Learning and Evaluation/News/Learning Days for Wikimania Cape Town

Learning Days at Wikimania 2018!

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We are happy to announce that we will be hosting Learning Days at Wikimania!

In addition to the core-conference, the Learning and Evaluation team at the Wikimedia Foundation organizes pre-conference Learning Days. During these days, there will be workshops on program design, evaluation, and community learning. The event will be held on Wednesday, July 18th, and Thursday, July 19th.

This year, participants will be selected along two tracks according to practice and knowledge:

  • Traditional Learning Days track: Pre-conference participatory workshop sessions on program design, evaluation, resources, learning, & community engagement for folks working to implement programmatic and community engagement activities in their home communities.
  • Leadership Development track: Pre-conference sessions for affiliate representatives who are focused on developing leadership for programs and community building through train-the-trainer and other skills development approaches in their home communities.

If you would like to focus on developing programs for the first time in your community and have never attended a Learning Day before, we will have options prepared for you. Alternatively, if you have attended Learning Days before in past conferences and have already accrued experience in implementing Wikimedia Programs, we need your help! Aside from having advanced workshops for experienced program leaders focused on leadership development, we also want your help in co-hosting trainings and presenting what you know to others.

Learning Day Outcomes

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Participation and Feedback

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In another successful round of Learning Days at Wikimania, 33 community members and 18 Foundation staff members congregated in Cape Town, South Africa to learn, share, and collaborate with Wikimedians from all corners of the globe.

Based on feedback from previous iterations of Learning Days, we decided to pilot a new approach by consolidating sessions into longer workshops for two cohorts. Each morning consisted of a workshop block for both new and experienced Wikimedians. Instead of having to meticulously choose which sessions were right for them, attendees were grouped based on their experience level with Wikimedia projects. This new cohort model was well-received and allowed the two groups to spend a total of 5 hours together over the two days so that they could network and learn together. Session evaluations demonstrate some of the unique value this new model offers:

I really liked the concept of introducing new organizers to the movement broadly.” - A New Organizer cohort member

I liked how the attendees shared their best practices and strategies for getting community feedback, and how they already had so much to share about what they’re doing!” - An Experienced Organizer cohort member

In addition to the new and experienced organizer cohorts, all Learning Days participants were invited to to attend afternoon sessions with something for everyone, such as Storytelling for Projects, Measuring and Evaluating Diversity and Equity, or Lighting Talks, a popular Learning Days tradition.

By looking at session attendance, we can get a glimpse of what community members wanted to learn most from their Learning Days experience. The sessions with the most attendees on Wednesday included the New Organizers - Opening Workshop, GLAM Programs and Partnerships, Demystifying Grants, and Lightning Talks. Popular sessions for Day Two included morning workshops for both experienced and new organizers, Lightning Talks - Round 2, and Volunteer Recruitment and Engagement. We did find that attendance was much lower on Thursday, likely due to the number of other preconference offerings that Foundation staff and some community members were committed to. Nevertheless, we had a great group of people continue the learning on day 2 and even had some new folks join in on the fun. For a full breakdown of session attendance, check out the table below.

Wednesday Attendance Thursday Attendance
Session Name Count of participants Session Name Count of participants
Welcome and Orientation - Day 1 51 Welcome and Orientation - Day 2 31
New Organizers - Opening Workshop 39 New Organizers - Morning Workshop 21
Experienced Organizers - Opening Workshop 23 Experienced Organizers - Morning Workshop 24
GLAM Programs and Partnerships 35 Volunteer Recruitment and Engagement Panel 17
Measuring and Evaluating Diversity and Equity 15 Lightning Talks - Round 2 20
Demystifying Grants 26 Program Planning & Making Metrics Count 12
Storytelling for Projects 12 Planning for Learning 9
Lightning Talks - Round 1 25 New Organizers - Closing Workshop 4
Structured Data and Wiki Partnerships 15 Experienced Organizers - Closing Workshop 15
Day 1 Closing Session 28 Day 2 Closing Session 16

As always, collecting feedback from sessions is an essential part of measuring the success of Learning Days, and helps us learn how we can make Learning Days even better next round. This time, we experimented with offering a digital version of our feedback form, to make it easier for attendees to offer feedback.

