User talk:Patrickneil/Mentoring

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Wikipedia Campus Ambassador at Georgetown/GWU

Hi Patrick, thanks for your interest in the Wikipedia Campus Ambassador role. More details about this role can be found at http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Campus_Ambassador. Here is also a little bit more information; in a nutshell:

The Campus Ambassadors are crucial components of the Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative. Volunteers in this position will be in charge of training and supporting the participating professors and students on Wikipedia-related skills, such as how to create new articles, how to add references, how to add images, etc. Campus Ambassadors will also help recruit other people on campus to contribute to Wikipedia articles, for example by setting up Wikipedia-related student groups and by organizing "Welcome to Wikipedia" social events. In general they will become known as Wikipedia experts on the university campus (in your case, on the Georgetown University or George Washington University campus). The estimated time commitment for this role is 3 to 5 hours a week, possibly slightly more at the very beginning and very end of the semester. The Wikimedia Foundation will hold a mandatory three-day training for all Campus Ambassadors in August, and will continue to stay in contact with and offer full support for the Campus Ambassadors throughout the academic semester.

If you are interested in being a Wikipedia Campus Ambassador at GWU or Georgetown University, I would like to send you the application form. What email address can I send this to? (Feel free to email me this info if you prefer: alin@wikimedia.org).

Thanks. I look forward to hearing back from you soon!

Annie Lin, Campus Team Coordinator
Alin (Public Policy) (talk) 21:58, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

Mentor for team of students

Hi, my name is James Fullerton, and I'm a teacher at Southern Lehigh Middle School in PA. Recently I've created a project that involves Wikipedia (WP) and small groups of students making a contribution to a WP article of their choosing, as long as the topic is related to the content of the course - being American Government, Civics, and Economics. For the past 4 weeks, students have become involved in the culture of WP, with many already narrowing in on a topic for their contribution. Here is the supportive material on Wikispaces (https://wikiedit.wikispaces.com/). Your assistance would be greatly appreciated! Would you be available to act as a mentor to a small group of students as they begin to offer additional content to an article of their interest? The team sizes are numbered between 5-7 students each. I will notify you as to who is in the teams with their WP user names. Jmfullerton (talk) 17:36, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Invitation to join WikiProject United States

Hello, Patrickneil/Mentoring! WikiProject United States, an outreach effort supporting development of United States related articles in Wikipedia, has recently been restarted after a long period of inactivity. As a user who has shown an interest in United States related topics we wanted to invite you to join us in developing content relating to the United States. If you are interested please add your Username and area of interest to the members page here. Thank you!!!

--Kumioko (talk) 20:19, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Hello Mentor!

Pat what's going on man? Hows your weekend going. Well as you may know, I am part of the Wiki class at Syracuse University and we are required to choose a mentor as part of the class and I choose you to be my mentor. Let me know if that's fine with you and we can go from there.

-Peter poelliot@syr.edu —Preceding unsigned comment added by SoAuthentic (talk • contribs) 00:26, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Class/Wiki 400

Hey Patrick. Sorry for the late reply. The class is PAF 400 (Wikipedia & Public policy) I am currently working on providing a stub on a branch of Cyber Warfare which would be called Cyber Security in the United States. Hey can I receive your e-mail? —Preceding unsigned comment added by SoAuthentic (talk • contribs) 14:25, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Hi Patrick,

I am a Georgetown student in Professor Davis's CULP class which is apart of the Wiki Public Policy Project this year. I will definitely be needing your help, especially when it comes to all the technical editing tools. I've also noticed that you've contributed to some Wiki articles on several Christian saints, and was wondering if you had any advice for this specific topic, because I will be working on the Monastery of St. Anthony page. Thanks and looking forward to working with you!

Luckbethislady (talk) 04:35, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Hey Patrick,

How's it going? I'm a student in Rochelle Davis' Theorizing Culture and Politics this semester. How do I post my username and topic on wikipedia? A few students have already done so. Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.143.214.4 (talk) 18:56, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Page structure

Hi Patrick,

I am working on improving the Ajami, Jaffa page and adding to it. Can you please take a look at what I have so far (far from being complete, but a start) and tell me if i am going int the right direction and what kind of suggestions you have to improving the structure of the article?

