Programa Catalisador do Brasil/Planejamento 2012-2013/Parcerias/Ação Educativa/Proposal/Objectives and Activities
October 2013 - July 2014
Objectives[edit]
- To increase and strengthen access to knowledge in Brazil by catalysing Wikimedia projects and increasing the reach of the Wikimedia projects and community in Brazil;
- To build and enhance a network of educators, education organizations and students that will learn and multiply how to collaborate in the Wikimedia projects, also building the vision of authorship, empowering them to be content producers.
- To bridge the gap between educational institutions at all levels and technology as well as the Wikimedia projects and community.
- To create and disseminate high quality content with large participation of educators and citizens in general.
- To share cultural and educational content in Wikimedia projects
- To increase readership and raise awareness more widely on Wikimedia Projects
- To increase participation and collaboration in Wikimedia projects
- To develop and share a methodology so that the use of Wikimedia projects and others technological resources help the educational processes become more significant and valuable for its various actors (students, teachers etc.)
Activities[edit]
Activities may be developed in 2 phases (1st and 2nd year of the project). We're mainly describing activities that will be developed in the first year, mentioning a few planned for the second year or that will last for the first and second year (building communities, for instance)
Knowledge production and dissemination / Produção e difusão de conhecimento[edit]
Mapping of open educational resources in Brazil[edit]
Objective: Produce the state of art in collaboration practices in the education field - mapping and understanding open educational resources practices in Brazil (how their communities work, what content is available, how it is built and what content may be relevant for exchange) will enhance the possibility of collaboration between them.
Rationale: we know there are many open content and educational resources initiatives throughout Brazil, in wikis as well as in in other platforms. Partial mappings have been carried out by OER community in Brazil [1], but we believe it’s key for our project to work on an extensive list and detailed understanding of as many initiatives as possible to allow more intensive collaboration among them.
ACTIVITY 1: To map open educational resources and collaborative building of knowledge in the education field, in collaboration with Open Educational Resources communities, Wikimedia Community, free culture movements and educational institutions partners. Make it available on Meta and br.wikimedia.org websites
Methodology: The first step is to make a conference with Wiki Community in São Paulo and Open Educational Resources activists to collect some experiences and define key words for the research. This step is followed by the research in academic basis and networks of professors who already discuss the theme to build experiences database, which will be analyzed to identify best practices, gaps and potential collaboration actions, involving community members experiences and knowledge.
When: October, November, December 2013.
Expected results: documentation on Wikiversity of experiences and practices on knowledge sharing in Brazil available to anyone, convergence of works and efforts, emergency of strategic partnerships, cross-collaboration among projects, content added into Wikimedia projects (Wikibooks, Wikipedia, Wikiversity).
ACTIVITY 2: To organize a public event about educational practices and the collaborative creation of knowledge content and release of the result of the map mentioned above
When: January-February, 2014
ACTIVITY 3: To motivate public debate through media and other public forums through the dissemination of the results of the mapping above and build a media source database related to technology in education in Educational Observatory site
When: January-May, 2014
Expected results: documentation on Wikiversity/Wikimedia Brasil/Meta of experiences and practices on knowledge sharing in Brazil available to anyone, convergence of works and efforts, emergence of strategic partnerships, cross-collaboration among projects, content added into Wikimedia projects (Wikibooks, Wikipedia, Wikiversity), increase in practices of collaboration.
Content production and dissemination[edit]
Dissemination of educational content through Wikimedia projects and other technologies[edit]
Objective: Content growth in the Wikimedia projects, by adding content produced by Ação Educativa, the National Library and other partners to Wikisource, Wikibooks and Wikipedia.
Rationale: Ação Educativa has systematically been creating educational content for more than 10 years, the Brazil National Library, organization under the Minister of Culture, has started turning into digital their archives and there is a lot of content in public domain or CC licences, but we haven't done consistent efforts to bring that content into Wikimedia projects, helping dissemination and facilitating access, readership and their use.
ACTIVITY 1: Adding content produced by Brazilian organizations and bring them into Wikimedia projects.