The digital feedback forms ask participants the same questions as in previous editions of Learning Days: what they liked best in a session, what could use improvement, and how they will use what they learned in their own work with Wikimedia projects. The table below shows the amount of feedback we received from attendees on both days.

Learning Day Percentage of total attendees Change from previous Learning Days
Wednesday 65% -7 percentage points
Thursday 42% -23 percentage points

We learned that using digital feedback forms does reduce the amount of time needed for data entry and analysis, however, this time around, it came at a cost of fewer responses overall. Especially on Day 2, we only got feedback from 42% of participants, compared to the previous Learning Days where we received feedback from 65% of participants by using a paper form. In the future, we plan to utilize both the paper and the digital form, and will require workshop leaders to set aside 5 minutes at the end of each session to collect feedback.

We analyzed the feedback about what participants like most and what they would like to see next time and below are the most common themes across all sessions:

Things People Liked BestSuggestions For Next Time
  • Getting to know other Wikimedians
  • The hands-on and interactive activities
  • The user friendly materials and worksheets that can be applied in different contexts
  • Learning about best practices from other WIkimedians
  • The warm atmosphere created by organizers of Learning Days
  • General information about the movement for newer folks
  • Hearing about diverse projects and points of view
  • Having the opportunity to reflect
  • More time for discussion
  • More time to think about application
  • More specific, concrete guidance on application
  • More social activities
  • Less time on technical stuff, more time on interactive activities
  • Clickers for the speakers

It’s also important to analyze participant intentions to apply knowledge and skills back in their local context. We ask participants, “What is something you will do differently in the next 30 days based on what you learned in this workshop?” Below are examples of how attendees plan to apply what they learned in their own work with Wikimedia projects:

“I will try to think how my community can implement community capacity mapping.”

“Structuring our user group with different roles. Applying some sort of governance and understanding more about policy. Connecting with experienced groups in the aspects lacking in ours.  Reviewing our vision.”

“Evaluate where our to-dos are as a community.”

“To have a meeting with active users in my hometown and to map what we are lacking and how to execute program accordingly.”

“I'll implement some of the newly acquired 'tools' in my 'toolbox' at the planned conference I'm organizing in early August.”

“Holding others accountable for active listening in nice ways (acknowledging when someone might need the space when they were cut-off mid-thought and bring conversation back to them).”

“To try a photowalk with my community.”

“Re-examine my grant proposal.”

“I will try to adapt my lightning talk on Saturday.”

“Create structured Wikidata descriptions of images, uploaded to Commons.”

“Applying the learnings on my next Education workshop with high school students.”

“I will try new approach in engaging the volunteers”

Lightning Talks

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As with each iteration of Learning Days, we invite community members to share their experience with Wikimedia projects in a series of 5-minute presentations. Presenters share stories of their work in the Wikimedia world, and how the lessons they learned can be used by other community members in their endeavors. The Lightning Talks are always one of the most popular sessions at Learning Days, and offers a glimpse into the variety of viewpoints and experiences across the global Wikimedia Movement. To view some of these Lightning Talks, check out the category on Commons, or our YouTube channel.


Click here to see the selection criteria, agenda & materials
 

Registration & Selection

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Registration for Wikimania 2018 opens on Monday, April 9. In the registration form, you will only be asked for your general interest in the pre-conference Learning Days. By stating your interest, you are not automatically registered, as only a limited number of slots are available. There will be a selection process based on the information you provide when stating your interest on Learning Days in the registration form. The selection process will end on May 18; participants are selected on a first come, first served basis, so the sooner you register, the better chances you have of participating in Learning Days. Qualification does not guarantee participation.

Should demand be less than expected, restrictions may be loosened. Follow-up communications and notifications will be sent beginning May 9th. If you have any questions, please reach out to María Cruz (eval wikimedia · org).


Selection Criteria:

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The selection criteria for Learning Days include that all participants must be endorsed to participate by their affiliate group and demonstrate evidence of at least 3 of the following to qualify for participation:

  • You want to teach back home what they learn.
  • You have implemented one or more programmatic activities in the last 12 months or you plan to implement one or more programmatic activities in the next 12 months.
  • You have engaged, or plan to engage, in learning and evaluation practices in order to learn about their program outcomes.
  • You are interested in teaching about community programs and/or engagement activities at Learning Day.
  • You have taught or presented in a Learning Day event in the past.
  • You have demonstrated application of something they learned at a past Learning Day event.
  • You are working to develop and/or lead skills training workshops for leadership development in their home community (e.g., skills development for community engagement, community health, program design and evaluation).


Looking forward to a new day of Learning Together!

Agenda

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New Organizer Track - Mandatory for those accepted to Traditional Track
Experienced Organizer Track - Mandatory for those accepted to Leadership Track
Thematic Track - Open to all attendees
Learning Days Track - Open to all attendees
Day One: July 18,2018
Time Room 1: London Room 2: Hong Kong
9:00-
9:30
Welcome & Orientation - All Attendees
9:30-
9:45
Transition
9:45-
10:45
New Organizers - Opening Workshop

Session leads: Alex Stinson,
Woubzena Jifar, Dumisani Ndubane

Experienced Organizers - Opening Workshop
Session lead: Dana McCurdy
10:45-
11:00
Break
11:00-
12:00
New Organizers - Opening Workshop, cont. Experienced Organizers - Opening Workshop, cont.
12:00-
13:00
Lunch
13:00-
14:00
GLAM Programs & Partnerships
Session leads:Alex Stinson
Measuring and Evaluating Diversity,Equity, and Inclusion
Session lead: Dana McCurdy
14:00-
14:15
Transition
14:15-
15:15
Demystifying Grants
Session leads: Woubzena Jifar, Mykola Kozlenko
Storytelling for Projects
Session lead: Maria Cruz
15:15-
15:45
Break
15:45-
17:15
Lightning Talks (Round 1)
Moderator: Felix Nartey
Structured Data and Wiki Partnerships
Session lead: Sandra Fauconnier
17:15-
17:30
Transition
17:30-
18:15
Day 1 Closing Session
18:15-
19:15
Dinner
19:00-
20:30
Social Media One-Night Stand
Session leads: Andrew Lih, Sree Sreenivasan
Day Two: July 19,2018
Time Room 1: London Room 2: Hong Kong
9:00-
9:30
Welcome & Orientation - All Attendees
9:30-
9:45
Transition
9:45-
10:45
New Organizers - Morning Workshop
Session lead: TBD
Experienced Organizers - Morning Workshop
Session leads: Dana McCurdy, Winifred Olliff
10:45-
11:00
Break
11:00-
12:00
New Organizers - Morning Workshop, cont. Experienced Organizers - Morning Workshop, cont.
12:00-
13:00
Lunch
13:00-
14:00
Volunteer Recruitment and Engagement
Session leads: Reem Al-Kashif,
Anmol Wassan, Walaa Manaem
Lightning Talks (Round 2)
Moderator: Vahid Masrour, Abbey Ripstra
14:00-
14:15
Transition
14:15-
15:45
Program Planning & Making Metrics Count
Session lead: Maria Cruz
Planning Workshops
Session lead: Nichole Saad
15:45-
16:15
Break
16:15-
17:15
New Organizers - Closing Workshop
Session leads: TBD
Experienced Organizers - Closing Workshop
Session leads: Dana McCurdy, Winifred Olliff
17:15-
17:30
Transition
17:30-
18:15
Day 2 Closing Session
18:15-
19:15
Dinner

