WikiDunong: EduWiki Initiatives in the Philippines Project

Written by: Imelda R. Brazal and Anthony B. Diaz

The Wiki Advocates Philippines User Group is a community of Filipino volunteer Wikimedians advocating free knowledge through the different Wikimedia projects, promoting the use of these Wikiprojects in education, and promoting equal gender representation. We empower communities through project development, supporting global human rights advocacy, and hosting campaigns promoting the open knowledge ecosystem.

Introduction

Theory of Change

There is an abundance of available resources online for consumption by both teachers and students, but due to the scarcity of fact-checking, misinformation is rampant and usually leads to learners having the wrong information. The group, being editors themselves in several wikiprojects, aims to provide sessions that would guide users of Wikiprojects, particularly Wikipedia, on how to maximize and utilize this; thus, we initiated the WikiDunong Program.

The User Group believes that through training and workshops on promoting Media and Information Literacy Skills in schools and non-formal set-ups, through youth organizations, members of the community will be able to include these wikiprojects in their learning experience, thus also promoting the value of co-creation, collaboration, and volunteerism as editors, contributors, and volunteers.

WikiDunong: EduWiki Initiatives in the Philippines Project

The WikiDunong project aims to support teachers and educators through the use and creation of open educational resources; distribute offline wikis to schools and barangay reading centers; promote Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom through training and module distribution; and create a pilot program of Wiki Open High as a capacity-building program for youth. “Dunong” is a Tagalog word equivalent to intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom. We aim to provide knowledge about wiki projects through this initiative.

In its pilot phase, we invite students at Camaligan National High School to assess themselves as to how they use online resources, specifically Wikipedia. Wikipedia is commonly stereotyped as being unreliable due to its editable content. With this session, students will learn the facts behind this claim and will be able to use this resource for their schoolwork while also learning how to properly cite the source of information. In addition, students will also be taught how to add structured data to images on Wikimedia Commons. 

General Objectives:

• Foster media and information literacy skills through Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom in senior high schools
• Create opportunities for teachers and education enthusiasts to use open educational resources through Wikimedia projects
• Conduct Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom training for Media and Information Literacy and Empowerment Technology teachers in selected senior high schools
• Open Access Learning Portals: Power up schools, libraries, reading centers, and communities with offline Wikipedia
• Wiki Open High: A wiki-editing / capacity-building program for youth

Measure of Success:

The success of this project will be measured by achieving the following targets:

• Partnerships with senior high school institutions
• Collaborations with civic and youth organizations 
• Institutions offered with offline Wikipedia
• Editors and volunteer contributions, and retention

Program and Implementation

Pilot Partner

Camaligan National High School (School ID: 302052), also known as Pambansang Mataas na Paaralan ng Camaligan, is a public high school in Camaligan, Camarines Sur, Philippines. It serves the residents of the town’s thirteen barangays, the neighboring municipalities of Gainza and Canaman, and the City of Naga. Previously known as Sto. Tomas National High School. It was founded in 1979 by the Barangay Council of Sto. Tomas. The current school head is Mr. Melencio N. Sibulo.

Project Implementation

For the pilot project implementation, our User Group partnered with Camaligan National High School through April Buensalida Motos, Project Development Officer II of SDO Camarines Sur. We conducted a 1-day training workshop on the basics of Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Structured data using the ISA Tool. The speakers for these sessions are Imelda R. Brazal, Anthony B. Diaz, Camille Barra Puri, Angelica Mirras, Erica L. Pesino, Alvin Longoria, Jake Refugio, Meriam B. Pikit, and Bianca R. Brazal. Technical facilitation was handled by Eric D. Galero and Eduardo B. Pesino, Jr.

We established the following learning opportunities for this training workshop:

• Wiki Advocates Philippines User Group, the Wikimedia Foundation, and the Wikimedia Movement
• Understanding information available on Wikipedia
• Assessing information and how to spot disinformation
• Understanding Wikipedia editing essentials: Policies and Guidelines, Core rules of Wikipedia, Verifiability, and Notability
• Contributing through Wikimedia Commons and understanding structured data 

Target Metrics

Target metrics are determinants of the success of the session. For this pilot program with Camaligan National High School we identified the following metrics to provide an understanding of where areas need to be focused:

• Recruit new editors
• Recruit participants
• Upload images
• Add images to articles
• Add structured data to images

Project  Findings, Results, and Impact

A. Participants Demographics

Our registration tool received a total of 33 registrations; 26 out of 33 identified themselves as female, 7 identified as male, and 0 identified as non-binary.

Participants are students from Camaligan National High School; 12 of them are from the Accountancy and Business Management Strand; 10 students are from the General Academic Strand; 9 students are from the Humanities and Social Science Strand; 1 student from the ICT-CSS Strand; and 1 junior high school student with a focus on carpentry.

B. Misconceptions on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Projects

Wikipedia is a valuable source of information in general

By the end of the training, we found out that there was a significant change in the students’ perceptions of how valuable Wikipedia is as a general source of information.

Wikipedia is a helpful resource for students

The majority of the students identified Wikipedia as a helpful resource for them.

Wikipedia is a good tool for independent learning

After a day of workshop, students identified that Wikipedia is a good tool for independent learning.

