Wikimedia Meta-Wiki

WikiSkills

In a nutshell

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WikiSkills aims to empower and foster wiki usage and to develop training courses to consolidate wiki skills in today's society.

Wiki tools are used worldwide as a collaborative and participative working process tool mostly to organise and develop information from an open group of users. Those collaborative groups, beyond the technical knowledge, need a set of rules governing users' behaviours, so a respectful and civil interaction can take place. WikiSkills aims to join the ICT learning dynamics with this social collaborative aspect that can be an important added value for society. Wikis are not only an ICT tool; WikiSkills aims to investigate their impact on society because it implies very important social behaviours as cooperation, respect, team working, content development and community management. The wiki-skills project aims to analyse and apply benefits of using wikis for lifelong learning programmes, thus empowering civic behaviour, social inclusion, employability, cultural understanding and abilities to learn autonomously.

WikiSkills would achieve those objectives providing training courses on wiki tools and skills to the target groups. These courses will provide a basic understanding of new information and communication technologies and Internet participative usage. Furthermore, it will introduce to wiki tools, its sources, personal benefits and social effects.

More in details

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The project aims at :

  1. Developing collaborative leadership skills, collective decision making skills, conflict resolution skills, governance skills, etc., whilst participating to the growth of a learning and working community
  2. Improving skills on collaborating with others to edit and develop texts
  3. Valorising existing cultural patrimony
  4. Acquisition of digital fluency basic knowledge

This wiki culture corresponds to European priorities of promoting creativity, competitiveness, employability and entrepreneurial spirit, equity, social cohesion and active citizenship.

Some outputs OUTPUTS

  1. Guidelines booklet for teachers
  2. Wiki tools and skills training experiment for educational bodies
  3. Best practices video and a guidebook
  4. etc.

The project training courses will be developed at two different levels: “face-to-face” (f-2-f) training courses in each partner country for a national audience and moderated online courses that will become self-directed online courses to reach a wide international audience.

The target groups addressed within the project’s lifetime are

  1. Secondary school pupils and teachers (Comenius).
  2. Higher education institutions. Not only students, but also professors and business staff (Erasmus).
  3. Trainees in initial vocational training or people who have already graduated, as well as VET professionals (Leonardo da Vinci).
  4. Low qualified adult education providers, not only teachers, trainers, staff and organisations working in the sector, but also learners in adult education (Grundtvig).

The self-directed courses will be made available in several languages – EN, FR, DE, ES and EL. The outcomes of the project will be published under a free licence (presumably cc-by-sa 3.0). Open Educational Resources released with a free license allow communities of practitioners and stakeholders to copy, adapt and share the resources legally and freely, in order to support high-quality and locally relevant teaching and learning.

Funding of WikiSkills

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The EU funded project WikiSkills is funded under the life long learning programme of the EU. The project started in January 2012 and has a duration of two years. It is coordinated by the Ynternet.org.

Project Partners

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Seven partners from six European countries are involved. The partners are

  • Fondation Ynternet.org. Switzerland. Facilitate, identify and promote responsible behaviours on the digital environments & the Internet. Its research and training programmes contribute in promoting entrepreneurial spirit and equity of chances within the new knowledge society. Ynternet.org cooperates with governments, public institutions, SMEs & NGOs, and coordinates various private/public partnerships. Its foundation council is composed of directors of superior school and universities of the occidental part of Switzerland. Its scientific committee is composed of some of the major international experts on digital inclusion and common good in information society. The institute is active in 3 continents (Europe, Africa & Americas) with trainers and consultants on "netizenship". Over 5'000 NGO leaders, trainers, entrepreneurs and unemployed have been trained in the period 2000-2010 under Ynternet.org responsibility, within various programmes for socio-digital inclusion under mandate of private and public institutions such as Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Interreg3 programme, regional state and various federation of teachers, lifelong learning, consumer's rights, etc.... Ynternet.org also leads the "eCulture conference", a network of delegates of the Swiss academic organizations, specialized in elearning and ICT issues.
  • die Berater®. Austria. ("die Berater" Unternehmensbertungs GmbH). Private company works in Education and training, Coaching and counselling, Consultancy, Outplacement, EU projects. Die Berater® offer educational seminars and training courses for individuals, organisations, and enterprises from soft skills to languages and information technologies. Their main aims are to motivate and qualify customers to make full use of their potentials in the economy, at the labour market and in their personal lives. More than 20.000 people participate in die Berater’s programmes per year- many of them in job orientation and vocational qualification programmes delivered for the Austrian labour market service. Contents and methodologies, including blended learning, are tailor-made according to the needs of customers.
  • Ellinogermaniki Agogi (EA). Greece. Educational organization of private law, officially recognized by the state. It is an institutional member of ECSITE (European Network of Science Centres and Museums), EDEN (European Distance Education Network) and of STEDE (Science Teacher Education Development in Europe) network. EA was the national representative of the Greek Ministry of Education in the International exhibition “Salon de l’ education” that was held in November 2000 in Paris in the framework of the e-Learning Initiative of the European Commission. EA was the first Greek educational organization, which applied ODL in secondary level education in the year of 1993. During the last years the department has coordinated and supported the participation of the institution in more than 90 European and National projects. In most of them the main role of the research group is the design of the proposed implementation activities in real school environments. EA is certified by the Greek Ministry of Education as a training centre for teachers of elementary and secondary schools.
  • The Universitat de Barcelona (UB). Spain. One of the leading Spanish universities. It manages more than 150 research projects per year through the Fundació Bosch i Gimpera, controlled by the UB. The Faculty of Pedagogy prepares specialists in education in different fields, whereas the Faculty of Education is in charge of initial and in-service teacher training.
  • MAC-Team facilitates multi-cultural cooperation processes, and the validation and valorisation of results:
  • THE HEIG-VD (Haute Ecole d'Ingénierie et de Gestion du canton de Vaud). Switzerland. It's The University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland, HES-SO with more than 15’000 students and which is the largest UAS in Switzerland with 55 degree programs in 6 areas, 3 master programs. Some 8’600 employees (2’600 full time positions). Scientific studies with practical applications.
  • CESGA. Spain. Galicia Supercomputing Centre (Fundación Centro Tecnológico de Supercomputación, CESGA) is a non profit, public institution depending both from the National Research Council of Spain (CSIC) and Regional government of Galicia. It is located in Santiago de Compostela, and about 60 researchers and technicians work here. Its aims are to Promote, disseminate and provide high performance computing and communication services to research communities from Galicia and National Research Council of Spain, as well as to companies and institutions which require them, contributing to the improvement of their competitiveness and to promote support services to research, innovation and development in Information and Communication technologies in Galicia and National Research Council of Spain communities.
  • Wikimedia.se. Wikimedia Sverige is a non-profit association based in Sweden. The association shall work towards making knowledge freely accessible to all humans, especially by supporting the Wikimedia projects. The association shall also work to spread knowledge about these projects, promote their use, and support the technology essential for them. Founded in 2007 the organization has more than 200 members.

Wikimedians involved

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Also interested to take part in the project

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How you can help

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  • Literature Search: Help us find relevant literature regarding teaching scenarios using wikis (and in particular teaching scenarios using MediaWiki or teaching scenarios involving editing on and improving Wikimedia Projects). If you find something, store it on the Wiki-Skills bibliography.
  • Make this project description better: Let us know on the discussion page what you don't understand, what additional information you miss here, etc.
  • Ideas: Let us know about your ideas and thoughts regarding teaching and learning using wikis.

Further Information

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