Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom Kenya Edition (ID: 21913868)

From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki
statusFunded
Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom Kenya Edition
proposed start date2022-09-15
proposed end date2022-12-15
grant start date2022-09-15T00:00:00Z
grant end date2022-12-15T00:00:00Z
budget (local currency)585321 KES
budget (USD)4998 USD
amount recommended (USD)4998
grant typeGroup of individuals not registered with an organization
funding regionSSA
decision fiscal year2022-23
applicant• FaithMwanyolo
organization (if applicable)• N/A
Review Final Report

This is an automatically generated Meta-Wiki page. The page was copied from Fluxx, the grantmaking web service of Wikimedia Foundation where the user has submitted their application. Please do not make any changes to this page because all changes will be removed after the next update. Use the discussion page for your feedback. The page was created by CR-FluxxBot.

Applicant Details[edit]

Please provide your main Wikimedia Username.

FaithMwanyolo

Please provide the Usernames of people related to this proposal.

Patricia Wandia

Organization

N/A

Are you a member of any Wikimedia affiliate or group, including informal groups like Wiki Fan Clubs, emerging language communities, not recognized Wikimedia groups etc.? Please list them all.

We are not members of any Wikimedia Affiliate or group.

Grant Proposal[edit]

M. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.

Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom Kenya Edition

Q. Indicate if it is a local, international, or regional proposal and if it involves several countries? (optional)

Local

Q2. If you have answered regional or international, please write the country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal.


R. If you would like, please share any websites or social media accounts that your group or organization has.


1. What is the change that you are trying to bring about and why is this important.

With this program, we hope to equip secondary teachers in Kenya with the necessary tools to navigate an increasingly digital world, and to develop the skills to make use of, and create knowledge in their areas of expertise. The goal is to ensure that teachers and learners are able to interact with digital media critically, and have the capacity to differentiate between high quality, reputable and relevant infromation from false, inaccurate and irrelevant information.

Additionally, by going through this program, teachers will be taking part in professionl development. This is particularly important because upon successful completion of the program, teachers will be intergral additions to future iterations of the program.

The program comes at an opportune moment that appreciates the need for highly trained and well informed individuals on the continent. At the moment, projections show that by 2030, 75% of all youth shall be African. The need to invest in high quality training and education of teachers and learners is at an all time high. This program is designed to help teachers and learners to align themselves with the needs of a dynamic world, and to strategically position themselves in a manner that ensures that they can respond and be part of the solutions we need in the country and beyond.

2. Describe your main approaches or strategies to achieve these changes and why you think they will be effective.

In the 3-month program, we shall use a blended approach that will ensure that teachers gain value from using an online platform to complete their modules. in this approach, we hope to foster an understanding of how to navigate curriculums online, and how to interact with wikipedia articles through using them as references, editing them, identify them and eventually create new knowledge. The in person sessions will provide a chance for teachers and trainers to interact one on one, understand immediate challenges and monitor the progress of the teachers. We found the incorporation of in-person sessions necessary to build networks and create a sense of belonging among the teachers.

We shall select two teachers from each school to facilitate peer to peer learning. The rationale behind this strategy is that they shall act as sounding boards and motivate each other to complete the training. Furthermore, we envision those teachers to lead the charge towards the adoption of using wikipedia as a pedagogical tool in the classrooms in their schools. We are reliant on their motivation to engage the leaders in their schoolsand networks to understand the importance of the program, and convey the necessity of intergrating digital mediums of learning in their teaching.

3. What are the activities you will be developing and delivering as part of these approaches or strategies?

We are currently in the process of adapting the curriculum to suit local needs: We estimate that adaptation will be complete by 15th August. Once the curriculum is ready, it'll be ready for teachers to use immediately. The activities are sectioned into 3 modules: Accessing information, Evaluating information and Creating information. These three modules will dive deeper into how to navigate wikipedia, understanding the codes of conduct and at the end teachers will be engaged in transformative practices in the creation of knowledge.

