I am ask.wikiedu.org. Ask me anything.

This week, we’re unveiling ask.wikiedu.org, a question-and-answer platform to support Wiki Education Foundation’s programs. Wikipedia has detailed help pages on just about any Wikipedia-related topic you can think of. That’s the problem ask.wikiedu.org is trying to solve. With so much help text written over the years, it’s hard for new editors to find specific answers. … Continued

Hacking and collaboration at Wikimania

In July, I was in Mexico City for Wikimania, the global Wikimedia community’s annual conference. I was there to kickstart the adaptation of Wiki Ed’s Dashboard system for use beyond our programs, and to catch up with the latest developments in Wikimedia technology ecosystem. I’ll give a quick overview of what I was up to, … Continued

Wiki Ed Dashboard launches course management features

The newest version of the Wiki Ed Dashboard is up and running! Instructors can now go through the entire process of setting up a course, designing a Wikipedia assignment, and keeping up with students’ activity — all from dashboard.wikiedu.org. Until now, our systems for setting up and keeping track of Wikipedia classroom assignments have been … Continued

Trying out a new kind of assignment: Wikipedia gap analysis

One of the things we’ve learned about Wikipedia course assignments is that class size makes a difference. Because Wikipedia writing assignments are different from traditional essays and research papers, in-class discussions of the writing and research process are important to keep student editors aligned with Wikipedia’s rules and conventions. We’ve found that even with experienced … Continued

Hate the sin, love the sinner

Of the multitude of Wikipedia sins an editor could commit, plagiarism is among the gravest. False authorship strikes at the heart of Wikipedia as a freely licensed resource, built line by line from the voluntary contributions of legions of good samaritans. And while our student editors commit plagiarism less often than other newcomers, it’s still a … Continued

Course pages and beyond: dashboard.wikiedu.org

The Wiki Ed Dashboard is at the center of our technology work. Since March, I’ve been working with our development partner WINTR on transforming http://dashboard.wikiedu.org from a straightforward course monitoring tool into something much more — a complete platform for creating, running, and monitoring Wikipedia course projects (traditional courses as well as other projects, such as … Continued

WikiEdu Dashboard version 1.0 is live!

Today, Wiki Education Foundation is officially releasing version 1.0 of the WikiEdu Dashboard: http://dashboard.wikiedu.org. The Dashboard is a new system for keeping track of the courses participating in our programs. This tool, built in collaboration with our digital creative partner WINTR, gives us a clearer window into the progress of student editors. The Dashboard presents … Continued

User testing the Assignment Design Wizard

These last couple of months, I’ve been busily working with Seattle design firm WINTR to build the Assignment Design Wizard, a tool to help instructors create great Wikipedia assignments. The beta version of the wizard is now up and running at wizard.wikiedu.org, and my focus has turned to user testing in preparation for the official … Continued

Wiki Education Foundation Monthly Report: August 2014

1. Highlights Frank Schulenburg, Sara Crouse, Jami Mathewson, and LiAnna Davis, and board members Diana Strassmann, Karen Twitchell, and Richard Knipel all traveled to London for Wikimania 2014. Wiki Ed played a major role in the Future of Education track at Wikimania. Jami and LiAnna led three Education Pre-Conference workshops and presented in four official … Continued