2019:Education/Changing Educational Policies with a Collective Impact
 | This is a Closed submission for Wikimania 2019. It has been reviewed and was not accepted. |
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Title
[edit | edit source]Changing Educational Policies with a Collective Impact
Session leader
[edit | edit source]| Full Name* | Email address* | Wikimedia Username (if you have one) | Affiliation | Country | Role, website or any other details you'd like to share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dominik Theis | dominik.theis@wikimedia.de | Dominik Theis (WMDE) | Wikimedia Deutschland | Germany | Coordinator of the Free Education Alliance |
Session type
[edit | edit source]Each Space at Wikimania 2019 will have specific format requests. The program design prioritises submissions which are future-oriented and directly engage the audience. The format of this submission is a:
- Roundtable discussion forum - 30 min / 45 min
- Lecture - 25 min (20 min + 5 min for questions)
Length of session
[edit | edit source]The length of the session is variable and adaptable to the requirements of the conference.
Description
[edit | edit source]Wikimedia Deutschland is part and backbone of the Free Education Alliance that unites different organizations and individuals that promote Open Education. The alliance is both a forum and a driving force for political and social change in the diverse educational landscape of Germany.
During this session, I would like to talk about how a variety of actors can work together in order to set impulses in the educational sector and how suggestions on reaching Quality Education (SDG 4) through Open Education can be heard by political decision makers. Also, I want to elaborate the advantages and challenges of the collaborative process within a divers alliance.
Background:
Although Germany’s national government agreed upon a comprehensive educational strategy, digitization still is widely reduced to a matter of
technical infrastructures. German politicians’ initiatives in this field are short-sighted and ignore the necessary advancement of open infrastructure and cultural change that is required for a practice of sharing and participation. In order to “digitize education” governments and political decision-makers of the German federal states are focusing on the promotion and expansion of several platforms, closed ecosystems and marketplaces. The means contradict the goal of teaching young people digital literacies and the critically reflected confrontation with the internet. This promotion, which is geared towards the preservation of traditional and rigid structures, shows an outdated understanding of education within and for a digital society.
A sustainable transfer of competencies – that can be realized through open practices such as working with or producing open educational resources – is rarely considered as an objective. On the example of the Free Education Alliance, I want to show and discuss how holistic educational processes can be promoted through Open Education using a Collective Impact approach.
Supporting work
[edit | edit source]Optional:
- Website of the Free Education Alliance (mostly in German)
- Documentation of the last Forum Open:Education (in German, but with English subtitles), were Members of Parliament and the Open Community debated about the future of the German Education Landscape
- Our Positions concerning Open Education from 2018
Relationship to the theme
[edit | edit source]This session will address the conference theme — Wikimedia, Free Knowledge and the Sustainable Development Goals — in the following manner:
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal on Quality Education (SDG 4), aims to “ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning”. This overlaps with our movement strategy goal concerning “knowledge equity” in many ways. As movement we want to break down the social, political, and technical barriers preventing people from accessing and contributing to free knowledge. Open Educational Resources are materials under an open license and therefore anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them. Open Education as a whole can be an instrument to bridge knowledge gaps and provide knowledge equity as well as to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 4.
Session outcomes
[edit | edit source]At the end of the session, the following will have been achieved:
- Exchange of ways of coordinating different organizations and individuals in order to strengthen the Collective Impact
- Sharing of ideas of strategizing cooperative political actions, campaigns and events with lasting political impact
- Learning of the German educational landscape and strategy
Relation to other Spaces
[edit | edit source]Global Advocacy for Free Knowledge: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities
Requirements
[edit | edit source]The session will work best with these conditions:
- Room:
- Audience:
- Recording: