EduWiki Knowledge Showcase: Collaboration, Working Groups, and Mentorship Stories

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On 1 September 2025, the EduWiki Hub hosted its latest EduWiki Knowledge Showcase, an interactive 90-minute session designed to spotlight new Hub activities, foster collaboration, and share inspiring mentorship stories from across the Wikimedia movement.

Moderated by the EduWiki Hub’s communications assistant, Barakat Adegboye, and co-facilitated by members of the EduWiki Hub team and board, the session brought together educators, Wikimedians, and movement allies from diverse regions to connect and learn. There were 47 participants in attendance.

The session opened with a warm welcome, introductions, and a reminder of the Friendly Space Policy, ensuring a respectful and inclusive environment.

To set the tone, Shreya led an icebreaker game called “My Wiki Persona is…” where participants described their favorite role in the Wikimedia ecosystem. From “Image-Hunters” to “Citation Guardians,” the playful activity sparked both laughter and recognition among attendees.

Context Setting and Hub Activities

Bukola James, the hub’s coordinator, framed the vision behind the Knowledge Showcase: creating inclusive and global spaces to learn from each other’s EduWiki experiences. She also provided an overview of the EduWiki Hub’s vision and activities, emphasizing inclusivity, collaboration, and global participation.

She also introduced the four newly forming EduWiki Working Groups:

  1. Capacity Building and Volunteer Support Working Group: Empower EduWiki communities through mentorship, expert-led meetups, an onboarding Starter Kit, local events, and continuous feedback for improved support and skill transfer.
  2. Outreach and Engagement Working Group: Promote inclusive participation and visibility for Wikimedia education through regional representation, multilingual newsletters, knowledge showcase sessions, and partnerships.
  3. Technical Infrastructure Working Group: Enhance tools for Wikimedia education, with a focus on improving the Programs & Events Dashboard through community feedback, onboarding guides, and support channels.
  4. Resource Curation and Development Working Group: Build and maintain a high-quality open educational resource repository by mapping program needs, curating and translating materials, and developing an EduWiki Starter Kit.

After her presentation, Barakat announced the call for applications to join the working groups, encouraging members from across the movement to apply. She stressed the importance of receiving more applications from Central & Eastern Europe & Central Asia (CEECA), Northern & Western Europe (NWE), North America (NA), East, Southeast Asia, & Pacific (ESEAP), and Latin America & Caribbean (LAC) regions, to ensure diverse perspectives and equitable representation.

Mentorship in action: Argentina to Colombia

One of the highlights of the Showcase was the EduWiki Mentorship Experience, shared by Florencia Guastavino, Program Manager for Education and Human Rights at Wikimedia Argentina.

Florencia recounted her mentorship journey with Juan Sebastián Sarmiento from December 2024 to June 2025:

  • First meeting (December 2024): Introductions and sharing of tutorials to begin exploring Wikimedia.
  • Second meeting (January 2025): Addressed editing questions and explored WikiProjects.
  • Third meeting (April 2025): Continued working on content editing and participation.
  • Fourth meeting (June 2025): Reflections and wrap-up of the mentorship journey.

She highlighted the benefits of working in the same region and same language, as well as the challenge of coordinating schedules across time zones. She also noted the role of Wikimedia Colombia, who supported Juan’s entry into the movement.

Following Florencia’s talk, participants watched a pre-recorded video message from Juan Sebastián, where he shared his own perspective as a mentee and how the mentorship shaped his introduction to Wikimedia.

Teaser for the upcoming workshop: “Children and Wikis”

Another key moment was a teaser talk by Ziko van Dijk on the upcoming EduWiki Workshop theme: “Children and Wikis.”

Date: Thursday, 22 October 2025
Time: 16:30–18:30 UTC (+ extra time)
Register: EduWiki Workshop October 2025

Ziko shared why engaging children in Wikimedia projects matters and invited participants to register for the full workshop.

Wrap-up and next steps

The Showcase concluded with a Q&A session, closing remarks from Bukola, and a quick photo session to capture the moment.

Participants left with new opportunities to collaborate through working groups, valuable insights from mentorship stories, and a preview of upcoming EduWiki events.

Get involved!

The EduWiki Hub invites you to be part of its initiatives:

This Showcase reaffirmed the power of collaboration, mentorship, and global participation in advancing Wikimedia in education. The EduWiki Hub looks forward to welcoming more voices in upcoming showcases and workshops!

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