Thanks in advance! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ka Yaffa (talk • contribs) 16:41, 15 October 2010 (UTC)

Hi Patrick

Hello Patrick,

I'm in the Public Policy Initiative, and would like to have you as a mentor.

Thanks for your help!

Policydude (talk) 21:03, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Mentor needed

Patrickneil, I'm a Sustainable Development student looking for a wikipedia mentor, do you beleive you have time for one more mentee?

Boilerinbtown (talk) 19:22, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

delisted mentees

Hey Patrick! I noticed noticed you delisted two mentees that you had offered to help. I'm just curious why.--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 23:01, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Cool. It didn't seem like the students had been instructed explicitly request mentors, so I asked the Online Ambassadors this morning to assign themselves to students in those course (like you had done already). But holding off until you figure out what the people working directly with the students want to do is cool too. I'm just trying to make sure no students fall through the cracks. Cheers!--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 23:32, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia mentor

Hi! I'm a grad student at Indiana University in the Urban Economic Development class, and participating in the Public Policy Initiative. I'll be part of a group creating and editing articles on workforce development initiatives for immigrant and non-native populations. I'd appreciate it if you'd be my wiki mentor. Thanks!

Yellmarie (talk) 04:00, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the input

Hey Pat. Thanks so much for your input. I was wondering how to actually get the it in list form as opposed to paragraph form. It just looked weird. user:SoAuthentic —Preceding undated comment added 23:11, 21 October 2010 (UTC).

Re: student assessments

Hi Patrick, Thanks for asking. Go ahead and assess the article if you'd like using our assessment rubric. The Article Feedback Tool ideally will provide some ratings as well from general readers, although if it's not a highly trafficked article, it might not be that useful. You can also give feedback under the articles' title on the Workbench, where we're starting to collect everyone's feedback (and then leaving notes on students' user pages to get them to go there). --Ldavis (Public Policy) (talk) 17:53, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

How's your Online Ambassador experience going so far?

Hi Patrickneil/Mentoring,

We're starting to get into the busy part of the semester for Online Ambassadors, and we want to check in and see how you're doing, what your opinions about where we are now, and any feedback you may have.

Please answer these questions either on my talk page or send them to me by email.

1. How many mentees are you currently working with?

2. Have you reached out to students who don't have mentors yet? If not, would you be willing to?

3. What do you think of the content of messages on the Google Group?

4. What do you think of the volume of messages on the Google Group?

5. Do you participate on the Google Group much? If not, what would make you participate more?

6. Are there any problems you've experienced so far?

7. Is there anything else Sage or the rest of the Public Policy Initiative team could do to make your experience as an Online Ambassador better?

8. Are you okay sharing your username with your answers to our Public Policy Initiative team, or would you prefer to remain anonymous?

Thanks for your feedback! --Ldavis (Public Policy) (talk) 19:26, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

mentoring a few students

Hey Patrick. It looks like your mentees haven't been that active yet. Are you willing to take a few more? The Political Economy of Technology and Science is looking for mentors on a per-article basis (with usually two students per article, but one mentor). If you've not reached your limit, please sign up as the mentor for Community wind energyon the course page, and leave notes introducing yourself for the two students working on that article (and update the mentors page). Thanks!--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 17:10, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

Online Ambassador selection process

Please share you views on the current version of the proposed Online Ambassador selection process, which the steering committee has recommended for adoption by the ambassadors program. Once we settle on a selection process, we can start recruiting more Online Ambassadors for next term (in which we will have more students, and the students will be more involved with mentors from early on).--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 15:24, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

The IDPPPA (S.3728)

Hi Patrickneil,

I am trying to create a wiki page for The IDPPPA for the public policy initiative. I need help sourcing the Library of Congress page for the bill.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:S.3728: —Preceding unsigned comment added by LizHagelthorn (talk • contribs) 23:53, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

Planning for next term in the Wikipedia Ambassador Program

Hi Patrick. We're trying to figure out how many students we can mentor next term and how many additional Online Ambassadors will be needed. Based on the revised plan for what participating courses will be like next term, I've sketched out what will be expected of mentors. Please look that over, and then go to the online ambassadors talk page to indicate much mentoring and other ambassador activities you'd like to do next term. Thanks!--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 18:09, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Mentor for team of students

