User:MCruz (WMF)/Sandbox/Programs Toolkits/Education/Plan

Education Program

· Start · Plan · Run · Evaluate · Connect ·

Planning your program Starting or growing a Wikimedia education program does not take extensive research. Teaching students around the world to contribute to Wikimedia projects over the last ten years has taught Wikimedia volunteers and educators many valuable lessons about planning and growing successful education programs. This section will prepare program leaders and educators to do the following: Plan a pilot: test out new ideas on a small scale. Choose a program model: select a program model that will work with your local education system. Set reasonable goals: track progress toward goals to understand what strategies work in your context. Partnerships and participants Education programs have a high potential for meaningful impact for students, educators, and Wikimedia users and editors. Students may benefit in many ways: research and writing skills, information and media literacy. Their contributions benefit Wikimedia projects and users around the world. Clear and transparent partnerships with education institutions and the community can do a lot for programs to gain traction in a local context. This section includes tips for how to: Connect with the Wikimedia community: build positive relationships with the community. Find educators and institutional partners: choose the best partners to start or grow your education program. Get participants involved and excited: focus on participant motivation to improve the quality of their contributions. Finding resources for your programs If you partner with an education institution that has space, equipment and internet access to train students, you can start a successful education program with very few additional resources. In fact, educators often become interested in using Wikimedia in the classroom because it is a low-cost way to teach students important skills. In this section you learn how to get the resources you need, such as: Volunteers: find online and offline volunteers to help support an education program. Training and outreach materials: select training and outreach materials and learn about printing and localization. Grants and In-kind donations: get resources donated by local partners and learn how to apply for WMF grants. Designing for growth Good news travels fast. After you have completed a successful classroom collaboration there is a good chance that other educators will want to work with you. Designing for growth: learn strategies to grow your education program in a sustainable way.