Increased knowledge of using Wikipedia

Students found the training workshop helpful in navigating Wikipedia for their assignments and school-related projects.

 C. Media and Information Literacy Skills

Understanding Information

One of the goals of the WikiDunong Project is to demonstrate how Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects can be tools for advancing Media and Information Literacy Skills among junior and senior high school students. 

At the end of the training workshop, students showed improved knowledge of open-access educational sources and the collaboration process in creating these learning resources. Students exhibit knowledge of what information is and how to access information via Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.

Evaluating Information

Another indicator of media and information literacy is the ability to assess information and spot disinformation and fake news. 

At the end of the workshop, students manifested skills on how to actively identify well-written articles on-wiki. Students were able to identify good references and properly written leads in Wikipedia articles, in contrast with stub articles that lack citations and organization. They were also able to distinguish a neutral point of view from criticisms and opinions.

Creating Information

Creating information is another indicator of media and information literacy skills. Through the open and collaborative nature of Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, students were able to create and contribute data by uploading media and identifying structured data for images uploaded. 

At the end of the workshop, students were able to upload self-taken images to Commons, understood the Creative Commons licenses, and were able to use the ISA Tool, a tool used by the Wikimedia Movement to add structured data to uploaded images. 

D. Engagement with the Wikimedia Movement

Interest in contributing to the Wikimedia Projects

Students conveyed a sustained interest in contributing to the Movement by uploading photos and adding references to articles.

Interest in joining future training and workshops

Students expressed their interest in getting invites for future training and workshops related to the Wikimedia Movement contests and campaigns.

Interest in editing on their own personal time

Participants who joined the training workshop expressed interest in making simple contributions to the Wikimedia Projects in their own free time.

Overall experience contributing to Wikimedia projects

The program received an overall positive rating on the experience of making contributions to Wikimedia projects.

E. Future Learning Opportunities

Participants communicated their interest in learning more about other topics revolving around Wikimedia projects and the Wikimedia Movement in general. Through this program, we were able to list the topics that the students are still interested in learning more about. Priority topics include:

• Contributing to Wikimedia Commons
• Creating articles and adding references
• More in-depth discussion on the existing Wikimedia projects

Community Impact

WikiDunong Project main goals of the WikiDunong Project revolved around promoting the Wikimedia projects, the Wikimedia Movement, teaching students how to effectively use Wikipedia in their learning experiences, and how to make simple contributions to the different wikiprojects like uploading photos, adding images to articles, and adding references.

For the pilot implementation of the project, we listed the following objectives:

Metrics	Target	Result
Number of participants	40 students	33 students
Number of Wikipedia Accounts created	40 accounts	32 accounts
Number of images uploaded or added to articles	40 images	102 images
Number of structured data added to images	400 data	905 edits

The User Group utilized the Programs and Event Dashboard to track contributions during the 1-day training workshop for the pilot implementation of this program. The tool generated a result of 905 edits and 102 successful uploads from 32 registered editors.

Total Edits	Editors	Commons Uploads
905	32	102

I am grateful that I have had the chance to clear my prejudices against Wikipedia. Furthermore, I am enthralled to finally use Wikipedia and its other affiliated projects for my future searches.

Student, HUMMS

Lessons Learned and Next Steps

As this is our pilot implementation, we commit ourselves to improving the program structure, workshop target, trainers’ capacity, and project implementation strategy to get the utmost possible outcome from this collaboration with our local community. For this initial implementation, we are excited to share with you the learnings we will foster and the next steps we will take moving forward with the project.

Broaden Partnerships and Extend Networks

The success of this pilot will not be possible without the generous support of our partners and volunteers. With this experience, the User Group deemed it vital to expand networks and build linkages to other organizations promoting youth development, open education initiatives, and open-access resources to reach more communities, empower more youth, and promote inclusive education both inside and outside formal educational structures. The user group will always extend support to these sectors and continue to support the cause of free education for all.

Invest in the capacity-building of Volunteers

Through this project, the user group realized the need to invest more time and resources in volunteer capacity-building and leadership training, as these are vital for working collaboratively outside the comfort of our organization. There are volunteers who have the potential to be good trainers and facilitators. However, some of them need to work on their confidence as leaders to represent the user group.

Partnership with other schools

The project has been able to realize its targeted outcomes based on the current approach we implemented. The impact has also shown the interest of the students in learning more about Wikimedia projects and how they themselves can be future editors of these projects. This is a series of training intended to promote the utilization of wikiprojects not only for students but also for educators. The pilot school is the basis for how the session, given that it has only been conducted for a short period, can positively impact how students will use Wikipedia in their schoolwork. Our group will be conducting a series of Wikipedia tutorial sessions at different interested schools. 

Partnership with youth organizations

Currently, the team is composed mainly of college students who are still enrolled in their universities and have existing academic obligations. A schedule for training is being considered based on the volunteer’s availability. Outside organizations can provide a huge help in facilitating this series of trainings in terms of logistics and manpower.

Strategic planning for School Wiki Clubs implementation

Information on Wikipedia is dynamic, as are the editors. Skills should always be updated in terms of article writing, usage of on-wiki tools, and organizing editing workshops. The Wiki Club can serve this function as a satellite organization of the Wiki Advocates Philippines User Group.