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

Comments from I JethroBT (WMF)

Hello Matthewvetter, and thanks for your proposal to support community engagement and subsequent review and improvements to the Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom (RWIC) resources. I've approved the proposal with the following comments and questions:

• First, it's great to see the approach you are taking to address these needs with the RWIC materials around flexibility and expanding access to the curriculum beyond secondary English educators.
• Are there other communities outside the United States for which the RWIC framework might be useful? Or has it been tailored or developed in a way that is more specific to needs and expectations for educators in the United States?
• It's fantastic you will be gathering several sources of feedback from different organizations and individuals involved with education work with different and important expertise to support the revisions to RWIC curriculum. After this is published to Commons, how were you planning to share these improved resources with relevant education communities? Do you need any support or guidance on this outreach, or would it be helpful to meet to discuss this more?
• In terms of metrics, while I'm glad you are thinking long-term about eventual goals related to educators actively participating in the RWIC US program, we generally ask that applicants focus on what is achievable for the duration of the project. Rather than focus on the eventual recruitment of educators -- which I understand is beyond the scope of this proposal -- one suggestion I have would be to consider more on how you will be actively sharing and supporting access and awareness to these revised materials. Is it possible to consider some outcomes that might show how you are connecting relevant communities to an improved set of RWIC materials?

Thanks again for your proposal. When you're able, please respond to my questions, and let me know if you need any support as you begin the preparation and improvements for RWIC! With thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 01:43, 19 October 2023 (UTC)

Response to WMF

Hi @I JethroBT (WMF)

Thank you for approving the proposal and for the useful feedback, which I address below:

1. First, it's great to see the approach you are taking to address these needs with the RWIC materials around flexibility and expanding access to the curriculum beyond secondary English educators. Thank you! I am excited to be working on these materials and to help sustain the RWiC program more broadly, which is going to depend on volunteers since it seems the WMF Education team is undergoing a transition to focus on other community programs .

2. Are there other communities outside the United States for which the RWIC framework might be useful? Or has it been tailored or developed in a way that is more specific to needs and expectations for educators in the United States? Yes, this is such an important question. Once of fundamental aspects of RWIC's design was that it SHOULD be tailored and customized to specific educational contexts - because the original creators recognized that effective educational models should always be contextualized within specific cultural settings. So my primary goal is to work within the U.S. setting. However, having said that, my adaptation will also accomplish some things that aren't specific to the U.S. and I can certainly share with the global Wikimedia + Education community.

3. It's fantastic you will be gathering several sources of feedback from different organizations and individuals involved with education work with different and important expertise to support the revisions to RWIC curriculum. After this is published to Commons, how were you planning to share these improved resources with relevant education communities? Do you need any support or guidance on this outreach, or would it be helpful to meet to discuss this more? I realize now how I could have done better in the proposal to explicate the sharing work/outcomes of this project. I will certainly be making announcements to many relevant communities, including the EduWiki listserv: eduwiki@lists.wikimedia.org; Wiki Education; Wikimedia Education listserv: education@lists.wikimedia.org; as well as a network that I am involved in English Studies that encourages Wikipedia engagement (CCCC Wikipedia Initative). I will also post on the Education Noticeboard on English Wiki.

4. In terms of metrics, while I'm glad you are thinking long-term about eventual goals related to educators actively participating in the RWIC US program, we generally ask that applicants focus on what is achievable for the duration of the project. Rather than focus on the eventual recruitment of educators -- which I understand is beyond the scope of this proposal -- one suggestion I have would be to consider more on how you will be actively sharing and supporting access and awareness to these revised materials. Is it possible to consider some outcomes that might show how you are connecting relevant communities to an improved set of RWIC materials? Great feedback! Yes, I will consider sharing the new curriculum with the communities listed above as a new set of outcomes for the projects.

Thanks for all of your thoughtful ideas here, Chris! Matthewvetter (talk) 17:27, 23 October 2023 (UTC)