Wikipedia Education Program/News/16 April 2013

Welcome to the Wikipedia Education Program Update -- a newsletter from the Wikimedia Foundation about efforts to bring Wikipedia into higher education classrooms. The newsletter is released on the first and third Tuesday of each month. To be notified of the latest issue, add this page to your watchlist or email LiAnna Davis (ldaviswikimedia.org), the Wikipedia Education Program Communications Manager, to be added to the distribution list.

Teachers in Namibia learn to edit Wikipedia edit

Peter Gallert, a faculty member at the Polytechnic of Namibia, authored a post on the Wikimedia Foundation blog highlighting the outcomes of a workshop he led for teachers at schools throughout Namibia, teaching them how to edit Wikipedia. Peter hopes that these teachers will start editing Wikipedia with their students in villages across Namibia. The workshop participants, despite hot temperatures and slow internet connections, moved the article on Witvlei from a stub to a start class article. Read more about Peter's efforts in Namibia.

Trophy Case highlights good student work edit

Professors and Ambassadors who worked with students in the United States and Canada program have added a series of links to the new Trophy Case, which highlights the best student work. The Trophy Case includes categories for articles that were featured on the English Wikipedia's main page in the Did You Know section, those that have achieved Good Article status, high quality new articles, significantly expanded existing articles, and non-textual contributions. See the Trophy Case, and add other student work you see to it.

Swedish university kicks off program edit

Wikimedia Sweden and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences launched a unique collaboration in January in which a "Wikipedian in Academy" works with the university to encourage 100 researchers at the university to make significant contributions to Wikipedia. The intention is to have an annual Wikipedia day when researchers participate in workshops and training and/or write about their field of research in Swedish and foreign language Wikipedia. Learn more about the project.

Wiki Education Foundation proposed edit

Some participants in the United States and Canada branches of the Wikipedia Education Program have proposed a "Wiki Education Foundation" to be an affiliated Thematic Organization beginning this summer. Volunteer board members have finalized the bylaws of the organization, which will run the U.S. and Canada programs in the future. If you're interested in learning more or want to sign on to help, please see their application.