Methodology: Research of free (or with potential to become free) content (historical documents, books, manuals, articles, guides, scientific researches) produced by cultural and educational organizations, in particular the Brazilian National Library and Ação Educativa; also generation of QR code in partnership with organizations like botanical gardens, zoos or the city hall; workshops on how to edit Wikimedia projects to those institutions will take place; this phase will be followed by partnership or fellowship (to be designed in details with the community) to organize and upload this content.
When: Jan 2014 - June 2014.
Expected results: primary result is the increase of content in Wikibooks, Wikisource, Wikiversity and Wikipedia. There may be increase of editors as well, depending on how the program is designed.
ACTIVITY 2: Engage at least 30 professors in Wikimedia projects class assignments activities .
Methodology: Through the capacity building activities (more information below).
When: November 2013 - June 2014 (preparation of material and open call for participation starts in 2013 and the activities themselves start in 2014).
Expected results: Creation and improvement of at least 200 articles during the semester; involvement of at least 300 students. A plus would be retention of at least 15% of students, editing regularly after the semester ends. From our experience, though, retention rates are really low in this Wikipedia class assignments model project.
Capacity Building[edit]
Rationale: Collaborating with Wikimedia projects may seem trivial for those already participating in the projects, but for those who are not involved yet there may be different types of barriers: from the self confidence to share knowledge to technical challenges, the Wikimedia projects have a lot of rules, policies and principles that may represent obstacles for the participation of new contributors. Encouraging more people to share knowledge and guiding them on how to do it is key to bring more editors and to get more people (and more diversity) to share what they know. Also, there is currently huge gaps in Brazil - from social ones like digital divide to relative technological illiteracy among certain groups of educators. Bridging those gaps is key to re-connect generations of students and professors in classrooms.
Objectives: To build capacity among educators, students, and the general public through a capacity building program that consists of various actions, to enhance Wikimedia projects' communities, bring in more editors, improve the use of information technology tools in the educational field.
ACTIVITY 1: To organize a course during the first semester of 2014 for educators from different levels in order to empower them to build content in Wikimedia Projects and for the use of technology in collaborative creation of knowledge as an educational process that can make the learning experience more meaningful for the students. The course (which is likely to be called "Education, technology and human rights") aims at building capacity so that educators and human right activists in the educational field can independently well apply the use of collaborative technologies to education, lead Wiki activities in the classroom, make a critical and qualified use of technologies and of the content in internet in educational processes and become authors of free content in Wikimedia projects. It also aims at strengthening a network of educators, human right activists in the educational field, Wikimedia Movement and free knowledge activists engaged in use of the technology and collaborative creation for education. Moreover, it will allow us to make an assisted use of educational experiences with Wiki tools collected during mapping of the use of Wiki in the first phase of the project. It shall be costless for the public.
Methodology: Based on principles of popular education and collaborative creation of knowledge, the course will combine general lectures about the right to education and free content, as well practical activities on Wikimedia projects and on internet tools about themes debated during the course. The course content will include right to education, collaborative creation of knowledge, free content, critical use of technology in education and editing techniques and policies. The mapping of open educational resources and collaborative building of knowledge in the education field will also help to build the units of the course and invite some speakers.
When: January 2014 - June 2014 (organization since October 2013).
Expected results: From 50 to 100 high school teachers, educational coordinators, university professors, students, journalists and human rights activists in the educational field able to deal well with information technologies, practices of sharing of knowledge and developing Wikimedia projects activities. Also, the course is expected to generate content throughout the semester, by creating or significantly improving at least 100 articles.
ACTIVITY 2: To develop a methodology for the collaborative organization and documentation of educational experiences with Wiki tools, creating a guide to help people and organizations to document their educational practices with wiki (i.e. in the Wikiversity) - resulting in a collection of pedagogical practices built collaboratively).
Methodology: Based on principles of popular education and collaborative creation of knowledge, the process will involve piloting with professors leading Wiki activities the building of collaborative practices for documenting and exchanging experience and learnings permanently.
When: May 2014 - November 2014.
