Grants talk:PEG/WM US-DC/Workshop Facilitator Training/Report

Hi James. Thank you for this report. It would be great to get more details on the following:

• What was the geographic spread of the participants? Is there a list of their usernames and where they are from?
  • We funded travel for nine participants from nine states, including states in the Northeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West (including three participants from the Intermountain West, traditionally underrepresented in our outreach programs). We also had three participants based in the DC area and an additional participant who drove down from western Canada! harej (talk) 00:14, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
• Do you have a project page for the workshop? If not, it would be great if you could create one and include participants, the program schedule, documentation of training methods, training materials, plans for follow-up, links to editathons planned, etc.
  • w:Wikipedia:2014 Workshop Facilitator Training is our page, in need of updating. harej (talk) 00:14, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
    • Do you have a timeline for updating the page? Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 00:19, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
      • I have, minimally, updated it. -- econterms (talk) 03:01, 16 December 2014 (UTC)
• Were you able to record the presentations as planned?
  • We were able to record some presentations. Some of the presentations more resembled dialogues and are not suitable for distribution. One of the things we found is that it was more important to create a safe space to discuss issues candidly, so most video footage will not be made available for public consumption. The presentations that were basically speeches by Emily will be uploaded. Keep in mind however that Wikimedia DC is not a video production company. harej (talk) 00:14, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
• How did the particpants progress on developing their plans for local workshop series?
  • We will be surveying at six-month and one-year intervals. harej (talk) 00:14, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
    • Do you have any anecdotal information (for example, from the FB page) related to if participants are organizing workshops and what successes/challenges they are having? Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 00:19, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
• What follow-up, if any, is being done to support the participants post-workshop?
  • We created a Facebook group for the 2014 training alumni which is often used for asking/answering questions. We will also be reaching out to individual participants to check up on their progress planning workshops. harej (talk) 00:14, 9 December 2014 (UTC)
• Please be sure to send the documentation of expenses/scanned receipts.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 01:15, 14 November 2014 (UTC)

• Re that last item, I've emailed documentation of expenses and receipts. -- WM_DC treasurer econterms (talk) 08:35, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

Report Approved

Thank you for the above responses. We approve the report but note that a better understanding of the impact of this project will only be possible after the 6 and 12-month check-ins with participants. It would be great to have a check-in sooner and updated meta page if you're planning to organize another training program this spring. Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 03:16, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

August 2016 update

As originally proposed—albeit rather later than initially planned—Wikimedia DC has conducted a follow-up evaluation to assess the long-term impact of the workshop. To characterize the long-term effects of the training, we examined each participant's record of activity on the Wikimedia projects and within the broader Wikimedia movement in the two years following the training. Each participant's activity was qualitatively assessed on the following scale

Activity Level	Description
High	The participant (a) remains active on the Wikimedia projects; (b) frequently [at least once every 3 months] plans, organizes, and participates in Wikimedia-related events; and (c) is involved in areas of the Wikimedia movement other than the Wikimedia projects in some significant capacity.
Moderate	The participant: (a) remains active on the Wikimedia projects; and (b) occasionally [less than once every 3 months] plans, organizes, or participates in Wikimedia- related events.
Low	The participant: (a) does not appear to be active on the Wikimedia projects; or (b) does not appear to actively plan, organize, or participate in Wikimedia-related events.

Out of the 12 participants in the workshop, 5 demonstrate high activity two years following the training; 2 demonstrate moderate activity two years following the training; and 5 demonstrate low activity two years following the training. It is worth noting that the distribution of activity within these levels is not uniform; particularly at the upper end of the scale, a number of participants have been extremely active, organizing numerous events and playing leading roles in various Wikimedia projects and groups. Collectively, the participants in the workshop have facilitated more than 50 Wikimedia-related events. Several participants have been significantly involved in the planning of major Wikimedia events, including WikiConference USA 2015, WikiConference North America 2016, and others.

A more detailed evaluation of individual participants' assessments and subsequent contributions has been provided directly to the Wikimedia Foundation. Kirill Lokshin (talk) 20:53, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi Kirill Lokshin, thank you for posting the results of the evaluation. It is great to see that the majority of participants have remained moderately to highly active following the training, and that several have taken on leadership roles on the WM-US DC board and in major events. We hope that the training helped improve the quality of of meetings and events that the participants have been part of. With this update, we can officially close this grant. --KHarold (WMF) (talk) 20:23, 9 August 2016 (UTC)