WikiED Uganda 2023 Teacher Engagement

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Meeting with Namagabi Head Teacher
Meeting with Namagabi Head Teacher

1. Briefly describe how your strategies and activities proposed were implemented and if any changes to what was proposed are worth highlighting?

The initial approach involved engaging and intriguing one staff member at each school. The initiative commenced at Namagabi S.S., where the user group had previously held discussions with a teacher regarding the possibility of joining the Wikimeadia Usergroup Community Uganda. The designated contact at the school displayed receptivity and promptly confirmed a date for a physical visit on 8th March 2023, coinciding with Women's Day celebrations to allow ample time for a comprehensive discussion. The physical meeting proved fruitful, leading to an agreement for an official invitation letter to formalize the process.

Moving on to the second school, Mpoma School Satellite Campus, we received a recommendation from an acquaintance. The recommended individual exhibited eagerness to acquire extensive knowledge about WikiED, promptly accepting our proposal and requesting a formal invitation to be sent to the school's head teacher. These arrangements took place through one informal physical meeting, supplemented by further phone calls and WhatsApp message exchanges.

Following the preliminary steps, teachers from both schools were requested to recommend two other colleagues, thus totaling three representatives from each institution, for the training sessions. Subsequently, the planning for the training sessions commenced.

However, during the actual training sessions, only one teacher demonstrated sincere dedication from Namagabi S.S., while three teachers from Mpoma School Satellite Campus actively participated. To fulfill the original plan of having six learners, we sought out two volunteers from the community; one a novice usergroup member with interest in learning new skills and another a teacher from Bishop Secondary School Mukono, empasis was put on the female gender to achieve parity since among the 4 confirmed members, only one was female.

2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you feel are being effective in achieving your goals?

Yes, first;h our prior enaggement with the two contacts into joining the foundation helped, we found both of them eagerly awaiting next steps. We had also purposively continued checking on them privately throughout the previous year before this initiative materialised, this also helped.

3. What challenges or obstacles have you encountered so far?

Their level of literacy when it comes to online learning may need some push from our end for a successful training, there's an ever present challenge of lack of a consistent Internet source from their end, this is key for facilitating our classes coupled with intermittent power blackouts in the country most especially during the rainy season.

4. Please describe how different communities are participating and being informed about your work.

A photo with my Namagabi Contact
A photo with my Namagabi Contact

For now, we started with teachers in two secondary schools in two neighboring districts in Uganda, Mukono and Kayunga districts. These teachers share one character of only being teachers by profession however they are from diverging Ugandan communities. I have shared WikiED information through WhatsApp platform, other social media platforms such as Twitter and training recordings on Youtube for a wider public access.

5. Please share reflections on how your efforts are helping to engage participants and/or build content, particularly for underrepresented groups.

7. What are the next steps and opportunities you’ll be focusing on for the second half of your work?

Open Metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
N/A Individuals who attend various community organized events 100 N/A N/A N/A
N/A Individuals who contribute to Wikimedia's projects : 60 N/A N/A N/A
N/A Individuals that are engaged in and support community activities but are not necessarily editors 5 N/A N/A N/A
Additional Metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Diversity of participants brought in by grantees N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Number of people reached through social media publications N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Number of activities developed N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Number of volunteer hours N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Core metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
Number of participants Community volunteers who attend or benefit from the usergroup's activities throughout the year
Number of editors Editors who edit various Wikimedia projects, creating and improving content
Number of organizers Change agents and implementors of what has been learned
Wikimedia Project Description Target Results Comments Methodology
Wikipedia
Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata
Wikisource

9.Are you having any difficulties collecting data to measure your results?

10. Are you collaborating and sharing learning with Wikimedia affiliates or community members?

10a. Please describe how you have already shared them and if you would like to do more sharing, and if so how?

11. Documentation of your work process, story, and impact.

Some photos of the engagement

Meeting Teacher Abiola
Meeting Teacher Abiola
Namagabi S.S.
Namagabi S.S.
A view of Namagabi S.S.
A view of Namagabi S.S.

Below there is a section to upload files, videos, sound files, images (photos and infographics, e.g. communications materials, blog posts, compelling quotes, social media posts, etc.). This can be anything that would be useful to understand and show your learning and results to date (e.g., training material, dashboards, presentations, communications material, training material, etc).

  • Below is an additional field to type in link URLs.