Expected results: A knowledge base covering the most important experiences with the use of Wiki to share educational experiences, allowing improvement of the practices and common learnings, as well as the engagement of new people in sharing educational practices encouraged by the learnings shared throughout the years.
ACTIVITY 3: To create and distribute print material in order to help professors lead activities in the classrooms.
Methodology: Localization of tutorial materials and creation of a guide for participation in all Portuguese Wikimedia projects, making use of those existing materials and adapting them to the Portuguese Wikimedia projects reality. Under the responsibility of local staff, the process is meant to also involve wikimedians interested in improving and creating tutorials.
When: September 2013 - December 2013.
Expected results: The distribution of at least 3 types of print tutorials (for general newcomers, educators willing to develop activities and students).
ACTIVITY 4: To deploy online training sessions for professors and students engaged in the education program.
Methodology: The Brazil team will organize online sessions every 15 days for professors involved in the Wikimedia activities.
When: September 2013 - May 2014.
Expected results: Increase the participation in the education program to the level of at least 30 professors by 2014 all over Brazil leading activities in classrooms. Increase the level of accomplishment to at least 80% of professors who start developing Wikimedia assignments in their courses (rates of professors who start developing activities and accomplish their objectives by the end of the semester have been of no more than 60%).
ACTIVITY 5:To create online material and localize tools in order to facilitate professors in leading activities in the classrooms.
Methodology: To create a script draft to be reviewed by the community; to produce 10 to 15 short tutorial videos on how to edit Wikimedia Projects; to localize the education program extension; to finalize and improve localization of 4 online guides for participation (aiming at general newcomers, educators willing to develop activities, students and ambassadors); to revamp Wikimedia Education Program pages in order to include other types of collaboration, such as the ones from high schools and other education activities.
When: September 2013 - December 2013.
Expected results: Increase the participation in the education program to the level of at least 30 professors by 2014 all over Brazil leading activities in classrooms. More active engagement in the Wikimedia Education program by professors, with virtual support, but no need for in person support to all of them.
ACTIVITY 6: To create tutorial to be embedded in existing educational and digital inclusion platforms, distributed and operated by governmental agencies and other organizations.
Rationale and methodology: Brazilian Government agencies and other organizations make use of distance learning platforms with educational material distributed to thousands of students and taught by their own tutors and professors. Many of these platforms contain modules that introduce the use of internet technology applied to education. However, they don’t contain modules on how to share knowledge or on Wikimedia projects. Data Processing Federal Service (SERPRO), the Ministry of Education (MEC) in the state of Bahia and Abril Educação, a not for profit related to a media corporation, are interested in the inclusion of specific modules on how to use Wikimedia projects in their platforms. The objective is to build capacity among students of e-learning and digital inclusion platforms. Our team will generate the content and they will embed in their platforms and teach how to use them. We will also create guides for tutors so they will be able to introduce the topic.
When: September 2013 - February 2014.
Expected results: Increase in the number of new editors and number of articles. However, we expect the impact to happen in the medium and long term, considering courses last more than one year, and it’s very unlikely we’ll be able to measure how many newcomers engaged because of the distance learning courses. However, we can set up an online survey for users of the platform asking who went through the modules, who edited Wikimedia projects and who enjoyed and continued editing.
ACTIVITY 7: Create online sessions for volunteers interested in engaging in the Education Program as ambassadors.
Rationale and methodology: The Brazilian Education Program has not been 100% successful in having the program led by wikipedians and wikimedians. So far, we've had about 4 or 5 wikimedians very engaged and committed in leading activities at schools and universities. Increasing the number of volunteers taking the lead is key for the sustainibility and success of the program. However, this requires regular committment and knowledge about the challenges faced in activities in the classroom. We intend to develop online sessions for volunteers interested in participating in the program as ambassadors, bringing experienced wikimedians to share their knowlegde and sharing our experience too.
When: November 2013 - June 2014.
Expected results: Increase in the number of experienced wikimedians engaged in the Education Program, bringing at least three new ambassadors (an increase of more then 50%).
