I too agree that it is a good idea to go back to the monthly format but as Shani has pointed out, we are volunteers: a theme is fine for a professional journal, not for educators volunteering their time to share practices across wikis and continents. I was actually looking forward to writing about the work we are doing at school this year - I am quite sure the simple but value-adding tasks I have assigned have never been done before in an education setting - but if the theme is not related I won't be writing of course (if thematic newsletters are the way we will be working from now on)
Looking forward to hearing from other educators, have a great weekend :) Mina (Saintfevrier) On Dec 16, 2016 7:25 PM, "Jackie Koerner" <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Friends, > > I agree with not limiting by theme or area of education. So much can > inform and inspire other areas of education. Many higher education > conferences I plan and participate in in the US removed themes because a > theme limited creativity and showcasing strong work. > > A monthly newsletter can be challenging in the creation process as well as > the consumption. With so many other publications professionals are reading > and other demands on time, maybe have smaller "abstract" entries on the > newsletter and then a "read more" option (similar to the Blog section on > the example you sent)? I could see how this would make sure key points are > getting across to a larger portion of the population. > > Finally, what is the plan to monitor response like from the community > about readership and what they find valuable? Is there a plan to regularly > include some newsletter pieces where others outside of education would see > (like included in Wikimedia blog posts)? Some educators are doing really > incredible work and I think other Wikipedians should know. 🙂 > > Thanks, Nichole, for taking this on. I know we all have our comments but > we appreciate you getting the information together to share. > > Jackie > > -- > Jackie Koerner, Ph.D. > Researcher & Visiting Scholar > jackiekoerner.com > > On Dec 16, 2016, at 10:46 AM, Vojtěch Dostál <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Hi all! I understand why thematic issues could be attractive (putting > together similar initiatives from all over the world and thus putting them > into context). However I agree with Shani that it would be too restricting > for people who just want to spread the word about their news. > > If we want to group similar initiatives based on topic, lets introduce > some sort of hashtagging into the newsletter. Then we can group it across > different issues. > > I don't mind going back to monthy issues but only if there is a plan to > ensure a sufficient number of contributions. Active contact with education > leaders and seeking possible topics might be some of the ways to achieve > this. > > Cheers > Vojta > > Dne 16. 12. 2016 16:18 napsal uživatel "Shani" <[email protected]>: > > Hi Nichole, > > I support getting back to a monthly newsletter is great - a lot is > happening worldwide and a quarterly newspaper means is dense and too > restricting. > > I do *not* support the idea of limiting the articles to only 4, nor the > idea of working only around one selected theme. > We are a volunteer-based movement, not a professional education journal. > Volunteers should be able to share their news from around the world > whenever *they* want to and as things happen. They should not be limited by > number of submissions or a theme. In other words, we should make it easier > on them, not harder. > > That said, I believe your idea of thematic news could be incorporated in a > less restrictive way. One way of going about it is having a featured spot > in the newspaper, dedicated to thematic headlines or anything else the > community / editors think should be featured there. > > But, that's just me. :) I would love to hear what other members of this > group think about it. > > Cheers, > Shani. > > > > On Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 6:07 AM, Nichole Saad <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Dear WEP community, >> >> I know we've been introduced before, but let me reintroduce myself and >> some exciting new things I'll be working with you on. I'm Nichole, the new >> addition to the education team, and I'll be working on communications and >> as the regional focal point for Asia. >> >> I've been working on a plan to improve communication about the education >> program, including thematic elements, and along with Tighe and Vahid have >> concluded that the best place to start is with the newsletter. I know some >> of you were volunteering to produce the newsletter before, and I would love >> to hear from you if you have worked on this or are interested in starting. >> >> We've already got some great submissions in the Newsroom. Thanks to >> everyone who submitted their stories--The December Newsletter will go out >> by the end of the month :) >> >> Now for news about news! >> >> While we've currently been producing quarterly newsletters, I'm proposing >> to go back to monthly newsletters but smaller in scale with only 4 features >> per newsletter (the learning quarterly >> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Evaluation/Newsletter/2016/3/10>offers >> a good example). Each issue would be thematic, with a preceding community >> conversation around the theme taking place on Twitter, Facebook, the >> mailing list, and on the Wiki and synthesized as one of the features for >> the newsletter. The other features will be submissions from the community >> on project highlights or op-eds relevant to the theme. >> >> I would really like to get this off the ground for January, and that will >> require your cooperation! How can you get involved? >> >> 1. Submit your ideas for newsletter themes. Submissions needed by 12/24 >> on the Newsroom page, under the heading "Theme Ideas" >> >> To get the ball rolling here are a few general ideas: >> >> >> - Teacher Training/Professional Development >> - K-12 >> - Higher Education >> - Politics in Wikipedia Education Projects >> - Regional themes >> - Themes on specific Wiki projects >> >> 2. Once the theme is announced participate in the conversation! >> >> 3. Volunteer to help produce the newsletter. We're going to need a team >> to help with: >> >> - content curating >> - revising the newsletter pages on the wiki >> - formatting and publishing the monthly newsletters >> - distribution/promotion on various channels >> >> >> Any questions can be directed to me [email protected]. >> >> I'm looking forward to working closely with you all! >> >> >> >> best regards, >> >> Nichole >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Education mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Education mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education > > > _______________________________________________ > Education mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education > > > _______________________________________________ > Education mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education > >
_______________________________________________ Education mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
