Thanks, Asaf! On Tue, Oct 21, 2025, 6:10 PM Asaf Bartov <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dear Wikimedians, > > The Community Development team has developed *a set of online learning > modules* > <https://learn.wiki/courses/course-v1:Wikimedia-Foundation+WMF_AGP000+2025/about> > on the core content policies of (English) Wikipedia, and is inviting you to > make use of them in your outreach work, as well as to adapt or remix them > to your needs, or translate (if relevant) to other languages. Feedback on > the content of the learning modules is also very welcome! Details below: > > ==Contents== > > In addition to a brief introductory module, there are seven content > modules: > > > 1. Preparing to participate in Wikimedia projects (norms and attitudes) > > 2. The Voice of Wikipedia: Neutral Point of View > > 3. Sourcing knowledge: Verifiability on Wikipedia > > 4. Notability: The standard of inclusion in Wikipedia > > 5. Copyright and free licenses tutorial > > 6. Communicating on-wiki (talk pages; getting help) > > 7. 101 ways to contribute to Wikimedia (beyond writing Wikipedia articles) > > ==Course structure== > > The full course includes 13 hours of videos, cut into very digestible > short segments (rarely more than 5 minutes each; often shorter). Some > segments are followed by comprehension quizzes to assist learners in > ensuring they understood the segment. All videos have English subtitles, > to ease understanding and to prepare for potential translation. > > The modules are intended for complete beginners, and assume no prior > knowledge about Wikimedia, but do assume proficiency in English and a > high-school level of education. > > They are intended to be taken in order, but can be taken separately. This > is so that learners who are not complete beginners, but only want to > strengthen their understanding of, for example, copyright and free > licenses, can directly take just that module. > > ==Rationale== > > The Community Development team (with Dumisani Ndubane in the project's > earlier stages) developed this course to support massive outreach in > sub-Saharan Africa, based on input received from African Wikimedia > communities, which shared a need for high-quality video resources on the > core policies. (This is why many of the examples in the course are of > African topics.) > > Despite that, the course is general and useful for anyone seeking to > integrate into English Wikipedia anywhere in the world. > > Also, unlike some existing resources focused on teaching techniques (e.g. > "this is how you add an image to an article"), this course focuses on > imparting principles and attitudes needed to comply with Wikipedia > policies, which, in our experience, is the steeper learning curve for > most newbies. > > ==Uses for these materials== > > Based on the channels this is sent in, you are probably not a complete > beginner, so perhaps you have no need to take the full course. Here are > ways you can nonetheless make use of it: > > > 1. You can use these modules as materials in your own trainings, in-person > or online. (The slides are available and linked from the beginning of each > module.) You can also assign watching particular units as tasks in any > Wikimedia training you give. In addition to the full learning-platform > experience, the materials (slides and videos) can be viewed directly on > Commons > <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimedia_Core_Curriculum> > (albeit without subtitles so far). > > > 2. You can (and we would love it if you) direct interested newbies to the > online course. If you have folks reaching out to you personally or through > your affiliate's online channels asking for training, you can now direct > them to the course's public landing page > <https://learn.wiki/courses/course-v1:Wikimedia-Foundation+WMF_AGP000+2025/about>, > which will guide them through creating a Wikimedia account and then taking > the course. > > > We are also launching a geo-located CentralNotice campaign in sub-Saharan > Africa aimed at complete beginners (shown to Wikipedia readers), to > invite them to take the course, and it would be great if you repost our > external campaign message in any relevant circles you have access to. > > > 3. You can translate the modules and/or remix them for your needs (with > appropriate adaptations to your own Wikipedia's policies). > > > If you are interested in doing this, get in touch with the team at > [email protected] and we will set up your own copy of the modules > you're interested in and you can begin customizing them. > > > 4. Finally, this is just the initial release of the course. We are > confident we can still make many improvements to the modules (as well as > add additional modules in the future), and your feedback, both from your > own wiki-experience and from any learners you support using these modules, > would help us tremendously! Your feedback is very welcome at > [email protected] or at the talk page. > > > ==Where is it?== > > The complete course is on the WikiLearn platform > <https://learn.wiki/courses>, the movement's open courseware platform > (based on Open edX software), maintained by the Community Development team > at the Foundation. To take the course, learners must have a Wikimedia > account. This does mean complete newbies first need to create a Wikimedia > account, before they'd be able to log into the learning platform (which > only accepts logins via Wikimedia OAuth). > > > Here are direct links to each module: > > 0. a brief introductory module > <https://learn.wiki/courses/course-v1:Wikimedia-Foundation+WMF_AGP000+2025/about> > > 1. Preparing to participate in Wikimedia projects > <https://learn.wiki/courses/course-v1:Wikimedia-Foundation+WMF_AGP001+2025/about> > > 2. The Voice of Wikipedia: Neutral Point of View > <https://learn.wiki/courses/course-v1:Wikimedia-Foundation+WMF_AGP002+2025/about> > > 3. Sourcing knowledge: Verifiability on Wikipedia > <https://learn.wiki/courses/course-v1:Wikimedia-Foundation+WMF_AGP003+2025/about> > > 4. Notability: The standard of inclusion in Wikipedia > <https://learn.wiki/courses/course-v1:Wikimedia-Foundation+WMF_AGP004+2025/about> > > 5. Copyright and free licenses tutorial > <https://learn.wiki/courses/course-v1:Wikimedia-Foundation+WMF_AGP005+2025/about> > > 6. Communicating on-wiki > <https://learn.wiki/courses/course-v1:Wikimedia-Foundation+WMF_AGP006+2025/about> > > > 7. 101 ways to contribute to Wikimedia > <https://learn.wiki/courses/course-v1:Wikimedia-Foundation+WMF_AGP007+2025/about> > > > ==FAQ== > > Q: Will it be available in languages other than English? > > A: This is an experimental Wikimedia Foundation program aimed at growing > the active editor base in sub-Saharan Africa, and we experiment in English > for practical reasons. *If* it succeeds, we will certainly be investing > more in the program, including the [co-]creating at the very least a > version of the curriculum in French. > > > Q: What about other languages? > > A: We think the modules are good and can be useful to most Wikipedias, > with appropriate adaptations to local policies (Notability does not work > the same way in different Wikipedias, for example). We *encourage* volunteers > interested in translating the modules into other languages to get in touch > with us. Do note that the Foundation itself won't be investing in > translation before it determines whether the approach is sufficiently > effective. > > > Q: Will there be additional modules covering other topics, such as > Conflict of Interest, paid editing, Dispute resolution, tools, etc.? > > A: Conceivably. These are topics we only mentioned in passing in these > core modules, to keep this already-comprehensive course manageable. But if > the approach proves effective, we do expect to develop and offer additional > modules. > > > Q: Why is the Foundation doing this at all? Isn't outreach and training > materials something the community normally does? > > A: Certainly, outreach is generally practiced by the communities. This is > an experiment with a particular hypothesis described here > <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Africa_Growth_Pilot_phase_two_Self-paced_core_content_policies_course_Wikimania_2024.pdf>. > It is the result of both repeated requests from our African communities and > the Foundation's own observations about obstacles to mission progress in > Africa. If communities show up to take this and run with it, we would be > delighted. > > > Again, your feedback is very welcome at [email protected] or at > the talk page > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Africa_Growth_Pilot/Online_self-paced_course> > . > > > A. > > Asaf Bartov (he/him/his) > > Lead Program Officer, Emerging Communities > > Community Development > > Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/> > > Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the > sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! > https://donate.wikimedia.org > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/5LWTEKBENPBR3GVI2LLIPVXFFO26XNTU/ > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
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