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Timeline:
The United States and Canada branches of the Wikipedia Education Program have matured over the past two years. Our Wikipedia Ambassadors have supported thousands of students' first edits, under the direction of innovative professors. More and more academics are interested in coming on board in future terms. The success of the programs is incredibly exciting, both for academics who see the value of using Wikipedia in the higher education classroom and for Wikipedia, whose articles improve from student contributions. Given the enormous interest in the program, we need to start thinking about its future. While the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) is fully committed to the long-term success of the program, we believe that the Education Program should be led by our volunteers who have made this program successful: the Wikipedians and the academics. So it's time for the program to grow away from the Foundation and be run by a different organization, which we're temporarily calling the Education Program Structure for lack of a better term. There are big questions to be answered. How are we going to establish a structure that keeps up with the program's growth? How can we balance the needs of the Wikipedia community and the needs of the academic community? How can we support growing interest from academic organizations like the Association for Psychological Sciences or the American Sociological Association? And how can we make the program more sustainable? We hope to answer these questions together with all those with involved: Wikipedia ambassadors, class instructors, and the Wikipedia community. Our goal is to make the transition between the existing program to the new Education Program Structure an open and collaborative process. That's why the Wikimedia Foundation is convening a Working Group of 16 program leaders (Wikipedians, academics, and WMF staff) who will meet one weekend in July 2012 (Working Group Kick-Off Meeting) to discuss the creation of the Education Program Structure. Everyone is encouraged to submit a short proposal for what the new Education Program Structure might look like. If you're interested in helping decide and plan the structure, please submit a proposal. We are eager to see your ideas for how the United States and Canada Wikipedia Education Programs can grow into an even stronger force in higher education. See also edit |