Tuesday, March 28, 2017

My experiments with Wikipedia Education Program

Session one: Students

So, I just finished my talk show. To those who have no idea, I went to SSPM College of Engineering to present a session on Open-Source and Wikipedia Education Program. This blog post shares my experience for the same.

Expectations

Before going to present the session, I expected few things. I took them for granted. Some of them include:

  • Students should already have an idea of Open-Source.
  • Must have contributed to Wikipedia at least once.
  • Students and faculty will be interested in Wikipedia Education Program.
  • The idea of involving MediaWiki in WEP will be too difficult.
  • The outcome of the program will be satisfactory since the college is in remote area.

These expectations were normal. I presented my previous WEP sessions at schools. This was my first time in a college. I had this fear, "What if I failed? What if the college didn't understand my concept? What if the faculty resisted to WEP?". These What if? questions occupied every part of my brain. What happened next was totally unexpected. Keep reading, sir/ma'am.

The content and audience

My session majorly involved Open-Source and its tools and Wikipedia Education Program. To look into more deeper insight, it involved:

  • The dilemma of first year
  • Open-Source, What and Why?
  • Tools like Git, GitHub, Phabricator, Gerrit
  • Programs like GSoC, GCI and Outreachy
  • MediaWiki
  • Wikipedia Education Program
  • MediaWiki + Wikipedia Education Program
  • Internships

The audience of my talk show involved a majority of first year students. I requested the college to do this. There is a specific reason behind this. The final year or 3rd year students, they will be leaving the college soon. The opportunities that first and second year students have, the former doesn't. After three years, when these first year students will be passing out, they will have more practical knowledge, more chances of placements, and a bright future ahead (only if they take the initiative). The audience had 60:40 (M:F) ratio.

The session

The session was very enjoyable, both for the students and me. I saw them in me and they saw me in them. We were of the same age, same course and first time I realised, "Before you present something, make sure you make the audience believe that you are worth listening." That happens when you don't give a lecture, but a friendly session, when you don't wear formals, act like their age, grab their attention and provide them the initiative to do something. Starting with Open-Source, I guided them through the basics of Open-Source, Git, GitHub, Phabricator, Gerrit etc. I made them familiar about the various programs like GSoC, GCI and Outreachy.

After Open-Source, I started with MediaWiki and basics of MediaWiki development. I explained them the structure of MediaWiki, what languages it consists of and how to submit their first patch. After MediaWiki, the session was followed by Wikipedia Education Program and Internships.

Initiative: A major issue

I asked a lot of questions in the session. Picked up random students to answer them. Some of them were so nervous that they could not even say a word on microphone. I would like to mention something here. The girls in the college were so reluctant to answer, ask questions or to take the initiative. The boys were comparatively more active and seemed more curious than the girls. This is one of the big reasons of gender gap in the community. The girls especially in the remote areas are less aware of the opportunities and they hesitate to take the initiative.

WEP and the students

WEP got huge success in college. The students realised, in all these years, they have been wasting their writing skills and the opportunity to share their knowledge with the world. I asked some of them during the session, "What do you think of integrating Wikipedia in your education?" Their reply was in favour of it. After the session was over, many of them approached me personally on how to get started with your first edit. I lead them through the basics of Wiki editing such as Wiki editor, Wiki markups etc. I suggested them to create account on Wikipedia, create your user page and create your first article (probably write about your school). With Wikipedia Education Program running in the college, I made them realise how their knowledge will expand and won't be limited to a sheet of paper. To students, it was totally new and they found WEP very interesting. They never thought that contributing to Wikipedia can ever get them not only marks but the knowledge as well.

And the main part...

Integrating MediaWiki with WEP

One of the main reasons, I came to college was to discuss my recent idea of integrating MediaWiki in Wikipedia Education Program (click here to know more). After making the students familiar with Open-Source, MediaWiki and Wikipedia Education Program, I discussed with the students, especially from the Computer Science department, what if solving simple tasks on Phabricator could earn you marks. This idea was proposed in result of a recent survey done by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), where the survey stated that 60% of engineering graduates in India are unemployed and the Ministry of Human Resource Development is planning a major revamp of India's technical education. The article was published on Times of India, Indian Express, India Today and on many other sites. I asked the students, even after being one of the biggest names in the field of engineering, more than half of the population of engineers in India remain unemployed. The answer is obvious. Practical knowledge is missing. Despite scoring good marks in theory, they fail to implement these concepts practically.

I explained the students, how bringing MediaWiki in education will help them gain practical knowledge about their subject and at the same time they will learn some other essential skills as well. I explained using the following example:

"Suppose, you are given your weekly assignment to do 10 programs. One of the students in the class will copy them from the internet, and then the whole class will copy from that assignment. Yes, you gained 10 marks. But did you gain any knowledge? Did you implement the education and the concepts practically? No! Not only the students are at the fault, but the whole education system is. And what if we revamp it as:
You get your weekly assignment to solve 2 tasks marked as easy on Phabricator. Now, there is no chance the student can cheat. Every one will complete the tasks on their own. No two students can complete the same task and everyone will have the opportunity to learn practical knowledge. Yes, they can seek help from the community and this is essential as well. If the students start contributing from the second year, by the end of final year, they can easily crack GSoC. Not only this, the employment rate in the field of engineering will eventually grow."


After I finished it, I ended my session with a small talk on internships. To specifically mention, I received a lot of admiration for Wikipedia Education Program, especially for the MediaWiki part. The big applaud was a moment of euphoria for me. The feedback of the students (which you can check here) made me even happier.

So, this was my first session. My interaction with students came to an end. It was one of the best talk shows I ever gave.

What's next?

Wait for the second blog post in which I will write about my meeting with the faculty of SSPM College of Engineering and how things took a turn and dreams turned to reality. <3