Education projects

Contributing to Wikimedia projects, such as Wikipedia, Wikiversity and Wikibooks, is an educational opportunity in the fullest sense, developing sophisticated collaboration and critical thinking skills at the same time as subject knowledge. Improving an article can be a demanding project in either formal and informal education, for a talented student or a whole class.

Wikimedia UK is working with some of the country's most respected and innovative institutions to explore how Wikimedia projects can benefit UK education. Working with institutions and support bodies, we are gradually establishing Wikimedia as part of the landscape of higher and secondary education.

The Wikimedia Foundation has an extensive set of educator resources, including reasons to use Wikipedia, case studies and teaching materials.

Wikimedia Outreach Ambassador

University of Bristol has supported a unique paid internship to explore co-working between Wikimedia UK and a university. One outcome was a Wikimedia Girl Geek Dinner hosted at the university, involving students, lecturers and the broader public.

Student Societies

Imperial College, London attracted national attention as the first UK university to have a Wikipedia student society. The students organised a day event to explore relations between Wikipedia and academia.

Campus wikilounges

University of Manchester and University of Liverpool are among the institutions where Wikimedia volunteers have provided "Wikilounge" events, helping students make informed use of Wikipedia.

Fresher Fairs

We experimented with a fresher fair stall at the University of Warwick and found it an excellent way of gathering interest from enthusiastic under graduates.

Wikiversity

Lecturers at University of Exeter (Economics Classroom Experiments) and University of Westminster (Political Simulation and Gaming) are among those using Wikiversity as a learning platform or to share good practice with their colleagues.

Promoting wiki-literacy

It is important that students and pupils understand the limitations of Wikipedia (and encyclopaedias in general) as well as its usefulness. The Wikimedia community have created many resources to explain the basic concepts of reliability, neutrality and Wikipedia's internal review processes. Wikimedia UK can provide material for student inductions (Contact us).

Advisory bodies

Wikimedia UK is forming links with national advisory bodies to make sure that relevant information about the Wikimedia projects is available to teaching staff, support staff and educational developers. For example, the JISC Centre for Educational Technology and Interoperability Standards has a guide to Wikimedia Commons as a platform for Open Educational Resources.

Education conference

Wikimedia UK is seeking to run a conference bringing teaching and support staff together with Wikimedia volunteers. The two communities will explore how Wikipedia and its sister projects can support innovative education while improving their own reliability and completeness. More details will appear on this site. Contact martin.poulterwikimedia.org.uk if you are interested in being involved.

Call to action

Wikimedia volunteers can help these projects by working with teaching staff, academic or school librarians or support staff to raise awareness, using the many resources for educators already created. Some funding is available for travel and subsistence, and support materials

Experienced Wikipedians can also apply to be Online Ambassadors to support students remotely. Helping student newcomers to write good quality articles can be highly rewarding, while clearly improving Wikipedia's quality.

We are developing Campus Ambassador training for university staff or students who want to support educational projects, based on a programme which is under way in many US universities. To register an interest, contact martin.poulterwikimedia.org.uk with your name, institution, role (lecturer/ teaching assistant/ student) and any experience on Wikipedia or its sister projects.