Hello, Online Ambassadors!
As many students are starting to make significant edits on-wiki, I'd like
to facilitate an IRC conversation about the semester (what's going well,
what we can do to improve experiences for the rest of the semester, and
what our major gaps are to identify in the upcoming Online Ambassador
Orientation).
I've created a Doodle poll [1] to establish the best hours next week to
meet on IRC (Wikipedia-en-ambassadors). Please fill out your
availabilities, and I'll try to select 2 popular time slots that will give
as many people as possible a chance to contribute to this conversation.
Campus Ambassadors, you're of course welcome to join, too!
I'll give you guys until the end of the weekend and will send out the time
slots on Monday morning. Please note the times are in Pacific.
[1] http://doodle.com/tpqbxiwzw9fcsp6s
Thanks,
--
Jami Mathewson
U.S./Canada Education Program Associate
Wikimedia Foundation
jmathewson(a)wikimedia.org
http://education.wikimedia.org
Welcome to the Wikipedia Education Update — a newsletter from the Wikimedia Foundation that is distributed the first and third Tuesday of each month. Someone from our staff has talked with you about our Wikipedia Education Program to bring Wikipedia into higher education classrooms around the world, and we wanted to keep you in the loop on all of our exciting activities. If you would prefer not to receive these messages, simply reply to the email and ask for your address to be removed. Learn more about subscribing or read the archives.
Beta testers for new MediaWiki extension needed
The Wikipedia Education Program needs your help in testing a new MediaWiki extension that will replace the current course page and Ambassadors system! Beginning in fall 2012, professors, Ambassadors, and students will associate themselves with courses through a MediaWiki database, meaning it will be much easier to create course pages and generate dynamic lists of courses. The new extension will help us all be more transparent about the work being done in the Education Program. We're looking for a handful of professors and Ambassadors who are willing to create fake course pages to make sure the system works smoothly before we deploy it on the English Wikipedia. Learn more about how to join the beta test group today:
https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=6…
Czech Republic students edit articles on protected areas
Thirty students at Charles University in Prague edited the Czech Wikipedia for class last term through an education program led by volunteers from the Czech WikiProject Protected Areas. Wikipedians served as Ambassadors for the class, helping students learn how to contribute to Wikipedia. Students took photographs and wrote articles about protected areas. User:Chmee2, one of the Ambassadors leading the project, wrote about their experiences on the Wikimedia Foundation blog. Read the post:
https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=6…
Classes start editing in Cairo Pilot
Students at Ain Shams University and Cairo University have begun to edit the Arabic Wikipedia for class as part of the Cairo Pilot of the Wikipedia Education Program. Mathematics students are going to be writing articles on famous mathematicians, while French students will be translating articles from the French Wikipedia to the English Wikipedia. Want to find out what the first article the students chose to translate was? Read this blog post about the program:
https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=6…
Welcome, Faris El-Gwely!
Faris has joined the Wikipedia Education Program team half-time as the Education Program Coordinator, Cairo. In this position, Faris will help coordinate and monitor on-the-ground and on-wiki activities in the Cairo Pilot. A long-term Arabic Wikipedian, Faris lives in Sadat City near Cairo. He graduated in 2011 from Menoufia University where his specialty was Engineer of Survey and Maps, although he now approaches geography as a hobby rather than as a professional pursuit. Faris is very happy about his position as the Education Program Coordinator, Cairo, and sees it as a continuation of his involvement in the Wikimedia movement. Leave Faris a welcome message on his user page:
https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=6…
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This email is sent from:
Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street, 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
United States
Hi, all.
A class at Georgetown [1] is looking for an OA to replace their OA (who has
decided to take a break from Wikipedia).
If you are interested in helping these students, please notify me and the
Regional Ambassador (Rob Pongsajapan: rpongsaj(a)gmail.com) as soon as
possible, so we can make sure these students get the support they need when
they begin editing.
Thank you very much ahead of time,
[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:United_States_Education_Program/Cour…
--
Jami Mathewson
U.S. Education Program Associate
Wikimedia Foundation
jmathewson(a)wikimedia.org
Hi, Ambassadors!
Please see the following post on the Ambassador Talk page [1] requesting
your input for content that should be in the Online Ambassador orientation
that will be available (and mandatory) for the Fall 2012 semester.
