Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Adapting Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom Teacher Training Program for the U.S. Context (ID: 22280496)

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Applicant Details edit

Main Wikimedia username. (required)

Matthewvetter

Organization

N/A

If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)

N/A

Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)

Main Proposal edit

1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.

Adapting Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom Teacher Training Program for the U.S. Context

2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.

2023-10-26 - 2024-10-26

4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)

United States of America

5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)

Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom

6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)

Adapting and implementing a Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom RWIC) program in the U.S. presents both challenges and opportunities. Among the challenges, the existing RWIC curriculum (Teacher's Guide) is more focused on media literacy (working towards achieving UNESCO's Media & Information Literacy framework) than it is on training and supporting potential Wikipedia contributors (whether those are students or teachers). This is not a critique of the goals for media and information literacy (which are admirable), but simply a challenge in terms of the growth and sustainability of the program and how it might garner partners (such as Wiki Education Foundation) as well as support from the WMF and external funders.

The main change I want to bring about through this grant is to adapt and revise the existing English version Teacher's Guide (Introductory booklet for teachers, and Teacher's Guide Modules 1-3) in order to create a new model for RWIC - one that emphasizes content creation and participation in Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons by both teachers and students. Additionally, this new RWIC curriculum will not limit its audience to secondary English educators (which the existing curriculum, as well as WMF's branding of the program, does to some extent ). Rather, it will target BOTH secondary and postsecondary educators and librarians. This broader audience will allow more immediate growth when a RWIC program is established in the U.S., and it will also enable the program to work more in concert with existing U.S. Wikipedia-based educational initiatives (Wiki Education Foundation, specifically).

In addition to centering Wikipedia contributions, the revised curriculum will also de-emphasize the the Media & Information Literacy framework. The main reason for this is to allow educators to adopt the curriculum for their own local outcomes and standards, which are established by public state actors at the secondary level, and individual programs at the postsecondary level. Again, this is not to cast doubt on the MIL framework or its value as a guiding framework for the RWIC curriculum, but to better adapt and meet the needs of educators in the U.S.

The main approaches to achieve this changes involve:

1) Reviewing and analyzing the existing English RWIC curriculum (Introductory booklet for teachers, and Teacher's Guide Modules 1-3) in order to identify content that needs removed, and content that needs revised in order to create a new contributor growth model for RWIC 2) Revising, adapting, rewriting the RWIC curriculum, with consultation by Wikipedia & Education leaders and stakeholders 3) Publishing the revised guide on Commons

The eventual goal, once the curriculum is revised, would be to establish a RWIC program in the U.S. that emphasizes contributor grotwh and content creation via teacher education. However, that goal is not part of this grant.

7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.

1. Review and analysis of existing curriculum

2. Review and analysis of Wiki Education training libraries (in order to evaluate how RWIC might incorporate similar content more focused on editing/content contribution)

3. Consultation with stakeholders and leaders in Wikipedia & Education (LiAnna Davis, Melissa Guadalupe Huertas, Shani Evenstein) and WMF Community Programs (Ben Vershbow)

4. Publication of curriculum to Commons

3. Holistic revisioning of RWIC curriculum

8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc. Team members involved in the grant application need to be aware of their involvement in the project.

Dr. Matt Vetter, User:Matthewvetter

Matthew A. Vetter is Professor of English at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. As of spring 2023, Matt has taught 22 college-level courses that implemented a Wikipedia-based writing assignment. Matt has also participated in professional development courses relevant to the focus of the RWIC program: 1) a Wiki Scholars program focused on improving COVID-19 related articles in Wikipedia, and 2) a Wikidata training program meant to teach professionals how to engage and teach with Wikidata, both offered by Wiki Education in 2021. Additionally, he is a certified trainer with the Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom, having completed the Training of Trainers program in December 2023.

Matt has published widely on Wikipedia and Wikipedia-based education and has also served as a regional grants committee officer with Canada/North America region for two years.

More about Matt at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Matthewvetter

9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)

In the long-term this grant project hopes to support secondary and postsecondary teachers in Wikipedia literacy and contribution. But those participants would be brought in AFTER the curriculum is revised. Participants for the adaptation of the RWIC curriculum would be stakeholders in education communities, which I would engage via Zoom, email, and other informal methods of dialogue.

10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)

No

10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.

N/A

11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.

N/a

12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)

Not applicable

13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)

Education

14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)

Not applicable

15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)

Evaluate, Iterate, and Adapt

Learning and metrics edit

17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)

1. What changes need to be made to the RWIC curriculum to best support a U.S. program?

2. How can Wikipedia-based educational initiatives be leveraged for contributor growth and content creation?

3. How can an RWIC program in the U.S. work with the existing educational infrastructures and programs (most specifically, with the Wiki Education Program)?

4. What is the best model for creating a U.S. RWIC program?

18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)

Number of participants, editors, and organizers
Other Metrics	Target	Optional description
Number of participants	50	This would be an eventual goal/metric for educators who would enroll in the RWIC US program.
Number of editors	50	This would be an eventual goal/metric for educators who would enroll in the RWIC US program.
Number of organizers	1

Number of content contributions to Wikimedia projects
Wikimedia project	Number of content created or improved
Wikipedia	50
Wikimedia Commons	50
Wikidata
Wiktionary
Wikisource
Wikimedia Incubator
Translatewiki
MediaWiki
Wikiquote
Wikivoyage
Wikibooks
Wikiversity
Wikinews
Wikispecies
Wikifunctions or Abtsract Wikipedia

Optional description for content contributions.

This would be an eventual goal/metric for educators who would enroll in the RWIC US program.

19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)

No

Main Open Metrics Data
Main Open Metrics	Description	Target
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

20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)

These metrics are a good example of why the RWIC model needs to be revised in the first place. Without a central emphasis on contributor growth and content creation, it is difficult for RWIC implementations and leaders to establish their goals, outcomes, and eventual successes. My grant project is to revise the curriculum in order to be able to work towards these metrics in programs that come after.

Financial proposal edit

21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZyCP-oiFFVEcJ979JsvquH3VYS5GGtSZj_moIQvnMb8/edit?usp=sharing

22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)

4980 USD

22.2. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done only to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD.

4980 USD

We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.

Yes

Endorsements and Feedback edit

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Community members are invited to share meaningful feedback on the proposal and include reasons why they endorse the proposal. Consider the following:

Stating why the proposal is important for the communities involved and why they think the strategies chosen will achieve the results that are expected.
Highlighting any aspects they think are particularly well developed: for instance, the strategies and activities proposed, the levels of community engagement, outreach to underrepresented groups, addressing knowledge gaps, partnerships, the overall budget and learning and evaluation section of the proposal, etc.
Highlighting if the proposal focuses on any interesting research, learning or innovation, etc. Also if it builds on learning from past proposals developed by the individual or organization, or other Wikimedia communities.
Analyzing if the proposal is going to contribute in any way to important developments around specific Wikimedia projects or Movement Strategy.
Analysing if the proposal is coherent in terms of the objectives, strategies, budget, and expected results (metrics).

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