Lightning Talks Schedule

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Day 1
Time Presenter Topic
15:45 - 15:50 Felix Nartey Introductions
15:50 - 15:55 Mycola Kozlenko Experience as a Grants Committee Member
15:55 - 16:00 Sumit Surai What to Keep in Mind while Taking Pictures for Wikimedia Commons
16:00 - 16:05 Rupika Sharma Bridging the Gender Gap on Punjabi Wikipedia
16:05 - 16:10 Arash Event Design
16:10 - 16:15 Jacob Rogers Negotiation Skills
16:15 - 16:20 Felix Nartey Engaging Volunteers
16:20 - 16:25 Anmol Wassan Blogs
16:25 - 16:30 Sam Oyeyele How to Organize a Highly Successful Wiki Contest in Your Community
16:30 - 16:35 Anton Protsyuk Gender Equity
16:35 - 16:40 Spencer Graves How Wikimedia Can Counter the Balkanization
of the International Body Politic
16:40 - 16:45 Vassia Atassanova Teaching Media Literacy in Bulgaria
16:45 - 16:50 Walaa M Gender Gap and Female Content on Ar.Wikipedia
16:50 - 16:55 Lisa Dittmer Communication Plans: Wikimedia Deutschland's Communication
Strategy around the EU Copyright Reform
16:55 - 17:00 Pavanaja Bellippady Education Partnerships
17:00 - 17:05 Snezhana Strkovska GLAM and Edu Partnerships
Day 2
Time Presenter Topic
13:00 - 13:05 Vahid Masrour, Abbey Ripstra Introductions
13:05 - 13:10 Viswanathan Prabha How Negative Publicity can be a Honeypot
13:10 - 13:15 Jackie Koerner Bias Awareness
13:15 - 13:20 Carla Lopez Consensus Building
13:20 - 13:25 Michelle Boon Women Tech Storm
13:25 - 13:30 Armine Aghayan GLAM Partnerships: from Catalogues to Wikidata
13:30 - 13:35 Olushola Olaniyan Volunteer Communication, Engagement, and Development
13:35 - 13:40 Kelly Doyle Academia and Wikipedia's Gender Gap
13:40 - 13:45 Chris Schilling Data-based decision-making for program planning
13:45 - 13:50 Fernando Da Rosa Education program in Uruguay
13:50 - 13:55 Habib M'henni
13:55 - 14:00

Participants

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If you have already registered for Wikimania, and have interest in participating, sign up below

