Grants:IdeaLab/Wikimoocing
Project idea
editWhat is the problem you're trying to solve?
editIn the information era, it's possible to gain knowledge on practically any subject. Lately, the knowledge on offer is often delivered free of charge by reputable education institutes in the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) format. There are hundreds of top-ranking Universities (e.g. Harvard, MIT, INSEAD etc.) on tens of platforms (e.g. Coursera, Future Learn, edX etc.). But even for University students, the "tuition epidemic" has led to a student debt in excess of 1 trillion dollars[1]. This has led more and more learners to turn to MOOCs in order to acquire the knowledge they need to advance their professional and personal pursuits.
Most MOOCs are delivered in English to a world-wide audience, meaning that English is often not their native language. How does the learner deal with learning new concepts in English - often under tight deadlines - while aiming at transferring the acquired knowledge to his local needs? Moreover, is there a way he can better consolidate the new terms, theories, methodologies etc. involved in the learning process?
What is your solution?
editA very effective way to consolidate new knowledge is to create it: on the Wikimedia projects! The list below offers some suggestions:
- Learners who have good knowledge of English can translate labels and descriptions of data items on Wikidata: this can easily be done even by an inexperienced editor, as it only involves clicking the edit button, inserting text and clicking "publish" (no need for "wiki-code" or referencing). It only takes a couple of minutes to complete an edit, and a study session could lead to the creation of multiple edits. The translations are especially important for minor language Wikipedias, where a multitude of labels and descriptions of scientific data items are blank.
- Learners who can spare more time and effort can translate articles on Wikipedia. The content translation tool may be disabled on English Wikipedia, however it can easily be activated on most (minor) Wikipedias. This activity would require basic training in Wikipedia editing.
- Learners who are competent in only one language can create new data items on Wikidata; this is especially useful in disciplines that are now trending and emerging: often Wikidata has little representation of the key terms and concepts of relatively new scientific disciplines.
Some examples
editBelow is a list of examples demonstrating each of the three suggestions above, in the order they are mentioned:
- Neuroscience: the Greek translations of superior frontal gyrus and positron emission tomography are two of several hundred that were created in the context of "Medical Neuroscience" and "Fundamental Neuroscience for Neuroimaging" delivered by Duke University and Johns Hopkins University respectively on Coursera.
- Social entrepreneurship: The article Gram Vikas was translated into Greek in the context of the "Social Entrepreneurship Specialization" delivered by Copenhagen Business School on Coursera.
- Social entrepreneurship: antagonistic assets is a data item that was missing from Wikidata and was created in the context of the "Social Entrepreneurship Specialization".
Project goals
editA primary goal is to invite more learners and/or editors to practice Wikimoocing, in the direction of proving the efficacy of editing the Wikimedia projects while attending a MOOC. If and when there are more experiences to be shared, the concept could be supported by comprehensive evidence and perhaps a comparative study launched. Ultimately, potential positive findings could be communicated to MOOC providers as a good practice for enhancing their participants' learning experience.
Get involved
editExpand your idea
editWould a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation help make your idea happen? You can expand this idea into a grant proposal.