Support communities building[edit]
Objective: The Brazil Catalyst Program is meant not only to support the online communities to achieve growth of editting community and content available, as well as to improve quality, but it’s also meant to support the “offline community” that aim at organize activities in Brazil. Also, the building of communities will combine strategies to support current members of the existing communities and to bring in more people to the Wikimedia and free knowledge communities.
Rationale: The Brazilian Wikimedia communities have been active in both developing activities to attract newcomers (eg. Facebook - Wikimedia projects communities[2] [3], but also active in promoting workshops and lectures in events and community meetups. It’s hard to say so far, however, how those activities have impacted the growth and improvement of Wikimedia projects. The Brazil Catalyst Program is supposed to support the creation of a large community in the mid term, involving not only the current stakeholders but also new actors in the process of help the Wikimedia movement and projects grow.
ACTIVITY 1: To build, maintain, stimulate and energize a network of professors from the Brazilian education program and help them become self-sustainable and managed.
Targets: University professors and school teachers Methodology: Creation of permanent communication channels and regular activities to help the education community lead and develop projects within the Wikimedia movement. Organize hangouts to promote conversation among professors and wikipedians and organize in person events to gather a group of active professors to exchange experience, share learnings, discuss possible partnerships and systematize methodologies and cases of success.
When: September 2013 - November 2014.
Expected results: The creation of an independent network that can count on the support from Wikimedians and the Brazil Catalyst Program. Improvement of cross activities, professors meetings taking place independently, publication of a localized cases of success brochure and increase of 25% in participation of professors in the program and increase of 10% in participation of students. Strengthening of a network of professors, engaged in direct conversations, in sharing learnings and experiences, in helping each other. We expect this will result in proposals for joint projects and efforts, and the improvement of methodologies and reach of the program. By creating this network, we expect the program may continue to happen on a regular basis even after the Brazil Catalyst Program ends in 2015 and professors will get to work together on the continuity of the program. We also expect this to help us support more professors, by having a direct channel to easily communicate with them all. We expect that at least 50 professors participate in the list by the end of June 2014.
ACTIVITY 2: To support the organization of regional and local community meetings throughout Brazil.
Rationale: there are several meetups of wikimedians throughout Brazil every year. However, Brazil being a country of continental dimensions, distances are huge, and it's often hard to get more than a very few people to get together. We want to provide incentives for transportation and infrastructure to get recording and streaming for virtual participation in those meetings, so they can bring more people into debates.
When: October 2013 - June 2014.
Expected results: we expect this can help the community to create alignment, to work together, to know each other better, to discuss the present and future of Wikimedia Projects, and to implement projects of their own.
ACTIVITY 3: To help the community build a network or developers, researchers and data analysts.
Rationale: The Portuguese Wikimedia projects count on very few developers, researchers and data analysts. We have hired a data analyst to monitor the Wikimedia projects development as well as the results of our activities. However, having in mind the sustainability of this project and the more consistent development of tools, extensions, filters, plugins etc., we believe a volunteer driven network is key to allow continuity and enhancement of analytical and development activities.
Targets: FLOSS community and Wikimedia projects volunteers eager to learn software languages.
Methodology: Organization of hackathons, creation of online guides and regular support to developers and analysts by our team and a small group of volunteers who already develop tools for Wikimedia Projects.
When: October 2013 - June 2014.
Expected results: We intend to build a larger group of developers and Wikimedians who contribute to those projects not only with content, but also with data, analyses and new tools. We expect to have better tools to combat vandalism by the end of 2013, when emergency CAPTCHA will be definitely removed from the Portuguese Wikipedia, we expect to have systematic analysis made by volunteers, and we expect to have better help tools for newcomers.
ACTIVITY 4: To support the community in organizing a photo contest.
Rationale: The Brazilian community has already discussed the possibility of taking part in the global Commons Wikimedia photo contest, Wikimedia Loves Monuments. However, various reasons stopped them from organizing a Brazilian version of the contest. We intend to create a national contest, for a variety of categories which are very often pictured in Brazil, such as nature, urban problems, animals, and others, inviting the community to take the lead of it, creating experience for future contest organizations by these joint efforts.
Targets: Commons users, photographers, walkers, bikers.