  1. User talk:MCruz (WMF)   meta.wikimedia.org
  2. User talk:Afifa Afrin   bn.wikipedia.org
  3. User talk:Bijay chaurasia   mai.wikipedia.org
  4. User talk:B20180   th.wikipedia.org
  5. User talk:safi-iren   hy.wikipedia.org
  6. User talk:Owula kpakpo   en.wikipedia.org
  7. User talk:Geugeor   fr.wikipedia.org
  8. User talk:Caleidoscopic   es.wikipedia.org
  9. User talk:Dyolf77   commons.wikimedia.org
  10. User talk:Perohanych   uk.wikipedia.org
  11. User talk:rahuldeshmukh101   mr.wikipedia.org
  12. User talk:Flixtey   en.wikipedia.org
  13. User talk:Sami Mlouhi   meta.wikimedia.org
  14. User talk:Aced   uk.wikipedia.org
  15. User talk:Abdallahbigboy   fr.wikipedia.org
  16. User talk:Arash.pt   fa.wikipedia.org
  17. User talk:Wirjadisastra   jv.wikipedia.org
  18. User talk:Notanotheramy   jv.wikipedia.org
  19. User talk:Wassan.anmol   meta.wikimedia.org
  20. User talk:SAgbley   en.wikipedia.org
  21. User talk:Ranjithsiji   ml.wikipedia.org
  22. User talk:Manik Soren (unknown domain)
  23. User talk:Athikhun.suw   en.wikipedia.org
  24. User talk:Carlos yo   es.wikipedia.org
  25. User talk:Jamie Tubers   meta.wikimedia.org
  26. User talk:geraki   el.wikipedia.org
  27. User talk:Olaniyan Olushola   en.wikipedia.org
  28. User talk:Spiritia   bg.wikipedia.org
  29. User talk:Astinson (WMF)   meta.wikimedia.org
  30. User talk:fedaro (Wikipedia en la Educación, UY)   es.wikipedia.org
  31. Michelle Boon (talk) 20:19, 24 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  32. User talk:Jackiekoerner   en.wikipedia.org
  33. User talk:Doctor 17   en.wikipedia.org
  34. User talk:Спасимир   bg.wikipedia.org
  35. User talk:Viswaprabha   ml.wikipedia.org
  36. User talk:Robby   lb.wikipedia.org
  37. User talk:Ciell   nl.wikipedia.org
  38. User talk:May Hachem93   ar.wikipedia.org
  39. User talk:عباد ديرانية   ar.wikipedia.org
  40. User talk:Pavanaja   kn.wikipedia.org
  41. User talk:Nabin K. sapkota   ne.wikipedia.org
  42. User talk:Jbaldwin (WMF)   meta.wikimedia.org
  43. Виолетова (talk) 17:52, 25 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  44. User talk:Nirmal Dulal   ne.wikipedia.org
  45. User talk:NickK   uk.wikipedia.org
  46. User talk:KellyDoyle   en.wikipedia.org
  47. User talk:Andreasmperu   meta.wikimedia.org
  48. User talk:Bodhisattwa   meta.wikimedia.org
  49. User talk:Sumitsurai   commons.wikimedia.org
  50. User talk:I JethroBT (WMF)   meta.wikimedia.org
  51. User talk:Dmitry Rozhkov   ru.wikipedia.org
  52. User talk:Alina Vozna   uk.wikipedia.org
  53. User talk:Joy Agyepong   en.wikipedia.org
  54. User talk:DavidMCEddy   en.wikipedia.org
  55. User talk:Alangi_Derick   meta.wikimedia.org
  56. User talk:Benoit Rochon   fr.wikipedia.org
  57. User talk:Jrogers (WMF)   meta.wikimedia.org
  58. User talk:ولاء   ar.wikipedia.org
  59. User talk:GastelEtzwane   fr.wikipedia.org
  60. User talk:Krishna Chaitanya Velaga   en.wikipedia.org
  61. User talk:John Cummings   meta.wikimedia.org
  62. User talk:Kulttuurinavigattori   meta.wikimedia.org
  63. User talk:Mickey Mystique   sr.wikipedia.org
  64. User talk:Sigma'am   hy.wikipedia.org
  65. User talk:Verena Lindner (WMDE)   de.wikipedia.org
  66. User talk:Ліонкінг   uk.wikipedia.org
  67. User talk:DDJJ   nl.wikipedia.org
  68. User talk:Robby   lb.wikipedia.org
  69. User talk:aitzolete   eu.wikipedia.org
  70. User talk:Zenith4237   de.wikipedia.org
  71. User talk:Lisa Dittmer (WMDE)   de.wikipedia.org
  72. User talk:Mompati Dikunwane   en.wikipedia.org
  73. User talk:Rogi.Official   de.wikipedia.org
  74. User talk:Saileshpat   or.wikipedia.org
  75. User talk:SpesBona   af.wikipedia.org/User talk:SpesBona   de.wikipedia.org
  76. User talk:LMixter (WMF)   meta.wikimedia.org
  77. User talk:Kalliope (WMF)   meta.wikimedia.org
  78. User talk:Subas Chandra Rout   or.wikipedia.org
  79. User talk:Armineaghayan   hy.wikipedia.org
  80. User talk:Siarus1074   en.wikipedia.org
  81. User talk:Ammarpad   en.wikipedia.org
  82. User talk:Jateen Hansjee   en.wikipedia.org
  83. VMasrour (WMF) (talk) 19:17, 25 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
  84. User talk:Erinamukuta   lg.wikipedia.org
  85. User talk:juliakamin(cs)   meta.wikimedia.org
  86. User talk:Wuselig   de.wikipedia.org (Rainer Halama)
  87. User talk:Olaniyan Olushola   en.wikipedia.org
  88. User talk:John Andersson (WMSE)   sv.wikipedia.org
  89. User talk:fedaro   es.wikipedia.org
  90. User talk:Sidheeq   ml.wikipedia.org
  91. User talk:ElsaBornFree   es.wikipedia.org
  92. User talk:Sahaquiel9102   ast.wikipedia.org
  93. User talk:Mickey Mystique   sr.wikipedia.org
  94. User talk:Maria Heuschkel (WMDE)   de.wikipedia.org
  95. User talk:Ibrahim Husain Meraj   bn.wikipedia.org
  96. User talk:WJifar (WMF)   meta.wikimedia.org
  97. User talk:Athikhun.suw   meta.wikimedia.org
  98. User talk:OrbiliusMagister   it.wikisource.org