All these modules have been intentionally chosen to facilitate a wholistic understanding of how to use wikipedia and to promote the use and creation of open knowledge. Teachers will understand that not only can they use wikipedia as a learning tool, but also that educational material can be used to complement the local 8-4-4 curriculum. We are seeking to encourage exploration of the content that is already provided by the Ministry of Education in Kenya.

in our in-person sessions, we are keen to understand the nuances and experiences of teachers in this training, we would like to offer support from other Wikipedians in Kenya, and open up an avenue where big picture coversations of education as a pedagogical tool can take place. We are also looking to explore and get a good grasp of the hindrances and challenges teachers face in intergrating digital media in their classrooms. We do this with an understanding that some of those challenges are in infrastucture, access, training and the stucture of local curriculums.

4. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign or event? If so, please select the relevant campaign below. If so, please select all the relevant campaigns from the list below. If "other", please state which.

Other (please specify)

Reading Wikipedia in The Classroom Program.
5. Do you have the team that is needed to implement this proposal?

We have set up a small team of 3 that will spearhead the program. The team comprises 2 trainers who will take the lead in the teacher training program, helping both educators and students to develop vital media and information literacy skills for the 21st century. The 2 co-trainers will support in-person training sessions (3) and answer messages from teachers in the WikiLearn forums weekly.

The 3rd member of the team is a communications specialist who will take the lead in creating pieces for teacher outreach: social media posts, letters to authorities, emails, etc. to help us register the target number of teachers. Scheduling posts for social media. The person will also select testimonies and relevant data to communicate effectively the impact of the program after its evaluation.

There will be a stipend paid to the team members in order to compensate for the time and effort used to facilitate the program.

Co-trainers' usernames: FaithMwanyolo & Patricia Wandia Communications specialist's username: TBD

6. Please state if your proposal aims to work to bridge any of the identified CONTENT knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select up to THREE that most apply to your work.

Socioeconomic Status, Other global topics for impact (topics considered to be of global importance)

6.1 In a few sentences, explain how your work is specifically addressing this content gap (or Knowledge inequity) to ensure a greater representation of knowledge.

Through the program, we will be able to dismantle any false beliefs associated with open knowledge and the use of Wikipedia as a source of knowledge by connecting it to the components of UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy framework. The program will play a major role in helping both teachers and students understand how information is produced, how they can access and evaluate content online, and how to understand biases and knowledge gaps in the information they consume.

7. Please state if your proposal includes any of these areas or THEMATIC focus. Select up to THREE that most apply to your work and explain the rationale for identifying these themes.

Education, Open Technology

8. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities?

Geographic , Socioeconomic status, Digital Access

9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities?

The target participants are high school teachers based in different parts of Kenya. Before the program, we will approach each school that we plan to partner with and give them a detailed account of what the training will entail. We will leave forms for interested teachers to fill and we will also gather their details in order to communicate with them for the duration of the training. Our communications specialist will create pieces for teacher outreach: social media posts, letters to authorities, emails, etc. to help us register the target number of teachers. Scheduling posts for social media. This person will also select testimonies and relevant data to communicate effectively on the impact of the program after its evaluation.

10. In what ways are you actively seeking to contribute towards creating a safer, supportive, more equitable environment for participants?

We are commited to ensuring that we amass a group of diverse indivuals in terms of educational and professional backgrounds, perspectives and outlooks for, this and future iterations of the program. To ensure that the environment caters for all, we have made deliberate efforts to bring onto the team a communication specialist that understands and appreciates these differences. We have also devised the possibility of one on one meetings to support teachers that may need extra guidance.

11. Please tell us about how you have let your Wikimedia communities know about the planned activities and this proposal. Use this space to describe the processes you carried out to make the community more involved in planning this proposal. Please link the on-wiki community discussion(s) around the proposals.

We have reached out to the Kenya user group to let them know of the scope and purpose of the project. From that, we were able to identify the right fit for the communications role. We have also reached out to the senior program officer for guidance on the application of grants. We are looking to train the commmunications specialist and to share the plan we have to reach out to, teachers and stakeholders.

