Wikimedia user groups/Applications/Tec de Monterrey Wiki Learning
Proposed name of Wikimedia user group: (There are some templates at Step-by-step user group creation guide#Naming of user groups.)
- Tec de Monterrey Wiki Learning
Proposed scope of Wikimedia user group: (What is the planned purpose, scope, vision, or mission of this Wikimedia user group?)
- “Wiki Learning” consists of professors and students at the Tecnológico de Monterrey dedicated to the development of open source knowledge, working primarily with Wikimedia. Participants work to improve knowledge in topics related to Mexico as well as general knowledge in the languages of the country, primarily Spanish. Our goals include providing opportunities for the publishing of student-produced content (text, audio visual, etc), providing students with opportunities for global communication and collaboration and research into how these activities affect student learning. Wiki Learning is a recognized entity under the Modelo Tec 21 program with the Tec de Monterrey, which works to promote innovation in education through all its 31 campuses in Mexico.
Wiki page:
1. Who are the people behind this application?
- Main people are users Thelmadatter, Paolaricuarte, Lourdes Epstein. Others include those on this page [1] especially TONYchainsaw, Jocelyne Perreard, Wikcem, Jlkmaestra, Kmazanec, Ldelagarzag, Ceci.vero, Tahatzi and Sylvainlc71.
- 1a. How many?
- Over fifty right now. Still in the process of integrating professors from the three Mexico City campus as part of efforts in innovation in education
- 1b. Active in which Wikimedia projects, if any?
- primarily es.wiki and commons. Most long term participants are professors whose involvement is working with students doing assignments.
- 1c. How are they geographically distributed?
- Most are in the Mexico City area right now. However, as Wiki Learning is officially part of the institution Modelo Tec 21 program, the final goal is wiki activities in all 31 campuses that Tec de Monterrey has in mexico
- 1d. Do you have any highly active or prominent (on local or international level) Wikimedians / Wikipedians? If so, please name a few. (provide user names and wiki of origin)
- Thelmadatter is the best known Wikimedian in the group. Paolaricaurte is a professor and researcher in open knowledge and open source. Lourdes Epstein is the director of the Mexico City campus library and researcher in literature and society.
- 1e. How many people do you expect will eventually want to join?
- hundreds. The aim to experiment with as many ways to get professors and students involved in Wikimedia.
2. For the application and final agreement we will require two contact persons that can sign the Wikimedia User Group Agreement on behalf of the group. Who will those be? (please provide user names and wiki of origin) Please also include email addresses for these users either on this page or in your initial email to the Affiliations Committee (AffCom
lists.wikimedia.org).
- Thelmadatter (Leigh Thelmadatter) leigh (a) itesm (dot) mx and Lourdes Epstein (Lourdes Epstein) lepstein (a) itesm (dot) mx
3. Please give a short summary of your time path from the founding up to now.
- The first activities with Wikipedia were at Tec de Monterrey Campus Toluca in 2007. However, organized efforts began at the Mexico City campus in late 2010/early 2011, with two attempts to create and maintain student groups (one of which under the name of Wiki Borregos), as well as various activities with classes, mostly in the Global Studies department. Support from the campus library came in 2011, with sponsorship of the first Day of the Dead photo contest for Tec de Monterrey students, with the aim of encouraging professors to experiment with Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia. In 2013, Thelmadatter was invited to the main campus in Monterrey to present about Wikipedia and the activities of the campus. This led to Wikipedia/Wikimedia being accepted as part of the "Tec 21 Model" program, a system wide effort to promote innovation in teaching and learning in all 31 campuses of Mexico's largest private high school/university system under the name of "Wiki Learning." This semester (Spring 2015), Wiki Learning is part of the iWeek event, where students work on projects instead of going to class, with the aim of a three day edit-a-thon on three campuses (Mexico City, Santa Fe and State of Mexico).
4. Which geographical area and context do you cover (or plan to cover) with your entity?
- Most of the states of Mexico, where we have campuses
5. Have there been any activities/meetings etc. of this group of people? If yes, please briefly describe some examples. This is not a requirement, just helpful information.
- In addition to those mentioned above, we have also set up a program by which students earn community service hours (required of all undergrads in Mexico) working on Wikimedia projects and have collaborated with institutions such as the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana (an honor society for students) and the Museo de Arte Popular (a museum dedicated to Mexican handcrafts and folk art).
6. Do you keep any monthly/half-yearly/yearly reports of you activities? If yes, please provide links. This is not a requirement, just helpful information.
- We have documented our activities since the beginning. Today these can be found at Outreach Wiki There have also been numerous articles in the education bulletin (founded by Thelmadatter) as well as articles in the Wikimedia Blog
7. What kind of activities are planned for the future in the user group?
- We currently training all language (foreign and Spanish) teachers in the use of Wikipedia and Commons with the aim of preparing for iWeek. iWeek will be repeated each semester, eventually at at Tec de Monterrey campuses. This will keep us quite busy in the next year or so.
8. Is you entity already legally registered? Do you intend on becoming a legally registered entity in the next thirteen months? Please note that we do not require or encourage user groups to legally incorporate or register.
- The Tec de Monterrey obviously is (as a non-profit educational institution) but Wiki Learning is not.
9. Do you have a bylaws for you entity? If yes, have the bylaws been reviewed by a lawyer/specialist? Please note that we do not require or encourage user groups to write bylaws.
- not at the present time
10. How can the Affiliations Committee and the Wikimedia Foundation help your group?
- We are primarily looking to define our relationship a bit more formally with the rest of the movement. The lack of affiliate status means that we have missed out on opportunities, such as participation in Iberocoop and the Wikimedia Conference (the one usually held in Berlin), often because many assume that actitivies on campuses are or must be subsumed into a chapter or into the Wikimedia Education Program. In our case, neither of these two entities have been able to support us as we would like.
- Submitted: Thelmadatter (talk) 00:24, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
- Acknowledged: Varnent (talk)(COI) 15:03, 20 January 2015 (UTC)