I have been asked to be project leader for Wikimedia UK's distance
learning project. Early days.
Let me try to clarify what all this is about. It is a subproject of
the training effort, which already has the actual training and
outreach calendar events, and the Training for Trainers (TfT) strand.
It is another piece in the jigsaw. The desired outcome is an online
community with a virtual learning environment (VLE) that is hosting
and developing teaching modules that will effectively teach Wikimedia
topics (in English, as of the moment).
So far the distance learning project (VLE project for short) has three
subprojects I want to announce:
(1) Content (i.e. topic policy and content scavenger hunt)
To start with there will be a defined scope, divided into two unequal
sections: Core and Outreach. For example at the first TfT workshop
last weekend there were four presentations: on talk page etiquette,
dispute resolution, GLAM and Wikipedia in Education. Of these the
first two are Core and the second two Outreach. The main thrust of the
project will be to get to the point where anyone can learn all the
Core topics in decent teaching modules that are designed to common
educational principles and standards. But Outreach is not going to be
off-topic.
This is an area where anyone can help right now. All content will be
CC-by-SA. Initially existing CC-by-SA text can be used to seed
modules. E.g. the whole Help: namespace on enWP: I'm talking to Peter
Coombe (User:The wub) about this, who is on a WMF fellowship working
over that material.
What I really need help with is with (a) FAQ-like material (what
people tend to ask us about) and its subset (b) standard OTRS queries.
There are lists of OTRS standard answers, I know. Please write to me
offlist with suggestions: "how to start an article" and "how to reuse
material" are typical. This is pretty basic to make sure the VLE
teaches what people want to learn.
(2) Moodle. Free-source course management system. When there is
something to discuss,
moodle.org would be the place. If you have
Moodle expertise and would like to be involved, please let me know
offlist.
(3) Community. The acronym MBWL (i.e. Moodle-based but wiki-like). and
hashtag #wikimodule now exist: that was the easy part.
You will be glad to know that there are some policies too. There will
be "modules" and "good modules" and "featured modules".
MBWL:GOOD says
that only good modules go public, and that pure lesson plans, or pure
distance learning modules without IRL notes, don't qualify as good. It
also says the procedure of grading an article good and so publishing
it will be under the control of the whole account-holding community,
and will be a box-ticking exercise. MBWL:FM states that grading a
module featured will be a threaded review process under the control of
the account holders who are also accredited via WMUK and TfT (this is
where things start to interlock). The rationale for this policy states
that the VFL regards debates on how people learn as off-topic there.
They are on-topic in other places, such as a page on
uk.wikimedia.org
where anyone can debate the quality definition on the talk page, but
which is edited by trainers who have done the TfT course and so are at
least starting from common ground.
There is an existing education email list that may prove helpful for
detailed thrashing-out.
I shall be available at the WWI Editathon on Saturday if anyone wants
to chat about all this, or let me near a whiteboard.
Charles