Hi, my name is James Fullerton, and I'm a teacher at Southern Lehigh Middle School in PA. Recently I've created a project that involves Wikipedia (WP) and small groups of students making a contribution to a WP article of their choosing, as long as the topic is related to the content of the course - being American Government, Civics, and Economics. For the past 4 weeks, students have become involved in the culture of WP, with many already narrowing in on a topic for their contribution. Here is the supportive material on Wikispaces (https://wikiedit.wikispaces.com/). Your assistance would be greatly appreciated! Would you be available to act as a mentor to a small group of students as they begin to offer additional content to an article of their interest? The team sizes are numbered between 5-7 students each. I will notify you as to who is in the teams with their WP user names. Jmfullerton (talk) 17:36, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

wiki mentor

Hey Patrick! I am a junior at James Madison University working on a U.S. Public Policy WikiProject for my Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication 240 class. This is our project page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_United_States_Public_Policy/Courses/Spring_2011/Professional_and_Technical_Editing_(Cindy_Allen) and we were asked to choose a mentor. I was hoping you would be available to help me through this venture? Hope your having a great week and have an awesome weekend! Thanks,

Katie Woloshin (woloshkm)

P.S. Feel free to find me on facebook :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Woloshkm (talk • contribs) 20:08, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

FYI, might want to take a look at my talk page, Sadads (talk) 23:25, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

Mentor selected!

Hello there,

My name is Spencer Adams and I'm a sophomore at James Madison University. I am in the WRTC 240 class with Cindy Allen as the professor an while this whole "choosing a mentor" thing seems a bit superficial, you seemed to fit my needs the best.

A little about myself...I'm a nerd at times, I play Starcraft 2 way too much, but I have my everyday-guy traits too. I live in an apartment with 3 of my buds and it is making the college experience so much better. I have a massive sneaker collection, I'm a huge movie buff, I love finding new indie/rap music, and my Windows 7 Phone is better than the iPhone will ever be.

I hope we can have some fun doing this project and that you'll be my mentor, have a good weekend!

Sadams90 (talk) 04:20, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

Hi, Patrick!

Hi, This is from Qi, Qiao. Well, I am very new to explore how things working out at wikipedia. From Michigan State University, I am in the master program of telecommunication management! The reason why I am here is the course I took, Telecom Policy, this semester is related to WikiProject on public policy! I would like you to be my mentor! And hope to have opportunity to know more about wiki from you! Have a good day!

Best regards,

Realqiao (talk)qiaoqi 03:37, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Hey Patrick

Hey Patrick,

I'm looking for a mentor throughout this WikiProject experience. I am a graduate student in the Public Affairs program at Western Carolina University in the western North Carolina mountains. I anticipate doing my research and Wiki-entry on a beloved little law of mine: The Migrant Housing Act of N.C. It's a rocky subject and one that affects many businesses, N.C. natives, and Latino populations in our state. I'm new to Wikipedia and have no experience in writing or editing Wikipedia entries...so, that's where I'd love your help and guidance when available!

Keep in touch and feel free to Facebook me: Mindy Bayless.

Best,

Mindy — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ms68441 (talk • contribs) 03:20, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

wikiproject us public policy

Hi Patrick, thanks for the feedback...we are in the process of moving our article from sandbox to the main page...can you give me a quick summary how that works? thanksDabenson (talk) 15:27, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

Hi Patrick, I am a college student at Simmons College in Boston and my Public Relations Courses is working as a group on the current wiki project on us public policy. I wanted to introduce myself and would like you to be a mentor for me during the course to help me with writing articles and some editing tips. I am hopeful you are up to the challenge to be my mentor. Denise — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dabenson (talk • contribs) 16:21, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

Hi Patrick, I was wondering if you would be my mentor for the wikipedia project. I am a student at Simmons College in the PR Seminar Class. Thank you, Alexandra — Preceding unsigned comment added by Communicationstudent4 (talk • contribs) 17:45, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Hi Patrick, I have started a very rough draft for my topic Airport Racial Profiling and have placed it in my sandbox...is there a way for you to take a look at the draft? thanks. DeniseDabenson (talk) 20:57, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 28 January 2011



This is the first issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program newsletter. Please read it! It has important information about the the current wave of classes, instructions and advice, and other news about the ambassador program.



Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 00:33, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for being my mentor, kiddo!

Hey Patrick-

Thanks for the message! Excited to have you as my mentor... trust me, I am not computer-savvy, so this will be fun! :)

This week, Dr. Cooper (our professor) asked us to add in three articles to our pages (my Sandbox) so he can see where our research is beginning. I've already done quite an extensive amount of research on my topic, but it's ever-growing, thus ever-changing, so I have a lot more to do. Glad you like my topic...it's a touchy one.

Talk soon!

~Mindy (Migrant Housing Act of N.C.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ms68441 (talk • contribs) 15:36, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

Mentoring

Hey what's up man?

I'm a senior at James Madison University, and we're doing Wikipedia editing for US public policy for one of my classes. Will you be my mentor for this semester?

-Brian BrianTaylor241 (talk) 21:07, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

overloaded

You can put FULL next to your name, and/or move your profile down to the lower section. And yes, feel free to ask some of the students to choose a different mentor if you're too overloaded. Thanks!--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 04:55, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

public policy subjects

One of my upcoming assignments is to critically evaluate an existing Wikipedia article and to research and list 3-5 articles that I would consider working on our Wikipedia project. Do you have any suggestions that would be of interest to our class project? (Dabenson (talk) 16:54, 2 February 2011 (UTC))dabenson

Hope you're doing well!

Hey Patrick-

Hope all is well your way. I haven't added anything new to my WikiSandbox page, but just wanted to say "hi"! I'll be adding some additional sources this afternoon that will help me in beginning to formulate the body/content of my Migrant Housing Act of N.C. page....so I'll let you know when I get something underway and see if you'd mind taking a peek and providing feedback. Thanks so much! Hope you didn't get too much snow! :)

~Mindy — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ms68441 (talk • contribs) 18:29, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 13 February 2011



This is the second issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed.


  • Userboxes and profiles - Add an ambassador userbox to your page, and make sure you've added your mentor profile!
  • Be a coordinating ambassador - Pick and class and make sure no students fall through the cracks.
  • New screencasts - Short videos on watchlists and a number of other topics may be useful to students.
  • Updates from Campus Ambassadors - Ambassadors are starting to report on classroom experiences, both on-wiki and on the Google Group.
  • Other news - There's a new on-wiki application for being an Online Ambassador, and Editing Friday #2 is today!
  • Things you can do - This is just a sample; if you're eager for something to do, there's plenty more.

Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 18:24, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

marking mentees' userpages

Hey Patrick! This is just a quick reminder: please be sure to add {{WAP student}} (for an example, see User:Sfofana) the user pages of your mentees. And once they are working on articles, be sure to tag the talk pages with {{WAP assignment}}. Cheers--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 18:27, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Article Selection

Hi Patrick, How are these articles as possibilities to edit? 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_policy 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_economics 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_media — Preceding unsigned comment added by Communicationstudent4 (talk • contribs) 14:56, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

Mentoring students: be sure to check in on them

This message is going out to all of the Online Ambassadors who are, or will be, serving as mentors this term.

Hi there! This is just a friendly reminder to check in on what your mentees are doing. If they've started making edits, take a look and help them out or do some example fixes for them, if they need it. And if they are doing good, let them know it!

If you aren't mentoring anyone yet, it looks like you will be soon; at least one large class is asking us to assign mentors for them, and students in a number of others haven't yet gotten to asking ambassadors to be their mentors, but may soon. --Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 20:07, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

Hey patrick, I am currently working on an article on executive order 11478. I posted a lot of the policies of this executive order but am having trouble on what else to post with it. What do you think? Hope your having a great week! Thanks, Katie — Preceding unsigned comment added by Woloshkm (talk • contribs) 19:20, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

draft on airport racial profiling

Hi Patrick, When you get a chance could you take a look at my second attempt at drafting my piece on airport racial profiling. I just want to check to see if I'm on the right track. Thanks. DeniseDabenson (talk) 21:18, 3 March 2011 (UTC)

About topic choosing!

