Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Alliances Fund/Programa de Educación mediática e informacional para docentes (Media and informational education programme for teachers)/Midpoint Report

Midterm Learning Report

Report Status: Accepted

Due date: 20 January 2023

Funding program: Wikimedia Alliances Fund

Report type: Midterm

Application Final Learning Report

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General information

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This form is for organizations receiving Wikimedia Community Funds (General Support) or Wikimedia Alliances Funds to report on their mid-term learning and results. See the Wikimedia Alliances Fund application if you want to review the initial proposal.

  • Name of Organization: Asociación Civil El Faro Digital
  • Title of Proposal: Programa de Educación mediática e informacional para docentes (Media and informational education programme for teachers)
  • Amount awarded: 69730 USD, 8367660 ARS
  • Amount spent: 3311535 ANG

Part 1 Understanding your work

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

The first cohort of “Alfabtetizad@s”, the teacher training project on media literacy, was carried out in September. 202 participants started the course, and 69 passed. In this first instance, teachers from various provinces of Argentina participated, contacted by both Faro Digital and Wikimedia Argentina. The strategies used to convene those interested in the educational program were diverse: social networks, newsletter and social media. It is worth noting the level of participants who finished and passed the course, driven by the tutoring and participation in synchronous classes. The course consisted of four synchronous classes with a high level of interaction, asynchronous activities with very good reception and preparation and download of reference materials. Part of the good results regarding the permanence of the participants are associated with the methodologies of participation in class, the tutoring and the complementary audiovisual materials. To highlight, we have generated 3 audiovisual contents with outstanding professionals on the area, such as: Carina Lion, Esteban Magnani and Natalia Aruguete. These videos, published in hidden mode on the Faro Digital YouTube channel, were visited by the participating teachers, reaching more than 1,000 views. This type of content was of special interest to the target audience and served to deepen notions and concepts of: educational technology; politics, media and social networks; and on “attention economy” or the way digital platforms work.

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

The effectiveness of the course, from the current balance, lies in two major issues: one internal and the other one external.

On one hand, the key that allowed 202 teachers to sign up to the course was the great work we made on communicating the project by social media, mailing campaigns and newsletters. Faro Digital and Wikimedia Argentina community of teachers responded well to the call. An important asset to have 69 teachers “graduated” has to do with the proposals of the synchronous classes, which fueled participation and interaction. Those 69 teachers created a solid and enthusiastic group of teachers willing to train on digital competences in order to work on digital literacy and create pedagogic resources for their classes. Also the close and pleasant tutoring that the course promoted continuity was one of the key points to achieve the goals we proposed. It is essential that the tutor’s team monitor the participants and be attentive in the first weeks to contact those people who entered the campus but did not continue, in order to help them so that they do not fall behind or become demotivated. It is also key that those who tutor are nearby to explain the activities or instructions to avoid delays or frustrations. On the other hand, there is an external reason we find out as a key of the course: the increasing digitization of daily life, which makes media education a priority so that teachers can understand, support, care for, guide and educate their students in class. Finally, we believe that the word of mouth communication will help the future editions of “Alfabetizad@s”.

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

The great challenge in this first cohort responds to the face-to-face meeting scheduled towards the end of the distance journey. In the end, this meeting could not be held in the proposed times since, on the one hand, the participants were from different parts of the country, which made it difficult for them to be able to travel, and on the other, the time of year. As it was held in the last quarter of the year, the participants' agenda was very busy and it was impossible to coordinate a date. It will be key in future cohorts to have a portion of the participants unified in the same territory and select a stage of the year prone to face-to-face events.

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

The community chosen for this project is the teaching community in general, with special focus on being representative of all Argentinian regions. The education community of Argentina has very few spaces for training in Media Literacy, as these subjects aren’t included in the formal instances of capacitation. In this sense, a high interest and participation was observed both in the proposed activities, the participation forums on the virtual campus and in the synchronous classes. It was also observed that, in the surveys carried out once the first cycle was finished, the teachers appreciated the space, the quality of the reference contents and the classes where clarity and interaction were especially praised.

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

The people who participated in the course were especially active in projects such as Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons during the month that the training proposal lasted. After the virtual course in Argentina, the 2022 school year closed (in which we currently continue) and from the WMAR Education and Human Rights Program we are not developing educational projects until February.

