Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom, Northern Ghana
Background of the project
In 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic made it dangerous for children and teachers to attend school in a face to face environment. Distance learning became a necessity. At the same time, education systems were unprepared to seamlessly shift to online learning. The Ghana educational policy prioritizes on ICTs as 21st-century skills to advance remote learning in Ghanaian SHS but little or no stimulation is provided for prioritizing digital literacy and Open Education Resources to develop vital media and information literacy; understand how information is produced; and how students use information. This program will assist teachers and students in Ghana in improving their ICT skills, media and information literacy skills, content writing skills, reading culture, and providing them with an alternative format for learning new things outside of the regular school curriculums, while improving Wikipedia. This program has the potential to improve their research skills, such as the ability to make sense of information, the ability to verify, evaluate, and shift reliable information from information chaos, and the ability to use the information to create new knowledge. By tying Wikipedia to the components of UNESCO's Media and Information Literacy framework, it will also assist instructors to understand and use Wikipedia as a learning tool. In addition, this training will help to bridge the digital gap by encouraging collaboration among students and fostering better relationships.
About Reading Wikipedia In the Classroom
The Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom program integrates Wikipedia and the UNESCO Media and Information Literacy (MIL) framework. This program provides teachers with the knowledge and skills needed to use Wikipedia as a pedagogical tool to foster critical reading skills, to raise awareness about knowledge gaps, and to start their journey as Wikipedians with a high sense of responsibility and collaboration. The program contains 3 modules that are aligned with the MIL framework components and makes direct connections between Wikipedia practices and teaching methodologies. Each module includes a Teacher’s Guide with practical activities, reflection questions, and two training sessions.
UNESCO's OER Recommendations
In 2019, UNESCO adopted a recommendation on OERs, encouraging governments worldwide to support the production, curation and use of OERs for classroom learning.
Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions. Read more about UNESCO's OER recommendation.
How can you get involved
- For Wikimedia community members, there are many ways to contribute – by providing feedback, helping others, being part of the community focus group, translating content...
Partners Logos