Hi Patrick, I have been enjoying playing with wikipedia editing so far. And I am starting to choose a topic to create a new entry. Would you mind giving me some suggestions about topics? Here are three topics that I am interested in. Cybercrime in China and countermeasures/ Cyberstalking in China and countermeasures/ Music Licensing. Which one do you think would be easier to organize material and become a good article? Thanks for your kindness!

Realqiao (talk)qiaoqi 17:54, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Marking articles students are working on

Howdy, Online Ambassador!

This is a quick message to all the ambassadors about marking and tracking which articles students are working on. For the classes working with the ambassador program, please look over any articles being worked on by students (in particular, any ones you are mentoring, but others who don't have mentors as well) and do these things:

  1. Add {{WAP assignment | term = Spring 2011 }} to the articles' talk pages. (The other parameters of the {{WAP assignment}} template are helpful, so please add them as well, but the term = Spring 2011 one is most important.)
  2. If the article is related to United States public policy, make sure the article the WikiProject banner is on the talk page: {{WikiProject United States Public Policy}}
  3. Add Category:Article Feedback Pilot (a hidden category) to the article itself. The second phase of the Article Feedback Tool project has started, and this time we're trying to include all of the articles students are working on. Please test out the Article Feedback Tool, as well. The new version just deployed, so any bug reports or feedback will be appreciated by the tech team working on it.

And of course, don't forget to check in on the students, give them constructive feedback, praise them for positive contributions, award them {{The WikiPen}} if they are doing excellent work, and so on. And if you haven't done so, make sure any students you are mentoring are listed on your mentor profile.

Thanks! --Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 18:13, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Thank you

Thanks for your great advice on topic choosing! I'll look at those articles you suggest and decide to start a new entry or work on a stub.

Realqiao qiaoqi 15:04, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

Hi Patrick...ok I cannot figure out how to add my references...I have done

hit the bottom ref<>etc. but I keep getting a red notice? any help would be appreciated.Dabenson (talk) 18:56, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

ok...i can't figure this out...why don't you add one to my sandbox!! I am pulling my hair out! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dabenson (talk • contribs) 19:21, 16 March 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 21 March 2011



This is the third issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed.


Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 22:25, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Airport racial profiling in the United States

I just wanted to let you know that in class today we had Denise move her article into the main namespace. It's not perfect yet, but she has a good amount of material and some references, so it should have DYK potential. As her mentor, can you shepherd her through that process, getting it up to standard and helping her nominate it (keeping in mind that the 5-day clock has started)? Thanks! :-) Dominic·t 19:23, 23 March 2011 (UTC)

Make sure that you are checking in on your students work for WP:USPP/C/11/PTE

Hey, just a happy reminder to make sure that you are regularly checking in on your mentees work for JMU'S Technical editing class, Sadads (talk) 11:08, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

Check-in

Hey, Patrick! Hope all's well with you! I was going to see if you could take a look at my Wikipage (Migrant Housing Act of N.C.) and give some feedback. I've been truckin' along on it and have some questions on how to do my lead. Initially, the "Background" section was my lead, but I was told that should be its own section (thus, now in Background). What exactly does a lead need to have and how long should it be? Also, what's your philosophy on interview references? I've heard both and thought you may be able to assist me in referencing some interviews over the next couple of weeks? Thanks! ~M.S. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ms68441 (talk • contribs) 12:36, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

Adding images to Wiki and to a Wiki entry

Patrickneil,

I have done some research into the steps to add images to Wikipedia and to an entry. I would like to do it, but to be honest, it's a bit confusing. I have an image in mind, and have asked about using it for Wikipedia, and the source agreed that it was ok. I was wondering if you could help guide me through the process to make sure I cover all the necessary steps.

Thanks in advance!

Petit9621 (talk) 14:35, 16 April 2011 (UTC)petit9621

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 22 April 2011



This is the fourth issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed.


Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 16:35, 22 April 2011 (UTC)


DYK Status & things...

