadors do the following:
- Look through all the work that students have done for the Wikipedia assignment, whether the work is in the article namespace, in sandboxes, in another namespace, or off-wiki altogether.
- Fix any wiki markup, wiki etiquette, or wiki policy problems that students made, and inform students about these fixes and nicely tell them how to avoid similar problems in the future.
- Approve the good-quality student edits on-wiki so they show up live on the Arabic Wikipedia.
- Send students feedback on what they're doing well on.
- Send students feedback on how they can further improve their work.
Here are the approximate dates for the OA Coaching Rounds. Keep in mind that the coaching rounds at later dates will take more time, because there will be more writing to look at and provide feedback on.
OA Coaching Round #1: 5 November
edit- There won't be a lot of writing to look at. At this point, most edits will be simple, exploratory edits in students' user page because students are still learning how to edit Wikipedia.
- In this Coaching Round, it's important to make students feel welcome on Wikipedia, and to tell them what they're doing well and encourage them to keep editing.
OA Coaching Round #2: 1 December
edit- At this point, students will have made some initial progress on the article(s) they've selected to work on.
- In this Coaching Round, it's important to pay special attention to major wiki etiquette or wiki policy problems that students may have made, and to gently let students know about those problems and how they can avoid these problems in the future.
- It's also still very important to tell students what they are doing well, and give them encouragement to keep editing.
OA Coaching Round #3: 15 December
edit- At this point, students should have written at least a few well-formatted paragraphs with good references.
OA Coaching Round #4: 1 January
edit- ...
OA Coaching Round #5: 10 January
edit- ...