2024:Program/Certifying Competencies of Trainers in the Open Movement

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Session title: Certifying Competencies of Trainers in the Open Movement

Session type: Lecture

Track: Education

Language: en

How can the competencies of Wikimedia trainers supporting open knowledge be recognised? How can their skills be enhanced? How can the training offered be guaranteed to be of a high standard? How can new volunteers become trainers? How can a list of trainers be defined to recommend to institutions and schools? In 2024, Wikimedia Italia certified its first 12 trainers for the Wikimedia and OpenStreetMap projects. This is a presentation of the method and how it can be replicated.

https://www.youtube.com/live/OyyYA4iWkyA?t=6148

Description

To identify a group of trainers to recommend to schools and institutions.
To formally recognise the informal skills of members of the open movement, Wikimedia and OpenStreetMap communities.
To enhance the skills of volunteers and professionals through mentoring and support.
To allow new people to become trainers through mentoring and support.
To create a standard of knowledge and skills required of trainers and to increase the quality of training.
To increase the availability of reusable training materials for everyone.

To become a certified trainer, applicants need to follow a process which lasts around one year. 1. They need to demonstrate experience as trainers with one or more evaluations. New trainers are supported by a mentor (they listen to one or more presentations by the mentor or other experienced trainers; they accompany the mentor to one or more training events; they do one or more training alongside a mentor who will produce an evaluation). 2. They make a self-certification to identify their skills and training needs (they can refer to a list of transversal knowledge – the structure of the open movement, Wikimedia, OpenStreetMap, open licenses and copyright, codes of conducts and general policies – and specific knowledge for each project such as Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, Wikiquote, Wikisource, OpenStreetMap; the list provides links to documentation to explore and study the materials). 3. They need to offer at least 10 hours of voluntary work to improve educational materials and project help pages (in 2023-2024, several trainers supported the review of the Italian edition of Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom, and others contributed to updating and improving Wikimedia and OpenStreetMap help pages. 4. They must attend at least two courses or conferences to support their skills (in 2023-2024, we had a course related to public speaking and a course to support the design of an educational project). 5. They must describe an educational project they implemented or are planning, focusing on educational objectives and methods. The project must be accompanied by its documentation (slides or other materials) and a critical analysis of its approach, released under CC BY-SA. 6. They are evaluated by a scientific committee composed of experts in the open movement (Wikimedia, OpenStreetMap, Creative Commons) and education. 6. They must sign a document committing themselves to respecting the codes of conduct and self-certifying that they have no pending litigation.

The certification lasts three years and can be renewed by proving that trainers have updated themselves through courses or conferences and complied with the codes of conduct. The title is lost for inactivity or if good conduct is not observed. The certification is composed of one or more badges that define the trainers’ specific competencies. The badges are associated with projects (Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, Wikisource, Wikicite, Wikivoyage, OpenStreetMap) and distinguish between teachers and tutors; tutors are trainers with a more technical approach. Session recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyyYA4iWkyA&list=PLhV3K_DS5YfL7A2HXrpt8ZgnWlGjp0vIP&t=6150

How does your session relate to the event theme, Collaboration of the Open?

To support the open movement it is crucial to have trainers - volunteers and professionals - who can spread the values and the open approach we advocate. It is important that the people who support the movement and communicate it have a good level of knowledge and that they have the opportunity to improve their skills through a course that can support them. Sometimes knowledge - especially on technical topics like copyright and free licences - is sketchy, teaching materials could be made more effective, and it is very difficult for new volunteers to start doing activities. A certification system for trainers can be a support to improve the skills of our “open” ambassadors and increase their number.

What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Everyone can participate in this session

Resources

Speakers

Iolanda Pensa

I have been a Wikipedia volunteer since 2006; I am chair of Wikimedia Italia (until 18 May 2024), organiser of Wikimania Esino Lario 2016 and chair of the Wikimania Steering Committee since 2017. In my job, I'm a senior researcher and head of the research area "Culture and Territory" at the Institute of Design at SUPSI University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland.

Marco Chemello

I'm involved since 2016 in tutoring/teaching Wikipedia courses for multiple universities and GLAMs, and recently in the Wikimedia Italia Certified trainers program. Active on it_wiki since 2004, as a Wikimedian in residence I collaborated on many OpenGLAM projects in Italy (more recently with the Museo Egizio of Turin) and in the Empowering Italian GLAMs project (Tutti i musei su Wikipedia). I'm a member of the Wikimedia Italia staff.

Dario Crespi

Dario Crespi is a wikimedian since 2007. Member of Wikimedia Italia staff, he is involved in projects Tutti i musei su Wikipedia (Empowering Italian GLAMs), Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy, and Wikimedia Italia Certified trainers program.