Wikimedia MOOC platform

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Project overview • Endorsement

Project overview

Tracked in Phabricator:
Task T150873

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After completing two WikiMOOC courses on the FUN platform, we (the French WikiMOOC team) have extensively sought an alternative platform to better suit our needs. We have noticed that MOOCs platforms as they are generally designed (for example using OpenEdX or Moodle software) do not fit the needs for MOOCs tackling with Wikipedia or other related Wikimedia projects:

attendees usually register on the platform and create an account on Wikipedia^{[note 1]}, they have two usernames and there is no easy way to identify who on the MOOC platform is who on Wikimedia projects. This is a major issue for the pedagogical team because the teachers need to know who the pupils are on both platforms:
- to help attendees when they ask questions about Wikipedia on the MOOC forum;
- to evaluate the work produced by attendees on Wikipedia, especially in the case when completing the MOOC successfully provides them with a certification.
attendees need to permanently switch between the MOOC platform and Wikipedia in order to practice, but roundtrips between the platform and Wikipedia^{[note 1]} are disturbing and cumbersome for attendees, as the MOOC platform and Wikipedia don't have anything in common: interfaces are completely different, there is no easy way to navigate between the two websites...^{[note 2]}
there is no possible (public) data communication from Wikipedia^{[note 1]} to the MOOC platform, in order to evaluate practical exercises attendees are expected to do on Wikipedia (for example: we might expect the platform to identify automatically when attendees fulfil specific edits on their draft page, and to update the file registering students progression).

Platform general specifications

This is an abstract.

We want to build an international platform to host courses and MOOCs for every Wikimedia project (Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikidata...) in every language, a platform which will be suitable for Wikimedia chapters and communities needs, and a platform adapted to MediaWiki technology.

We want this platform:

to use single sign-on (SSO) interface: people register on the platform and this automatically creates a corresponding SUL account;
to allow an easy reuse of courses, through a CC BY-SA licensing policy, in particular the courses reuse (in private sessions, SPOC) in an academic context, for students;
to have a compatible visual interface, adapted to Wikimedia projects interface and design;
to easily communicate (data) with MediaWiki websites of the Wikimedia Movement;
to allow easy roundtrips with Wikimedia projects;
to have an English & French interface for attendees and teachers team, furthermore easily translatable in every needed language;
to have an interface that promotes the Extension:GuidedTours use by teachers teams, and which uses a functionnality similar to the WikiEdu Dashboard, in order to easily follow attendees edits;
to have a flexible "peer review" functionality, which would allow the teaching team to cancel or add reviews, etc.

Fictional examples of courses that will have their place on the platform

"How to contribute to Wikipedia: rules, community and technical aspects" – language: English – public: general public – created by: the English community
- + Private session of this online course – public:200 students – created by: a University teacher
"Wikidata and the Semantic Web" – language: German – public: general public – created by: Wikimedia DE
"Wikimedia Commons: what are free licences and how to upload pictures" – language: Dutch – public: general public – created by: the Commons community
"How to create an edit-a-thon" – language: French – public: chapter's partners and Wikimedia volunteers – created by: Wikimédia France
"Wikipedia in the classroom" – language: Spanish – public: teachers and Ministry of Education staff – created by: Wikimedia España
...

Calendar

› May: Project delayed because of low FDC funding.
› March: Fund Application^{[note 3]}, included in the Wikimédia France Annual Plan Grants (APG) submission.
› February: First contacts with other chapters and communities to identify their needs.
› January 2017: Identification of the French MOOC team's needs.
› September 2016: First discussions by the French MOOC team about creating a MOOC platform dedicated to the Wikimedia movement.

Project management on Phabricator

Notes

↑ ^a ^b ^c Whether Wikipedia or any other sister project, the same configuration takes place (Wiktionnary, Wikidata...)
↑ On the other hand, fulfilling the course directly on Wikipedia (or Wikiversity) is not desirable, because attendees, who are newbies, need a safe and clean space to start learning, whereas Wikipedia has a "messy interface", with many links everywhere... It is therefore not a great idea to have the courses directly on the platform being the main topic of the course.
↑ We are considering to work with OpenCraft

Endorsement

If you think this platform could be useful to you or to other Wikimedia actors (communities, chapters, user groups, partners...), you can endorse this project by adding your signature (and optionally a comment) below; if you sign on behalf of an organization, please specify it. You can also discuss the project on the talk page.

WikiMOOC French volunteers team:
- Je soutien pleinement l'idée et le projet afin que les arrivants aient une meilleure connaissance de l'utilisation de Wikipédia ! —— DePlusJean (from FR)
- --Superjuju10 ^{[Aubline available to you]}, 20:32, 20 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
- — 0x010C ^~talk~ 21:06, 20 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
- --Goombiis -Discuter- 21:11, 20 February 2017 (UTC)
- — GrandCelinien (talk) 01:12, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
- --Dyolf77 (talk) 22:12, 12 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
- --Nattes à chat (talk) 22:00, 18 April 2017 (UTC) La plateforme MOOC est une idée fantastique pour soutenir les novices dans leurs premiers pas sur wikipedia. C'est un outil très efficace aussi pour tout atelier de contribution car il fournit des tutoriels qu'on peut utiliser toute l'année pour les novices.[reply]
- --Alexandre Hocquet (talk) 06:35, 10 August 2017 (UTC) Pour pouvoir étendre et diversifier l'offre de WikiMOOCs[reply]

WikiMOOC arabic volunteers team:
- I support this initiative! and we wait for news.--Reda Kerbouche (talk) 09:11, 4 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
- We support this project to include that to future WEP in the university Mohammed Bachounda (talk) 16:17, 26 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Individuals:
- --Framawiki (talk) 18:59, 13 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
- --Arthur Crbz (talk) 20:06, 13 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
- Simon Villeneuve 09:46, 14 April 2017 (UTC)
- --Alexandre Hocquet (talk) 06:35, 10 August 2017 (UTC) Pour pouvoir réutiliser le concept et le matériau pédagogique en contexte académique[reply]
- Psychoslave (talk) 15:44, 8 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Chapters/User groups:
- Wikimedia CH soutient l'initiative. Au nom de toute l'équipe --Gabrielle Marie WMCH (talk) 09:02, 2 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
- On behalf of Wikimedia Argentina we support this initiative! --Anna Torres (WMAR) (talk) 14:15, 3 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

- Le groupe d'éditeurs de la communauté brésilienne est intéressé et soutient cette initiative. Mais pour être complètement partant il nous semble nécessaire de bien comprendre comment cette initiative se connecte aux efforts associés au développement du Programs & Events Dashboard, que nous utilisons déjà pour nos activités liées à l'éducation, et à la construction communautaire de la Wikiversité, dans laquelle nous sommes actifs. Un de nos membres --Chicocvenancio-- s'intéresserait même à contribuer au développement de la plateforme MOOC ici présentée. --Joalpe (talk) 12:17, 20 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]
- ...

Project overview

Endorsement

See also