You are out there getting real experiences and know what
information/preparation/skills you lacked in certain situations, so please
do take a few moments to reflect on your experiences and comment on this
discussion.
[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Ambassadors#Online_Ambassador_O…
Thanks ahead of time for your input!
--
Jami Mathewson
U.S. Education Program Associate
Wikimedia Foundation
jmathewson(a)wikimedia.org
Hi Ambassadors,
This is just a reminder that students are really starting to edit Wikipedia
now (which means students and professors are popping into IRC more often
with a request for advice).
Please hang out in the chat room whenever you can make time to spread your
wisdom. It's the #wikipedia-en-classroom channel on freenode.
You can join here:
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=wikipedia-en-classroom
Or if you'd like information on using a client for your operating system,
see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat#Clients
Please also check out the Guidelines for the channels:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Ambassadors/IRC/Guide
Thank you!
--
Jami Mathewson
U.S. Education Program Associate
Wikimedia Foundation
jmathewson(a)wikimedia.org
Welcome to the Wikipedia Education Update — a newsletter from the Wikimedia Foundation that is distributed the first and third Tuesday of each month. Someone from our staff has talked with you about our Wikipedia Education Program to bring Wikipedia into higher education classrooms around the world, and we wanted to keep you in the loop on all of our exciting activities. If you would prefer not to receive these messages, simply reply to the email and ask for your address to be removed. Learn more about subscribing or read the archives.
Brazil Pilot kicks off next term with six classes
The Brazil Pilot is starting this week and next in 6 classes in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Last Saturday, local Brazilian Wikipedians led a training for the all-star cast of professors and Campus Ambassadors. Wikipedians across Brazil and Portugal are also expressing their support for the program by serving as Online Ambassadors. We are excited by the potential for great improvements in the Portuguese Wikipedia in many different topic areas this semester, including Physics, Ancient History, Public Policy, and Sociology. Learn more by checking out the course page (in Portuguese).
https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=6…
WMF blog highlights status of program worldwide
The Wikimedia Foundation blog featured a post on the kickoff of the Wikipedia Education Program for this term in many countries throughout the world. In the blog post, representatives from the United States, Canada, Egypt, Germany, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, and Mexico all report on the current status of their programs. Read the post.
https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=6…
Welcome, Essam Sharaf!
Essam Sharaf (no, not the former prime minister of Egypt, but someone who shares his name) has joined the Education Program team as the Cairo Outreach Coordinator. An experienced Wikipedian, Essam is serving in this role part time as he continues his studies at the Kasr ElAini School of Medicine at Cairo University. His role as a Cairo Outreach Coordinator is to organize and test several types of outreach events in Cairo to create excitement around Wikipedia, encourage more people to actively contribute to and edit Arabic Wikipedia, and introducing the newbies to the current existing community. Essam's work will serve as a guide for the future path of the Arabic Catalyst Project. See Essam's plan for outreach efforts.
https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=6…
Welcome, Rob Schnautz!
Essam isn't the only new member of the team. We're also pleased to announce that Rob Schnautz has joined us half-time to fill our Online Communications role for the English Wikipedia. Rob has been editing Wikipedia as User:BobTheWikipedian since 2006, and he self-identifies as a WikiDragon, working mostly with the Tree of Life WikiProject. He also helped develop the automatic taxobox system. In 2011, he became the Regional Ambassador for part of the Midwest, and he joins the team now to serve as a liaison between the existing editing community and the Education Program team. Send a warm welcome to Rob at his user page.
https://contacts.wikimedia.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=6…
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This email is sent from:
Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street, 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
United States
Hello, ambassadors!
I've created a page on the Outreach wiki [1] where everyone can post
updates about what's going on in your class[es]. With the growing number of
courses and ambassadors, we have a limited capacity for keeping up with
minor and major milestones. I've made up a few example of types of updates
and added one for this week. I hope you will all utilize this page (and
encourage your professors to contribute, if they're interested) as often as
you have updates/problems/successes/exciting news to share with the rest of
us.
Thank you ahead of time for helping make the program more transparent!
[1]
outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program/US-Canada/Updates
--
Jami Mathewson
U.S. Education Program Associate
Wikimedia Foundation
jmathewson(a)wikimedia.org