100% of the people who completed the course responded that they had deepened and learned, thanks to the training proposal, in greater detail how Wikimedia projects work, especially Wikipedia, and how to implement them in the classroom. Yes, due to the content of the course, the participants have known and put into practice various Wikimedia tools for beginners that were very useful for developing future pedagogical proposals using Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. In turn, the approach of the course allowed them to contextualize the use of the Wikimedia projects in debate with tools and proposals thought from Media and Information Literacy, the central axis of the course. Due to the current context of summer recess in Argentina, the teachers who participated have not yet implemented projects that can be taken to their classroom spaces, xx% of those who completed the course shared that they were interested in being able to participate in collaborative meetings together with WMAR and Faro to be able to continue deepening the topics, with a view to being able to implement the tools addressed in 2023.

6. In your application, you outlined your learning priorities. What have you learned so far about these areas during this period?

The main problem that this project seeks to address is the need to have more spaces for teacher training in media education and in the critical use of digital technologies. In this sense, we are achieving the goal with success. We have learned that given the increasing digitization of daily life and the abundance of information available to Internet users, the teaching community is considered a vital group for society as a whole to begin to incorporate a critical and reflective use of the information and content that circulates. Especially when we consider the growing cases of violation of children's rights that happen daily on social networks and other digital platforms.

We have learned, from the exchange with teachers participating in the course, that the school emerges as a fundamental device for the upbringing, socialization and learning of the new generations. In this sense, the school cannot ignore the transcendental events that happen outside, such as the social effects of digital platforms.

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

The next steps consist of carrying out the following cohorts of the course in the provinces of Neuquén and La Rioja targeting the teaching community of both provinces, where teaching scores will be provided to promote participation and certification. In each province, a cohort and a face-to-face meeting will be held to work collaboratively on what was addressed during the course.

Part 2: Metrics

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8a. Open and additional metrics data.

Open Metrics
Open Metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
N/A N/A N/A 202 bigger audience than forecasted. 202 vs 120 techers Google form
N/A N/A N/A 24 at least 1 teacher from each province. Google form
N/A N/A N/A 50 at least 50% of participants attended each class. A little below from the ambitious target of 75%. zoom attendance report
N/A N/A N/A 37 37% of participantes have finished and completed all the activities. It was a little below from 60% targeted. we hope that in the following cohorts the % of finishers will be nearer th 60% follow up of the several obligatory activities of the course.
N/A N/A N/A 1041 1041 views of the 3 video interviews. Far more than the target (450). N/A
Additional Metrics
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

8b. Additional core metrics data.

Core Metrics Summary
Core metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
Number of participants Docentes que participarán del ciclo de formación 360 202 bigger audience than forecasted. 202 vs 120 techers Google form
Number of editors 10 75 75 new editors. https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/
Number of organizers 2 20 organizers from Faro Digital and WMAR staff .
Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project
Wikimedia Project Description Target Results Comments Methodology
N/A N/A N/A 88 88 new articles were written in Wikipedia in Spanish. The course had only one editing activity in the last encounter, evaluated within the framework of the final project. It was not a course dedicated exclusively to editing Wikipedia. https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/
N/A N/A N/A 7 7 images were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

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

Not at all

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

Partially

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

The partial results of the experience will be shared in the annual reports of WMAR and this first experience was also disseminated in the meetings of the educational programs of the region.

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

  • 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.
Interview #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scFz-ZGD9IM

Interview #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RI4O7NP1qg Interview #3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo42H6c4FYg Class #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWFcfIZ1hZI Class #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRoIEJ9TI0g Class #3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9z0TD3shrs Class #4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrkObqsdfMc

Part 3: Financial reporting and compliance

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12. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.

3311535

13. Local currency type

ANG

14. Please report the funds received and spending in the currency of your fund.

  • Upload Documents, Templates, and Files.
  • Provide links to your financial reporting documents.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lOswiWzfzl-lPLcPTG9JaQEMVTWbhwtgijgzeRP35YQ/edit?usp=sharing

15. Based on your implementation and learning to date, do you have any plans to make changes to the budget spending?

No

15a. Please provide an explanation on how you hope to adjust this.

N/A

16. We’d love to hear any thoughts you have on how the experience of being a grantee has been so far.

So far we feel very supported by the foundation, with a follow-up that we highlight for being entertaining and professional.

The foundation's commitment to projects of this type demonstrates the importance they attach to teacher training in essential digital skills.