Wikipedia Education Program/News/21 August 2012

New on-wiki Education newsletter debuts edit

At the Wikipedia in education session at Wikimania's unconference, volunteers around the world agreed to start a new monthly newsletter about Wikipedia's use in education for Wikimedians. The newsletter, delivered on talk pages, is designed to keep Wikimedians running programs or those interested in starting a program up to date about what's happening in different education initiatives around the world. This Month in Education will come out on the 15th of each month. See the August issue.

Brazil pilot kicks off second phase edit

On August 11, the second phase of the Education Pilot in Brazil began with a workshop in São Paulo for orienting new professors and new Ambassadors, hosted by Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. Participants included seven new professors, four interested ones who might join the program in 2013, and dozens of new Campus Ambassadors trained by experienced Campus Ambassadors and Wikipedians. Wikipedia Education Program Director Frank Schulenburg traveled to Brazil to participate in the workshop, and participants were excited to get started on working with Wikipedia in education in Brazil. See more about the workshop.

ASA Annual Meeting features Wikipedia initiative edit

Wikimedia Foundation staff Annie Lin and Jami Mathewson traveled to Denver, Colorado, in mid August to attend the American Sociological Association's Annual Meeting. ASA has joined other academic organizations in starting a Wikipedia initiative to encourage sociology professors to edit and have students edit Wikipedia articles to improve information available about sociology. Instructor and Ambassador Piotr Konieczny helped out at the booth, and hundreds of people learned more about using Wikipedia in the classroom. Annie and Jami led a highly interactive teaching workshop that walked participants through discussions and activities on what Wikipedia is and is not, the Wikipedia Education Program, and the challenges and benefits of using Wikipedia in the classroom. Learn more about the ASA Wikipedia initiative.

Journal article shows four case studies edit

A journal article published in E-Learning and Digital Media last month describes how four professors who participated in the United States Education Program pilot used Wikipedia in their classrooms. UC Berkeley's Brian Carver, Georgetown's Rochelle Davis and Robin Kelley, and Michigan State's Jonathan Obar discuss their experiences using Wikipedia as a teaching tool and why they feel like it is a worthwhile endeavor for other professors in the article titled "Assigning Students to Edit Wikipedia: four case studies." See the article listing, or email ldaviswikimedia.org for a PDF copy.