Intensive course on research state of the art and Wikipedia for PhD students/Method

Research methodology used to (re)design a replicable "Intensive course on research state of the art and Wikipedia for PhD students".

Documenting the experience of the the Politecnico di Milano

The research started by documenting the experience of the Intensive course for PhD students about Wikipedia, which has been designed by Politecnico di Milano and organised since 2016 with its eight edition in 2024.

Semi-structured interview via videoconference

This approach was chosen for its flexibility, allowing the interviewers to follow a set of predetermined questions while also probing deeper into emerging topics during the conversation. This method can facilitate the collection of detailed data and provide a comprehensive understanding of the context in which these teaching methods are applied. The conversational nature of semi-structured interviews can additionally help participants at feel at ease, encouraging open and honest responses.

Interview questions for instructors

What were the original motivations for offering this course?
Have those motivations changed or stayed the same after teaching it for the last several years?
As a follow-up question, were students able to make connections between the value of of editing Wikipedia articles and their more formal academic work?
What kind of challenges did you face regarding content development and plagiarism in students’ Wikipedia article writing
How did organizers vs. teachers balance the tasks?
What concepts, processes, or policies did students struggle with the most?
What strategies were used for sharing the instructional workload? What about the organizational / Curriculum workload?
Did you prepare concrete learning objectives? What are those?
How did you assess whether learning objectives were met?
Did your curriculum bring in materials and or training modules from Wiki Education or some other educational initiative? Or were most materials created for this specific context?

Interview questions for organizers

What programmatic or administrative challenges did you face in first implementing this course?
What were the original motivations for organizing this course?
Have those motivations changed or stayed the same after facilitating it for the last several years?
How do you recruit students for the course, and what strategies were most effective?
What kind of challenges did you face in preparing the course materials and ensuring academic integrity?
How do you recruit and compensate instructors?
What makes the course successful?
What methods have you used for communicating about the course's impact to others at your institution? how about to others in the Wikimedia community?

Organisation of a course in new contest

Comparative analysis

	Politecnico di Milano	Observations	Pilot project at SUPSI in Mendrisio
Frame	Organised in the frame of the PhD programme at the Politecnico di Milano. Every year it is possible to submit proposals for seminars targeting the PhD students. Those seminars focus on soft skills, such as public speaking. The proposals for seminars are selected by the Politecnico di Milano.	Easier to organise the course if it can be framed in the regular course structure (it also allows to access some resources). Probably easier to frame it as a training focusing on soft skills (science communication, writing skills, open science).	Pilot project to replicate the model. Course proposed to PhD students affiliated to the Institute of design at DACD, SUPSI. The course doesn't provide credits but it can provide a certificate. The project has been supported (and endorsed) by Wikimedia Italia and Wikimedia CH.
Fundings	In the frame of seminars, the course had a budget of 5'000 euro. The budget was used to pay the tutors.	The major cost is to have the support of a Wikipedia tutor.	Support from SUPSI (location, logistics, involvement of PhD students); Wikimedia Italia max 1000 euro for direct expenses and the collaboration of Marco Chemello as tutor; Wikimedia CH max 1000 chf for direct expenses.
Participants	Around 35 PhD students. Students of engineering, architecture, design. Mainly scientific and technical education.	In general the course it is more likely to be replicated with groups of 5-10 participants.	6 PhD students. Students of design, pedagogy, philosophy, cultural heritage. Mainly arts and humanities.
Team	2 organisers from the Politecnico di Milano (teachers). 3 Wikipedia tutors (around 1 tutor every 10-12 students). Involvement of external independent reviewers to evaluation the articles from a scientific perspective.	1 Wikipedia tutor for 10-12 students. Important to involve an expert in particular for the individual tutoring.	PI, organiser and documentation 1 Wikipedia tutor 1 expert in pedagogy and teaching Wikipedia
Logistics	Organised in the Politecnico di Milano.	Necessary to have a room devoted to the course.	Organised in SUPSI.
Duration	From Monday to Friday - 5 days 30 hours. Hours per day: 6 hours (from 9.30 to 12.30 and from 14.00 to 15.00) The students appreciate the all-inclusive format: during this time they have the time to learn and deliver the assignment.	Quite difficult to devote 30 hours to an activity. Easier if the course is framed as a weekly seminar or there are other courses with the same structure and length. It is important to have one week to deliver the result.	We keep a very similar structure and we try to see if it is possible to reduce the total number of hours. From Monday to Friday - 5 days 27 hours. Hours per day: 6 hours (from 9.30 to 12.30 and from 14.00 to 15.00). On Friday we finish at 12.30.
Preparatory work	Not planned but suggested.	Useful to ask participants to do some preparatory work (watching videos, online lessons about Wikipedia and the pillars)	Email to ask participants to do some preparatory work.
Attendance	Attendance obligatory for minimum 80% of the time.	We can limit attendance to the morning. Attendance necessary to deliver a certification.	To receive the certification, it is necessary to attend 80% of the course. We collect signatures in the morning and afternoon.
Programme	Lessons the morning on Monday (Wikipedia), Tuesday (Wikimedia Commons) and Wednesday (Wikidata). Most of the time dedicated to work on your own article(s). Last day dedicated to peer review among participants and evaluation of the article quality.	It can be useful to consider the afternoon flexible.	Lessons the morning on Monday (Wikipedia), Tuesday (Wikimedia Commons) and Wednesday (Wikidata). Most of the time dedicated to work on your own article(s). Last day dedicated to peer review among participants and evaluation of the article quality.
Language	Course in English. Tutoring in Italian. Possibility to write articles in English or Italian (and possibility to translate articles in other languages for other points).	In general English is the most used language in PhD course at an international language. In arts and humanities, it makes sense to expect the course to be in local languages.	Course in English. Tutoring in Italian. Possibility to write articles in English or Italian. All participants speak Italian. We used Italian in the discussions and in the tutoring.
Certification	Course framed in the PhD program with evaluation and full credits.	Useful to provide credits or at least a certification	Participants receive a certificate of attendance and an evaluation.
Challenges	Some cases (very limited and unintentional) of copyright violation.
Results	Around 15% of the students excel and 10% reach the minium requested. Production of 1 or more articles during the week