Training the Trainers/June 2012 event
Summary: We intend to run a train-the-trainers workshop in London in June 2012. Volunteers who want to take a leading role in Wikimedia UK's training programme are encouraged to read and sign up below.
This is an update on the way forward for our Train the Trainers programme. The next step is that we are going to have a two-day training workshop at the WMUK office in London, run by professional consultants. The trainer-trainers who are thus trained (yes, this gets very meta) will be collectively responsible for putting together a training and accreditation programme, and run later training/skill-sharing events for other interested trainers. This expanded group will deliver training to end users, including members of partner organisations.
I think this is a best-of-both-worlds solution: it's sustainable and owned by our community, but will be credible because it will have been started off by an external organisation. There's an analogy with how we use Wikipedia to spread knowledge: a reliable source external to Wikipedia vouches for it, and we adapt it, integrate it with other knowledge and make sure it's freely and widely available.
What we want now is for anyone interested to sign up below for this workshop. Due to room availability, this will have to take place on a weekend in June. Reasonable travel expenses to the workshop will be reimbursed, according to the WMUK expense policy. There will be limited places, to make sure that each participant gets individual attention and feedback. These places will be open to WMUK volunteers who can make a credible commitment to support training in future: it will be a strong advantage to already been involved in training events.
We know that some of our members are already delivering professional-quality training. They may think they don't need this weekend event, but it's especially important for them to sign up. It's a chance to:
- Get accredited. Being a wiki expert does not necessarily mean you can pass it on to other people: this makes it all the more important that we recognise and appreciate people who have that expertise and also the ability to train.
- Share your skills with others.
- Help design a training and accreditation programme that serves WMUK in the long term.
If for whatever reason you aren't included in the initial group, you are not excluded from being an approved trainer in the future.
There will be an assessment process, and it will be genuinely demanding: no-one's guaranteed a certificate. There is more than one way you can be involved in training; whether it's designing a syllabus, delivering that training to a room full of people, or helping learners one-to-one. The workshop will explore your skills profile and relate it to the role you're suited for. I think I'm generally good at training, but I'm going to approach this with an open mind and listen to feedback on my weaknesses and strengths. Everyone can and should seek to improve, so if you are not accredited at the event, then this does not rule out being accredited in future.
If your interest is in training people to contribute to a sister project such as Commons or Wikinews, rather than to Wikipedia, that's no disadvantage. If anything, a diversity of training interests is a plus.
Note that this is about training, not presenting. There is no plan for WMUK to assess, accredit or regulate presentations or lectures on any aspect of Wikimedia. Similarly, there is no intention to restrict training to an elite clique. On the contrary, I think a clear process for becoming a WMUK approved trainer would encourage more volunteers to volunteer at training events and get themselves accredited. When we are putting together a high-profile event with a partner organisation, we will prefer to use accredited trainers in preference to others. It'll operate as a white-list rather than a black-list. MartinPoulter (talk) 14:01, 9 April 2012 (UTC)