Instructions for sharing knowledge

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Posters

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Estimated preparation time: 3 - 5 hours.

Poster dimensions

The maximum dimensions for your poster size A1. Following are the technical specifications for the poster:

  • Size: A1 (594 x 841 mm "or" 23.4 x 33.1 in)
  • DPI: preferably 150-300 DPI
  • Color mode: Preferably CMYK (most graphic editing software programs have the color changing mode and CMYK is great for lossless printing)
Creating your poster

In terms of content, the kind of poster we are looking for is academic poster [1], a presentation of information that is educational to others, and serves a learning purpose, rather than a promotional or marketing end. Once you chose the topic you want for your poster, lay out the story in a way that lets other people know what happened, what were the key results, and what is your key advice to them, if you have any. You can also use the ABCDs of Storytelling as a guide to creating your poster. Find more detailed guidance on this Learning Pattern, and also looking at posters submitted by others in previous Learning Days:

There are many programs you can use to create a poster. We have found that Microsoft PowerPoint, LibreOffice Presentation, and LibreOffice Draw are the most easy to use, and make good looking posters. Other programs like Adobe InDesign & Illustrator have more features, but they are also more difficult to learn, and they are expensive. Another option is to use Google Draw.

Whichever program you choose, make sure to set the size of your poster file before you start adding words and pictures. This will help you make sure that the fonts you are using are the right size, and that the pictures you include have a high enough resolution to print properly. Here are some links that may help you create a poster of the correct size:

Finalizing your poster

Once your poster is complete, please print it to PDF format and open it in a PDF reader to make sure that everything is displaying correctly. Are your pictures blurry? Is your text aligned? Once you are happy with the way your PDF looks, please send the PDF to eval@wikimedia.org.

If you have questions, or experience trouble making your poster

Please email eval@wikimedia.org. Remember that the deadline for submitting your poster for printing is Friday, July 6. If you have questions or requests for us to help you, please email no later than Monday, July 1.

References
  1. Academic poster, on English Wikipedia

Lightning Talk

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Estimated Preparation Time is 1-3 hours.
Share with your peers something inspiring about your project experience. Give a 3-5 min talk and share:

  • What you did
  • How you measured success and
  • What you learned

There will be time for questions at the end of your talk.
To create a successful lightning talk, make sure you have some visual support. You can use a poster you submitted, a few slides (not more than 3 or 4 is recommended), or a page you want to show to support your story.


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July 18-19: Pre-conference Learning Days at Wikimania 2018
July 20-22: Wikimania 2018