Grants talk:Project/MSIG/Michel Bakni/Scientific Methodology

Overall Positive Feedback

The proposal is clear as both the short and long-term goals and visions are detailed clear and there is promise for high-impact. Creating a MOOC that can help volunteers develop research and analysis skills is relevant and necessary for the movement and Movement Strategy, this means that this course can be a valuable and scalable contribution to skills development within across the movement. YPam (WMF) (talk) 08:08, 5 October 2022 (UTC)

Feedback For Improvement

Level of effort and course timelines

Can the project team please share some more rationale regarding the length of the course as detailed currently, which is 60 hours. the current calculation is that, if a learner took this course in its live format, it would take them “5 weeks, 2 days per week, 6 hours per day.” this means that if a person took this course at an average of 3 hours of free time per week, it would take up to 5 months to complete. Has the project team considered that this might be too time-intensive, which would potentially discourage sustained participation?

I totally agree that the complete course of 60 hours is hard to follow and we can not assume that people can easily withstand this huge volume of hours. Unfortunately, the subject we address is of philosophical nature and needs to be fully discussed and covered to keep its integrity and coherence. Thus. the MOOC documents can not be reduced. However, I successfully was able to update the structure of the content of the virtual class and reduced it by more than 30% to become 40h (10 sessions of 4 hours | it can be covered in 5 weeks). Please note that the removed part will be referred to as extra content available on the website for further reading.

The grant request is updated to reflect the changes. --Michel Bakni (talk) 21:17, 8 October 2022 (UTC)

Sustainability

What sustainability plans are in place to ensure that this course when developed is maintained and managed effectively? Similarly, who would be responsible for this and is that included in the planning and budgeting currently?

I am planning to suggest the course to be a part of the research grant process. i.e. if you need this type of grant, and you do not hold a ph.d., thus you need to follow this course (in MOOC form).

Once the course is done, I am planning to provide French, Spanish & Arabic translations, thus, the MOOC can be available to a larger audience. I am open to providing help with any local translation.

I will continually update the MOOC documents, as a part of my voluntary regular activity in Wikimedia projects. Please note that I teach this subject in engineering school, thus I will be familiar with any changes needed to be included.

Finally, If the virtual class worked well, I plan to do the virtual class once a year, or once every two years. In this way, the students can have the chance to speak directly with the teacher, and I think this is a more effective way to learn due to the philosophical nature of the addressed subejct.

--Michel Bakni (talk) 21:17, 8 October 2022 (UTC)

Project planning

• This relates somewhat to the question regarding sustainability. If the plan is to make this a live course,  what preparation plans are in place for running the course and has been taken into consideration within the project plan and budget? A live course will require some planning, for example,  (enrollment and admission processes, learner communication, learner management etc.

Yes, all the expenses are included in the grant request. I do also have significant experience doing online workshops, as I have done many during the COVID period, and I am familiar with meeting applications and with organizing enrollment forms.

Regarding Teaching online, please note that I am a university professor in France. During the COVID period, it was obligatory to use remote teaching. We were trained to do that. Personally, I did more than 400h of remote education last two years. Thus, I think that I have the skills needed to manage a class remotely.

--Michel Bakni (talk) 21:17, 8 October 2022 (UTC)

• Please provide clarity regarding the success metrics, with a clear evaluation plan for the project. For instance, what are the intended outcomes of the MOOC and how will you know when you have succeeded?

There will be test questions at the end of each module in the following form:

1. true or false questions.
2. multiple options with a single correct answer.
3. multiple options with several single correct answers.

You need to have 80% correct of the questions answered in order to validate the module. if not you need to pass the exam again.

you need to validate all the Modules to get the MOOC validated.

In the virtual class, there will be reports and homework to be written. They will be later evaluated by the teacher.

Please note that the application of this evaluation method is highly dependent on the website' software where the course is to be hosted.

--Michel Bakni (talk) 21:17, 8 October 2022 (UTC)

• A last suggestion/offering is that the Wikimedia Foundation (Community Development team) has made available an open learning management platform (LMS), WikiLearn: https://learn.wiki/. If the project team would like to build and host this course on this LMS, it would be encouraged and welcome.

I am open to use the platform :)--Michel Bakni (talk) 21:17, 8 October 2022 (UTC)

YPam (WMF) (talk) 08:09, 5 October 2022 (UTC)

Updates based on April Meetings

Dear @YPam (WMF):, I am adding what we have discussed and agreed upon for the next few months of the grant.

• The grant time will be extended 3 months more, so it finishes by the end of September 2023 instead of the end of August, the time will be given for the students to work more on their research project (And to avoid doing courses between 1 and 15th of August where people are in vacation).
• First part of the course will start in June 2023, we will work on communication this month.
• The content needed by the end of the grant time will be 12 chapters, I will continue developing the rest with the intention to publish a book later next year (if everything goes well). As we have discussed the content is already huge, and the recommendation is to focus on specific points instead of the whole course, which will be available as a reference for anyone looking for more later.

Please feel free to modify the text or add any comments and notes.--Michel Bakni (talk) 13:55, 3 May 2023 (UTC)

Dear @YPam (WMF):, I modified the request! sorry for the error in the dates!--Michel Bakni (talk) 13:24, 4 May 2023 (UTC)

Hello @Michel Bakni this is just to confirm that based on recent discussions the request to extend the project end date to September 30, is approved. YPam (WMF) (talk) 10:07, 8 August 2023 (UTC)

Just noting here that the new grant report due date is 30 October 2023. Thank you. -- JTud (WMF), Grants Administrator (talk) 17:08, 8 August 2023 (UTC)