Methodology: Learn from the international Wiki Loves Monuments model, adapt where necessary, launch the contest and document learnings.
When: November 2013 - March 2014.
Expected results: 1500 pictures uploaded on Commons, participation of at least 800 people, retention of 10% of users, participation in future global contests.
ACTIVITY 5: To create a micro grants program to support the community develop activities and become stronger in Brazil.
Targets: community members and volunteers groups.
Methodology: To be developed in partnership with the community. However, it should be highlighted it’s a small pilot for now, to be improved in the second year of the project; hence we are likely to focus on projects that for many reasons are not appropriate to request support from the general Wikimedia Travel and Participation Support or Individual Engagement Grants programs (eg. small amounts that make it useless to request support, projects that require approval in a very short period of time, etc). We would like it to be a very much community driven project, with great accountability and communitary efforts.
When: October 2013 - June 2014.
Expected results: Have the community developing at least 5 projects aimed at the growth and strengthen of Wikimedia Projects and get the Brazilian community supported in the structuring of an organization they believe appropriate for their work.
Experiments and data analyses[edit]
ACTIVITY 1: To monitor the development of the actions led by the Brazil Catalyst program to allow overall community review of the reach of the catalyst program objectives.
Rationale: Having a public continuous evaluation of the programs objectives reach rate we will be able to let the global community transparently follow what is going on on the ground and also allow ourselves to make corrections on the program to seek for the planned goals.
Targets: Catalyst program team and wikimedia global movement.
Methodology: We will measure program activities (such as WEP class assignment students production, the progress of pages that are being translated) as they are happening and have this data publicly published. We'll also track each one of the activities above and publish the results of our activities (are we reaching our expected results and metrics?). We will create a general program monitoring page with the quantitative goals presented in this plan and the daily progress of the data that can be automatized.
When: September 2013 - June 2014.
Expected results: Having the program actions properly measured and having a page with the expected outcome targets and the and the data about them published as activities are developed.
ACTIVITY 2: To support the community in building a strategy to retain active and new editors through an experiment properly monitored.
Rationale: One of the major questions in ptwiki is: how we can improve users retention? In the past the community has tried to improve it, but couldn't measure properly the efforts made.
Targets: new users, users concerned with retention.
Methodology: We will discuss with the community witch experiments should be run (campaigns for the creation of accounts by PIs, for the use of test pages, for the mentorship program, getting started extension) and we will measure its impact comparing focus groups and control groups.
When: September 2013 - June 2014.
Expected results: Having two experiments run and documented to help understand in which extent those activities might impact in the growth or retention of editting community or improvement of quality of content.
ACTIVITY 3: To support the community in the localization of tools to prevent low quality edits and vandalism.
Rationale: Since the removal of emergency mode of captcha on ptwp the portuguese wikipedia community started to look deeply at vandalism stats and is working on the improvement of other ways to fight vandalism.
Targets: vandalism fighters users.
Methodology: There is already a task force to improve vandalism fight going on on ptwiki. We will help this effort focused on evaluating the effectiveness of filters and its improvement and also localizing tools that helps revisions evaluation, such as Snuggle and STiki.
When: September 2013 - June 2014.
Expected results: Having more filters on Abuse Filter preventing editions and having at least one more tool on ptwiki to help the work of categorizing and evaluating revisions.
ACTIVITY 4: To support the community analysis of their projects through regular data analyses on the development of the communities and websites content.
Rationale: To guarantee the sustainability of the program our team has to support the development of data analyses skills inside the community, helping volunteers to create their own analyses and also using collaborative spaces to develop our own analysis.
Targets: Users interested in programing and data hack.
Methodology: Our team will use the collaborative “ptwiki” space on tool labs to publish its regular previewed data analyses, such as geolocated access, edits stats, qualtrics data, the timeline, helping interested community members to understand how this process work, giving access to raw (anonymized) data and structuring our analyses for i18n, so the global community will also be able to join efforts.
When: September 2013 - June 2014.
Expected results: Having the data from the program's researches and analyses automatically updated on toll labs and having more volunteers analyzing data.