Hey Patrick: 

I'm hoping to nominate my article (Migrant Housing Act of North Carolina) for DYK status. Do you have any suggestions before I move forward with this? Thanks! :)

~Mindy — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ms68441 (talk • contribs) 03:34, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

About final project editing!

Hi, Patrick! I have chosen "International Cybercrime" as my final topic under the supervision of my professor. And now I would like to hear your advice on improving the article structure or content. Would ou mind taking a look at my article which I've already moved it out of sandbox. I would really appreciate if you can give me some suggestions. Thank you! .--Realqiao(talk) —Preceding undated comment added 02:33, 4 May 2011 (UTC).

May 2011 Newsletter for WikiProject United States

The May 2011 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

 
. --Kumioko (talk) 15:48, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

Please help assess articles for Public Policy Initiative research

Hi Patrickneil/Mentoring,

Your work as an Online Ambassador is making a big contribution to Wikipedia. Right now, we're trying to measure just how much student work improves the quality of Wikipedia. If you'd like contribute to this research and get a firsthand look at the quality improvement that is happening through the project, please sign up to assess articles. Assessment is happening now, just use the quantitative metric and start assessing! Your help would be hugely appreciated!

Thank you, ARoth (Public Policy Initiative) (talk) 17:13, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

Please take the Wikipedia Ambassador Program survey

Hi Ambassador,

We are at a pivotal point in the development of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program. Your feedback will help shape the program and role of Ambassadors in the future. Please take this 10 minute survey to help inform and improve the Wikipedia Ambassadors.

WMF will de-identify results and make them available to you. According to KwikSurveys' privacy policy: "Data and email addresses will not be sold, rented, leased or disclosed to 3rd parties." This link takes you to the online survey: http://kwiksurveys.com?u=WPAmbassador_talk

Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments, Thank You!

Amy Roth (Research Analyst, Public Policy Initiative) (talk) 20:43, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

Online Ambassadors: Time to join pods

Hello! If you're planning to be an active Online Ambassador for the upcoming academic term, now is the time to join one or more pods. (A pod consists of the instructor, the Campus Ambassadors, and the Online Ambassadors for single class.) The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) explains the expectations for being part of a pod as an Online Ambassador. (The MOU for pods in Canada is essentially the same.) In short, the role of Online Ambassadors this term consists of:

  • Working closely with the instructor and Campus Ambassadors, providing advice and perspective as an experienced Wikipedian
  • Helping students who ask for it (or helping them to find the help they need)
  • Watching out for the class as a whole
  • Helping students to get community feedback on their work

This replaces the 1-on-1 mentoring role for Online Ambassadors that we had in previous terms; rather than being responsible for individual students (some of whom don't want or help or are unresponsive), Online Ambassadors will be there to help whichever students in their class(es) ask for help.

You can browse the upcoming courses here: United States; Canada. More are being added as new pods become active and create their course pages.

Once you've found a class that you want to work with—especially if you some interest or expertise in the topic area—you should sign the MOU listing for that class and get in touch with the instructor. We're hoping to have at least two Online Ambassadors per pod, and more for the larger classes.

If you're up for supporting any kind of class and would like me to assign you to a pod in need of more Online Ambassadors, just let me know.

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 16:34, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

PS: There are still a lot of student articles from the last term that haven't been rated. Please rate a few and update the list!

Update on courses and ambassador needs

Hello, Ambassadors!

I wanted to give you one last update on where we are this term, before my role as Online Facilitator wraps up at the end of this week. Already, there are over 800 students in U.S. classes who have signed up on course pages this term. About 40 classes are active, and we're expecting that many more again once all the classes are up and running.

On a personal note, it's been a huge honor to work with so many great Wikipedians over the last 15 months. Thanks so much to everyone who jumped in and decided to give the ambassador concept a try, and double thanks those of you who were involved early on. Your ideas and insights and enthusiasm have been the foundation of the program, and they will be the keys the future of the program.

Courses looking for Online Ambassadors

Still waiting to get involved with a class this term, or ready to take on more? We have seven classes that are already active and need OA support, and eleven more that have course pages started but don't have active students yet. Please consider joining one or more of these pods!

