2023:Program/Community Initiatives/BLLNMH-Building capacity: designing a train the trainer programme for your affiliate or community group
Title: Building capacity: designing a train the trainer programme for your affiliate or community group
Speakers:
Dr Sara Thomas
I was a Wikimedian in Residence for both Museums Galleries Scotland, and the Scottish Library and Information Council, before moving to Wikimedia UK as Scotland Programme Coordinator in 2018. In January 2023 I was promoted to Programme Manager at Wikimedia UK. I’ve been training new editors since 2015, and supporting Train the Trainer courses since 2019. I edit mostly on en.wiki, sco.wiki, Wikidata, and Commons. Outside of Wiki, I work in festival volunteer management, and run a community arts charity in Glasgow, Scotland. I have a PhD in rock music. Image by Sara Thomas, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Room: Room 324
Start time: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 15:30:00 +0800
End time: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 16:30:00 +0800
Type: Workshop
Track: Community Initiatives
Submission state: confirmed
Duration: 60 minutes
Do not record: false
Presentation language: en
Abstract & description[edit source]
Abstract[edit source]
Drawing on Wikimedia UK’s experience of running regular Train the Trainer courses, this hands-on workshop is designed to give you a framework for building a Train the Trainer programme in your own affiliate or community group.
Description[edit source]
Wikimedia UK has run Train the Trainer courses for ten years, offering community members the training to become volunteer Wikipedia Trainers, either supporting WMUK staff, or leading their own events. The different iterations have had different aims and designs, and we’d like to share our learning.
If you’re from an affiliate or community group, and thinking about how to engage community members to support new editors, or to develop partnerships of their own, then this workshop will take you through some suggested steps to help build a training programme.
Recently we’ve directed our TtT courses to support strategic and community needs - diversifying the editor base, diversifying our volunteer trainer pool, working online during UK lockdown and beyond, supporting editors to develop their own community partnerships, and offering follow-up training and ongoing support to develop them as volunteers.
I’ll share some examples of the type of course that we’ve run, and the reasoning behind it, and then offer a framework to help you think about how this type of work might benefit your affiliate / community group. I’ll also talk about how, over the last few iterations, we’ve worked closely with Bhav Patel (http://peoplejazz.com/); as although we have extensive experience in training editors, we’ve found his support very helpful when it comes to training trainers.
This is intended to be a hands-on workshop aimed at those thinking about, or already interested in, how to develop volunteer training, and with the intention that you will go away from the session with the beginnings of a plan to take forward.
(Please note that this workshop is not designed to equip participants to be Wikipedia trainers. It will be most useful for those already attached to an affiliate or community group, and experience working with volunteers / volunteer support / community engagement may be helpful.)
Links for added context: https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Training_the_Trainers https://wikimedia.org.uk/2020/04/growing-volunteer-community-scotland/ https://wikimedia.org.uk/2021/11/train-the-trainer-2022-call-for-participants/ https://wikimedia.org.uk/2022/10/train-the-trainer-2022-23-call-for-interest/ https://wikimedia.org.uk/2023/02/train-the-trainer-dec2022-feedback/
Further details[edit source]
Qn. How does your session relate to the event themes: Diversity, Collaboration Future?
The session relates most closely to the theme of Collaboration - we want to share our learning about our training programmes, which we’ve used to diversify, develop and support our community. By investing in and supporting volunteers, we’ve been able to help them develop new skills, gain confidence, and grow the movement.
Qn. What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
Average knowledge about Wikimedia projects or activities
Qn. What is the most appropriate format for this session?
Onsite in Singapore
Remote online participation, livestreamed- Remote from a satellite event
- Hybrid with some participants in Singapore and others dialing in remotely
- Pre-recorded and available on demand