12. Are you aware of other Rapid Fund proposals in your local group, community, or region that are being submitted and that align with your proposed project?

No

If yes:

12.1 Did you explore the possibility of doing a joint proposal with other leaders in your group?
N/A
12.2 How will this joint proposal allow you to have better results?
N/A
13. Will you be working with other external, non-Wikimedia partners to implement this proposal? Required.

Yes

13.1 Please describe these partnerships and what motivates the potential partner to be part of the proposal and how they add value to your work.

Our partners will be the local high schools and their sole purpose will be to provide the teachers who will take part in the program. A lot of the schools involved will be those that actively take part in open education programs and are keen on the progression and personal development of their teachers.

14. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select a maximum of THREE options that most apply.

Provide for Safety and Inclusion, Identify Topics for Impact, Innovate in Free Knowledge

Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation[edit]

15. What do you hope to learn from your work in this fund proposal?

We aim to learn how to foster a relationship between Education and the Wikimedia movement, in order to realize the goal that the sum of all knowledge should be accessible to everyone in the world for free. We also aim to learn how to build capacity in our community, educational institutions, and other actors in the education sector.

16. Based on these learning questions, what is the information or data you need to collect to answer these questions? Please register this information (as metric description) in the following spaces provided.
Main Open Metrics Data
Main Open Metrics Description Target
Number of teachers who complete the program. This covers the number of teachers we expect to finish the training and qualify for graduation. 18
Number of teachers participating in the program This covers the number of teachers we intend on having take part in the program; whether or not they graduate. 25
Number of teachers who will get to know about the program. This covers the number of teachers who would be interested in taking part in the program. 50
N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A
17. Core quantitative metrics.
Core Metrics Summary
Core metrics Description Target
Number of participants We aim to target around 25 participants who will be a part of the pilot program. 25
Number of editors We aim to have all the participants create Wikipedia accounts and make a small contribution. 25
Number of organizers We have two main organizers who will also serve as co-trainers for the duration of the program. 2
Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project
Wikimedia Project Description Target
Wikipedia Each of the participants will make their first contributions to Wikipedia during module 3 of the program. 25
N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A
17.1 If for some reason your proposal will not measure these core metrics please provide an explanation.


18. What tools would you use to measure each metric selected? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support.

We will utilize the WikiLearn platform to monitor the teachers' progress throughout the duration of the program. We will also give recommended deadlines on when to complete assessments. This will further be supported by a dedicated calendar that will pinpoint any upcoming or overdue assignments.

Financial Proposal[edit]

19. & 19.1 What is the amount you are requesting from Wikimedia Foundation? Please provide this amount in your local currency.

585321 KES

19.2 What is this amount in US Currency (to the best of your knowledge)?

4998 USD

20. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KQAY7p1woh-lCnnI_C87stKacHIsWrL6CSlX0wUd6qc/edit?usp=sharing

We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.

Yes

Endorsements and Feedback[edit]

Please add endorsements and feedback to the grant discussion page only. Endorsements added here will be removed automatically.

Community members are invited to share meaningful feedback on the proposal and include reasons why they endorse the proposal. Consider the following:

  • Stating why the proposal is important for the communities involved and why they think the strategies chosen will achieve the results that are expected.
  • Highlighting any aspects they think are particularly well developed: for instance, the strategies and activities proposed, the levels of community engagement, outreach to underrepresented groups, addressing knowledge gaps, partnerships, the overall budget and learning and evaluation section of the proposal, etc.
  • Highlighting if the proposal focuses on any interesting research, learning or innovation, etc. Also if it builds on learning from past proposals developed by the individual or organization, or other Wikimedia communities.
  • Analyzing if the proposal is going to contribute in any way to important developments around specific Wikimedia projects or Movement Strategy.
  • Analysing if the proposal is coherent in terms of the objectives, strategies, budget, and expected results (metrics).

Endorse