Submissions/WikiMOOC

This is an Open submission for Wikimania 2017 that has not yet been reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

Submission no. 6038

Title of the submission

WikiMOOC

Type of submission (lecture, panel, tutorial/workshop, roundtable discussion, lightning talk, poster, birds of a feather discussion)

Lecture May be followed by a panel discussion if other participants of the project are present.

Author of the submission

Diptanshu Das

Language of presentation

English. In case of panel discussion French would also be an option as there are participants from French Wikipedia.

E-mail address

das.diptanshugmail.com

Username

Diptanshu Das

Country of origin

India

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)

Personal homepage or blog

Abstract (up to 300 words to describe your proposal)

Problem: Perhaps a newer approach to guides pertaining to Wikipedia editing can be taken.

Wikipedia needs to attract people involved in academia.
Many users are unable to find proper guidance pertaining to Wikipedia editing even though all the relevant information are available in form of guidelines. Adherence to notability principles or manual of style can not be expected from newbies who lack guidance.
An organized guide to editing Wikipedia is lacking.
Apart from being self-taught about the norms of Wikipedia editing there is hardly any other way to advance the understanding of how Wikipedia works or how one can go on to the next level of Wikipedia editing.
Learning material pertaining to Wikipedia editing are usually restricted to Wikipedia or its sister projects and are frequently text based in nature.
Advanced understanding may be required for users who contribute to specific niches like WP:MED
There can be lack of understanding about how to create and deal with templates and about how to use them optimally.
There is paucity of audiovisual guides on Wikipedia editing. Even though there are a limited number of videos on such topics available on Commons, amateur users or casual users might not be well aware about them.
Many users seek some sort of recognition of their skills of Wikipedia editing.
Wikiversity is not as renowned as Wikipedia as a form of learning tool.

Who would benefit: Relatively new users who do not have guidance from mentors. For humans, the ease of learning from the use of audiovisual aids is much higher than that from merely reading text.

Proposed solution: Massive open online courses or MOOCs are gaining popularity and can serve as effective means for learning. They can be an effective tool in open learning and share the spirit of open knowledge that Wikipedia promotes. I propose an organized approach in designing such courses to help in spreading the message of Wikipedia, an encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Apart from benefiting regular users, such courses would also help in drawing the casual learner who is experimenting and browsing through the list of available free courses.

The idea is not new and had gained endorsements earlier.

This is already happening in French Wikipedia. A dozen of French speaking Wikipedia editors —from France, Switzerland, Canada, Cameroon and Ivory Coast— started in 2015 a MOOC project, named WikiMOOC. Its aim is to teach (in French) how Wikipedia works, and to help people engage in actually editing. The project has been supported by Wikimédia France. The first session was held in February / March 2016, with more than 6,000 attendees. The volunteer group has designed a second session: WikiMOOC #2, which should be open from March 2017.:Similar projects are already ongoing elsewhere and the project can be adopted globally for Wikipedias in ALL languages. A prototype is already ready for use and more can be derived from it.

What will attendees take away from this session?

The attendees will find a new way to contribute and enrich the free knowledge movement that is propagated through Wikipedia.

Theme of presentation

WikiCulture & Community
Technology, Interface & Infrastructure
Legal & Free Culture
Education

For workshops and discussions, what level is the intended audience?

Any

Length of session (if other than 25 minutes, specify how long)

25 minutes

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?

Yes

Slides or further information (optional)

Yet to be prepared but the mentioned links can act as references.

Special requests

I am not a scholarship recipient and therefore would not be able to attend Wikimania (due to budgetary constraints). I am willing to make a remote presentation if that can be arranged for. -Diptanshu Das (talk) 04:50, 14 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Is this Submission a Draft or Final?

This is a Completed submission for Wikimania 2017 ready to be reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

Interested attendees

If you are interested in attending this session, please sign with your username below. This will help reviewers to decide which sessions are of high interest. Sign with a hash and four tildes. (# ~~~~).