Active courses that really need Online Ambassadors:

Courses that may be active soon that need Online Ambassadors:

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 23:14, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

Future of the US Education Program and the Ambassador Project

There is a discussion about the future and the growth of the US education program along with the future of the Wikipedia Ambassador Project here. Voceditenore (talk) 08:23, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassadors update

Hi! You're getting this message because you are or have been a Wikipedia Ambassador. A new term is beginning for the United States and Canada Education Programs, and I wanted to give you an update on some important new information if you're interested in continuing your work this term as a Wikipedia Ambassador.

You may have heard a reference to a transition the education program is going through. This is the last term that the Wikimedia Foundation will directly run the U.S. and Canada programs; beginning in June, a proposed thematic organization is likely to take over organizing the program. You can read more about the proposal here.

Another major change in the program will take effect immediately. Beginning this term, a new MediaWiki education extension will replace all course pages and Ambassador lists. (See Wikipedia:Course pages and Help:Education Program extension for more details.) Included in the extension are online volunteer and campus volunteer user rights, which let you create and edit course pages and sign up as an ambassador for a particular course.

If you would like to continue serving as a Wikipedia Ambassador — even if you do not support a class this term — you must create an ambassador profile. If you're no longer interested in being a Wikipedia Ambassador, you don't need to do anything.

Please do these steps as soon as possible

First, you need the relevant user rights for Online and/or Campus Ambassadors. (If you are an admin, you can grant the rights yourself, for you as well as other ambassadors.) Just post your rights request here, and we'll get you set up as quickly as possible.

Once you've got the ambassador rights, please set up at a Campus and/or Online Ambassador profile. You can do so at:

Going forward, the lists of Ambassadors at Special:CampusAmbassadors and Special:OnlineAmbassadors will be the official roster of who is an active Ambassador. If you would like to be an Ambassador but not ready to serve this term, you can un-check the option in your profile to publicly list it (which will remove your profile from the list).

After that, you can sign on to support courses. The list of courses will be at Special:Courses. (By default, this lists "Current" courses, but you can change the Status filter to "Planned" to see courses for this term that haven't reached their listed start date yet.)

As this is the first term we have used the extension, we know there will be some bugs, and we know the feature set is not as rich as it could be. (A big wave of improvements is already in the pipeline. And if you know MediaWiki and could help with code review, we'd love to have your help!) Please reach out to me (Sage Ross) with any complaints, bug reports, and feature suggestions. The basic features of the extension are documented at Wikipedia:Course pages, and you can see a tutorial for setting up and using them here.

Communication and keeping up to date

In the past, the Education Program has had a pretty fragmented set of communication channels. We're trying to fix that. These are the recommended places to discuss and stay up-to-date on the education program:

  1. The education noticeboard has become the main on-wiki location for discussion of the Education Program. You can post there about broad education program issues as well as issues with individual courses.
  2. The Ambassadors Announce email list is a very low-traffic announcements list of important information all Ambassadors need to be aware of. We encourage all Ambassadors (and other interested Wikipedians) to subscribe to the list; follow the instructions on the link to add your email address.
  3. If you use IRC regularly, or need to try to reach someone immediately, the #wikipedia-en-ambassadors connect IRC channel is the place to find me and fellow Ambassadors.
Ambassador training and resources

We now have an online training for Ambassadors, which is intended to be both an orientation about the Wikipedia Ambassador role for newcomers and the manual for how to do the role. (There are parallel trainings for students and for educators as well.)

Please go through the training if you feel like you need a refresher on how a typical class is supposed to go and where the Ambassadors fit in, or if you want to review and help improve it. If there's something you'd like to see added, or other suggestions you have for it, feel free to edit the training and/or leave feedback. A primer on setting up and using course pages is included in the educators' training.

The Resources page of the training is the main place for Ambassador-related resources. If there's something you think is important as a resource that's not on there, please add it.

Finally, whether or not you work with any classes this term, I encourage you to post entries to the Trophy Case whenever you see excellent work from students or if you have great examples from past semesters. And, as always, let students (and other editors!) know when they do things well; a little WikiLove goes a long way!

--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 20:57, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

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