User:JMitchell (WMF)/Sandbox/Learning Days Wikimedia Conference 2017 Outcomes

Learning Day Outcomes Wikimedia Conference 2017

Participants feedback

For this issue of Learning Days we used a picture card deck for the ice-breaker activity. The card deck was created as a result of the 100 Words Campaign. Participants of the campaign picked a word from a provided list and chose an image from Wikimedia Commons that went with their selected word. The card deck created during the campaign was then used during the ice-breaker activity at Learning Days. During the activity, participants chose a card that reflected their hopes, fears or expectations for that day, and then during a round of sharing, each person explained the card they chose. Here were a few examples of what was shared:

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  "I hope we will make an impact for the next, say, 1-2 million years :)"
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  "Hope: engagement, focus + enthusiasm. Fear: too much info + hard to apply"
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  "Vision: Wikimedia as regular part of civic life."
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  "That I can inspire everyone with my talks and everyone signs up for the GLAM newsletter"
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  "Playing as a team gives more chances"

Feedback form distributed to Learning Day participants at WMCON 2017.

In this issue of Learning Days we used our comprehensive feedback form, that allows participants to share something they liked best about the session, something they would suggest to do different next time, and something they plan on doing in the next 30 days, based on what they learned. The analysis presented below stems from the feedback forms received for each day, as follows:

Completed Evaluations	Number	Percentage
Leadership Track Day	30	58%
Traditional Track Day	22	44%

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For the Leadership track (that took place on Wednesday, March 30), the sessions Presentation Skills, Facilitation Skills, and Developing Partnerships for Programs were among the most liked workshops, as well as the ones that inspired the most actions in the next 30 days, together with In Depth Tools Rotation, Eval Workshop - Data Use and Eval Methods, and Anti-Harassment Tools - What to Build? (all these three in second place).

Across all sessions, participants shared something they would apply from the session in the next 30 days. The sessions that lead to the more takeaways were Developing partnerships for programs, Presentation skills, Facilitation skills, and In depth tools rotation, which were also the sessions that presented the most challenges, together with Welcome and Orientations. For the most part, the most recurrent comment was around having more time for workshops and exercises, and more clarity for activity times, as well as shared language.

A few examples are:

“ I will practice presentations and making preparations together for important talks . ”	“ I will use these presentation skills in my talks with the community. ”	“ I will rethink skills as a participating facilitator (even participants have an important role in facilitating conversation). ”
“ I will include "observer" role in all of our group activities, application of convergent and divergent communication tech. ”	“ I will discuss the harassment situation with WMAM community. ”	“ I will start including story telling as an important part of what we do. ”
“ I will definitely include Google sheets template to understand partnerships. ”	“ I will look into applying more structured process to my own work . ”	“ I will consider other opportunity for asking about people's experience, problems include these experiences in reports too. ”

Legend:

Tools

Learning from others

Something they would do differently

For the Traditional Track (that took place on Thursday, March 31st), the four best liked session were Project Support Tools Rotation, Creating a Safe and Welcoming Environment, Community Listening, and Engaging Volunteers Collab Exchange, which were the sessions that inspired the most actions in the coming month as well.

Across all sessions, participants shared something they would apply from the session in the next 30 days. At least 30% of participants plan on doing something different in the next 30 days for the following sessions: Project Support Tools Rotation, Creating a Safe and Welcoming Environment, and Community Listening.

In this track, we observe strong and clear feedback that sessions focused on tools and community engagement were most highly valued. Participants really appreciated having concrete tools and practices they could apply to their programs and initiatives, and take back to their communities.

A few examples are:

“ This helps us know how to think about impact for our visiting scholars program. ”	“ I will surf through the resource center page in the next 30 days. ”	“ I will make use of the available tools and make daily work easier!. ”
“ I will give more thought to friendly spaces . ”	“ I will look into courses / best practice that exist already. ”	“ I will try different ways to get the community to open up a bit more. ”
“ I will try a survey for media in a couple of months. ”	“ I will think about listening beyond surveys. ”

Legend:

Tools

Learning from others

Something they would do differently

Lightning Talks

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This Learning Day, thirteen community members presented a lightning talk, a 3 to 5 minutes flash presentation to share an idea, project or program to inspire others. Of the presenters who engaged in this way; tweleve participants created a poster for visual support, a few had slides, others shared an online portal (on or off wiki). Revisit posters and presentations here:

Lightning Talk Posters and Presentations

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Presentations shared in other sessions

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• File:36-Project Creation and Management.pdf