Planning a program can be super fun. In this first step, you need to allow time for creative thinking. What challenges do you see in your context? How can a Wikimedia Education program help you solve some of these? Think what would be interesting for you and your peers to work on. Then test your idea, reach out to the community and find the resources you need to make your program grow.
This step has 10 pages
Planning your program
Starting an education program does not require extensive research, but you should invest some time reviewing best practices and resources in this toolkit as you plan your project. This section will prepare program leaders and educators do the following:
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Some copy that might help: Integrating Wikimedia successfully in a course or classroom requires some planning and research about best practices and resources. Use this toolkit to help you get started in planning your program.
Partnerships and participants
Education programs have a high potential for meaningful impact for students, educators, and Wikimedia users and editors. Students may benefit in many ways: research and writing skills, information and media literacy. Their contributions benefit Wikimedia projects and users around the world. Clear and transparent partnerships with education institutions and the community can do a lot for programs to gain traction in a local context. This section includes tips for how to:
If you partner with an education institution that has space, equipment and internet access to train students, you can start a successful education program with very few additional resources. In fact, educators often become interested in using Wikimedia in the classroom because it is a low-cost way to teach students important skills.
In this section you learn how to get the resources you need, such as:
Volunteers: Find online and offline volunteers to help support an education program.
Training and outreach materials: Choose from existing training and outreach materials and learn about printing and localization.
Grants and In-kind donations: Learn how to get resources donated by local partners and find funding guidelines for WMF grants.
Designing for growth
Good news travels fast. After you have completed a successful classroom collaboration there is a good chance that other educators will want to work with you.