Grants talk:TPS/Venuslui/3rd International Conference on Education 2017

Feedback on request

Dear Venuslui,

We note that you currently have three open TPS requests seeking a total of $4675.50 funding to represent the Wikipedia Education at these events:

• 3rd International Conference on Education 2017 (Kuala Lumper, Malaysia)
• Tenth International Conference on e-Learning and Innovative Pedagogies (Toronto, Canada)
• The Asian Conference on Language Learning 2017 (Kobe, Japan)

Typically, in TPS, we have a strong preference to fund regional participation in events as much as possible. We refrain from funding international travel unless the impact is significant enough to warrant the higher costs of travel and when there is no volunteer available within the region. In this case, since your applications appear to be identical for all three requests, we have the impression that there is not a strategic regional approach intended for these events, but rather that you have a general presentation you would like to extend in as many places as possible. Though we would readily fund you to give this presentation in your own region (in Germany or in nearby European countries), we are hesitant to fund you to travel internationally to make this presentation without a more nuanced approach for each context and without a clearer plan for how you intend to create and foster potential impact in the wake of your talks. If you have further information to provide, please let us know.

Otherwise, our likely course will be to consult with the Wikipedia Education Program staff and fund you for whichever one of these events is likely to be the most strategically useful to their program. I'm pinging Vahid Masrour_(WMF) and Tighe Flanagan (WMF) for input.

Kind regards,

--Marti (WMF) (talk) 17:38, 9 March 2017 (UTC)

Dear Marti (WMF) (talk) ,

Thank you for reviewing my applications for the three mentioned events. I understand that the Foundation would prefer people to apply the TPS for the regional events. However, I believe that the three mentioned events would be considered as important events for us to promote the Wikipedia Education Program, which I will deliver the presentation about the WEP in the mentioned events. I think my participation in the events would increase the participation in the community, which means that it would encourage more people to join the movement. At the same time, I believe that it would increase reach in academia as well, as now many schools do not encourage the students to use Wikipedia as the academic reference, and I hope that I would convince them with my presentation in the events. According to my understating about the movement, increasing participation and reach would fit the criteria for the strategic planning. Thanks. --Venuslui )) 01:00, 11 March 2017 (CET)

Hi Venus, it sounds like the question is not necessarily that the three opportunities don't align with the Wikimedia movement's goals, but it does represent a big chunk of the limited scholarship funds that area available. I would suggest focusing on one of these opportunities, as Marti recommends above, and perhaps even flagging the two other events for other Wikipedians who might be interested. You could connect with individuals, or announce on the Collab or Education lists, even. It would be great to have participation in all these spaces, but even better if we could spread it out a bit more.

I wonder if the International Education Conference in KL would have the most reach to potential educators, especially in the Asia region? That would be a good goal for your participation to have in my opinion.

Hope this helps! Tighe Flanagan (WMF) (talk) 14:06, 12 March 2017 (UTC)

Request funded

Hi Venuslui, per Tighe's recommendation above, we are funding you for the International Education Conference in Kuala Lumpur, but not for the other two events. This decision reflects our best effort to be strategic about funding international travel. This decision is contingent on proof that your talk has been accepted (you can email that to participation wikimedia  · org, or provide a link to your talk in the conference schedule.

We still have some concerns about a lack of definition in your engagement plan and we would appreciate it if you could submit a more detailed plan that includes steps for tracking networking leads, providing appropriate information during the event (via your talk, pamphlets, etc) and a follow-up plan for supporting new contacts after the event. Tighe Flanagan (WMF) (talk), or Nichole Saad (WMF) (talk) (whose focus is Asia), may be able to help you with this, if desired.

Please review the next steps for your grant as described in "How the program works". Note that your post-event report must provide a link to an outcome from your participation. We recommend that you start planning your outcome now so you are prepared to submit it as part of your report, which is due 14 days after the event. An outcome does not include the materials you prepare to present at the event (though we’d like you to link to those, too), but something that is created during or after the event because of your participation, such as a link to something new that was co-created by you and your fellow participants at the event, a blog post you wrote to share your experience with others after the event, or a learning pattern to teach others something you've learned at the event.

Our Grants Administrator will be in touch with you about your grant. Thank you for work on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Warm regards, --Marti (WMF) (talk) 16:36, 16 March 2017 (UTC)