2014 Activity Plan/EduWiki
- Description
We will run a one-day EduWiki Conference 2014 raising awareness of the educational possibilities of Wikipedia and sister projects, and developing Wikimedia UK's academic engagement. In light of the fact that Wikimania 2014 will be attracting potential delegates away from the EduWiki conference, this year's event will take the form of a symposium bringing together all those in the Education sector who have benefited directly from WMUK support over the years.
EduWiki Conference 2012 and EduWiki Conference 2013 were great successes and we feel that the outcomes (not to mention the spin-offs) have demonstrated the importance of such high-profile events.
- Amount
£10,000. Draft budget tba
- Budget responsibility
Daria Cybulska and Toni Sant
- Budget details
TBC
- Timetable for activities
- Preparation for the event: from February 2013 up till the date of the conference
- Capacity building events (through University & Education Outreach programme):
- UCL (February), University of Stirling (March), University of Glasgow (March), University of Dundee and/or Cardiff University (April), University of Hull (April/May), Wikimania 2014 (August), others tba
- EduWiki event date: October/November 2014 in Scotland (Edinburgh?)
- Success Criteria
- Full attendance as per plan - 80 - 100 delegates (may need to revise due to Wikimania and the fact that EduWiki 2014 is a one-day event)
- Attendees value conference and provide good feedback.
- Conference content is stimulating and appropriate
- That there is follow-up that offers development throughout the University and Scholarly Societies community and builds links with Wikimedia UK.
Toni Sant has also identified more specific desired long-term outcomes for EduWiki, aligning it with the overall rational of WMUK's University and Education Outreach activities:
- stronger engagement in higher education institutions towards more university tutors assigning the editing of Wikipedia articles and/or contributing to other Wikimedia projects for assessment (course credit).
- broader reach across the education sector (lifelong learning as well as school children, along with higher education) towards better understanding of Wikimedia’s projects and direct engagement with content sharing.
- better awareness, especially among senior managers in the education sector about the appropriate use of Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects in education.
- enabling UK-based academic researchers to develop a UK-based network with others working on Wikimedia-related academic research, as well as ensuring more participation in the existing WikiSym community.
- Risks
- Low attendance (especially if pre-conference expectation are inflated)
- Lack of stimulating content (particularly if key speakers are attracted to Wikimania instead)
- Lack of focus.