Learning and Evaluation/Newsletter/2014/1/2

L&E Newsletter / Volume 1 / Issue 2 / October 2014
Learning Quarterly
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The most epic data collection has started

We launched round II of data collection and analysis of Wikimedia programs. Have you been involved in coordinating a Wikimedia program? You can participate!

During September, we invited program leaders to contribute their data about programs. You can also get involved:

Data collection around Wikimedia programs started in 2013 and occurs annually. We encourage all Wikimedia program leaders and evaluators to participate in this voluntary reporting. Taking the survey on Qualtrics is not the only way to take part. If you already hold reports to your programs, with data collected from Sept 1 (2013) to Sept 30 (2014), you can submit those in any language and we’ll include them in the second round of data reporting. Last year’s data was collected and analysed thanks to the incredible work of over 60 program leaders, that implemented 119 programs or projects in 30 countries across the world. Help us improve these numbers! With your participation, we can understand Wikimedia programs better! More info:

Learning for sustainability

How much do we know of Wikimedia actions all over the world? Wikimania London was the scene of Learning Day 2014, workshops and an open space in the community village for anyone to reach out to the team. The learnings that stemmed from the movement’s biggest conference also shaped the path to the launch of Global Metrics.

Read how the Grantmaking team engaged in Wikimania:

During Wikimania London, we heard across presentations that more and more people are interested in gathering data to better understand their programs and projects. One of the main concerns was: how do we create sustainable growth? We believe this is fundamentally based in learning from each other, with better tools and resources.

More info:

Global Metrics for shared learning:

In September we launched Global Metrics. We hope this set of metrics will help us all understand, appreciate and be accountable for some of the work being done by Wikimedia communities worldwide. Learn more about them on the Meta page, discuss and share your concerns! You can reach out to us via email at eval@wikimedia.org, or provide input on the talk page.

More info:

Stay tuned

blogs, events & more!

Read our blogposts



Every month, we share knowledge with a focus on programs, process or tools on Wikimedia Foundation's blog. Find all our entries on the Wikimedia blog



Featured blog posts:

'Quantitative vs Qualitative: More Friends than enemies Oftentimes, program leaders and evaluators question whether methods and measures that are quantitative are preferred over the qualitative, or whether qualitative outcomes can be given value like quantitative outcomes. A good evaluation requires numbers and stories – one does not have meaning without the other. Read More.



'Evaluation Portal on Meta: A redesigned space for learning Evaluation tools and resources are now easier to find! The new portal has four main sections with evaluation resources: Study, Plan,Measure and Share. Two other sections, Connect and News & Events, are spaces for networking within the evaluation community through talk pages, online and face-to-face events. Read More.

Calendar

October
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31

October 1: APG Round I proposals due. / IEG Community review starts
October 15: «Telling your program story» learning series begins.
October 20: Round II - Data submission deadline for: edit-a-thons and editing workshops.
October 21: IEG Committee review starts.


November
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30

November 3: Round II - Data submission deadline for: On-wiki Writing Contests, Photo Events (Wiki Loves Earth, WikiExpeditions, WikiTakes, et.), Wikipedia Education Program
November 12: Session 2 «Telling your program story: Infographics, color coding and using multimedia to tell your story»
November 17: Round II - Data submission deadline for: Conferences, GLAM Content Donation, Hackathons, Wiki Loves Monuments, Wikimedian in Residence


December
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31

December 5: IEG: Grantees announced.
December 10: Session 3 «Telling your program story: Framing your measures to tell the story you want»

Grow the awesome

A program in the spotlight.

Wikimedia Serbia Education Program

When it started in 2005, little did they know how far the Education Program would take Wikimedia Serbia in the country. In the beginning, WMRS hosted workshops in two different universities to promote Wikimedia projects and the values behind open culture. In 2006, thanks to a partnership with one of the faculties, they managed to include article writing on Wikipedia as a student assignment. This opened the door to work with other organizations. In 2013, a national law gave the program a huge opportunity: the Serbian Ministry of Education determined that secondary students should study wiki tools as part of Computer Science curricula.
Since October last year, the chapter has dedicated efforts to the creation of a special course dedicated to teaching senior level staff in primary and secondary schools. After eight months of evaluation and revision, the course was officially accredited for teachers this past June and was included in the catalog of continuous professional development. By developing specific projects for different target groups in the educational field, Wikimedia Serbia has managed to expand the Education Program’s reach beyond Belgrade, and are now also working on three other cities in the south of Serbia.

Learn more:

Share your idea

IdeaLab is a space where wikimedians all over the world share their inspiration with others.

The Wikimedia projects have thousands of possibilities to capture information and data, and generate new educational and cultural products. These are a ideas where you can collaborate:

Your idea could help execute this potential and generate new possibilities for users all over the world. If you are not sure yet what the outcome could be, share your inspiration in the Lab! It could be the seed of a new program, a product or tool that does not exist yet.

Join the IdeaLab community. You can help develop ideas in many ways: with technical skills, translating, networking and more. Share your own!

Learn from your programs

The Program Evaluation & Design portal has tools to learn about your activities and measure their success.

What goals do you want to achieve? What are the actual outcomes of your programs? Learn from others, plan your next program, measure your program's success and share what you know.

In Grants:Evaluation, you’ll find different resources to self-evaluate: Learning Patterns, Learning Modules, Measurement Tools, Reports and Case Studies

Some of the latest Learning Patterns are:

The PE&D team also hosts virtual meet-ups to launch new tools or share experience in using them. Join the next virtual meet-up! Share what you know with the PE&D Community. Introduce yourself in the Parlor!