WT Academy Update

Question

Hi WikiTreers!

Now that the WikiTree Academy has been out for a bit, I thought I might share some quick stats as of this morning.

• 272 members have created accounts on the Academy.
• 186 members enrolled in the first public course, New Member How-To.
• 68 members completed the New Member How-To course and  received a shiny little reward (an Academy Badge).

Have you had a chance to try out the Academy? Any questions, suggestions, or feedback?

Or maybe you would like to be involved in the Academy? We are currently recruiting members for Project:WikiTree Academy. Project members can assist with a number of items, such as:

• Review/test courses before they are released to the public.
• Review/approve course creation requests.
• Review courses after any system updates, new feature additions, or policy changes to identify any potential edits needed.
• Assist "Teachers" with general course creation, settings, and administration.

Comments

Note: Membership in Project:WikiTree Academy is not needed in order to create or participate in courses.

If you would like to sign up and take a course:

• Go to https://academy.wikitree.com
• Click the 'Log In / Create Account' link at the top right of the page, and then clicking the 'Sign Up Now' link and complete the verification process.
• Once signed in, click on the Courses menu, and then select 'All Courses' to see those available.

The Academy does not have access to your WikiTree email or password, so you will need to create a new account at the Academy.

If you would like to create a course:

• Go to https://academy.wikitree.com
• Log into your account
• Click on the Courses menu, and then select 'Request a New Course'

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On a less serious note, is there any plan to implement Academy Badge tracking in WikiTree.main?

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There have been a few discussions surrounding this, but nothing finalized yet.

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How can that be done if different logins are used by the Academy? They don't have to be part of Wikitree and don't have to use their Wikitree Info?

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@Linda - Magic :)

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Can’t see the courses without having to join are they on a FSP somewhere with a list of the content covered and the llearning outcomes?

Ann

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Ann, there is currently a single course, which is titled "New Member How-To." The learning outcome is a gentle introduction to the main features of WikiTree, and it was written by Steve, and I believe Eowyn.

It's very easy to sign up to the academy and look at the course list, and the course descriptions, and it is free.

Brad

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The course list is accessible without signing in. Open the drop-down menu "Courses v" from the top bar of the Academy front web page, then select "All courses". A brief description of the one currently existing course will be shown.

Edited to add: The front page has changed: the course list is now permanently visible.

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Thank you for that info. I was hoping that there was an info page you could go to first that told you everything.
Can you put a better description  on the page. It says 6 easy to flow topics but no list of them.
Regards,

Ann

Answer 1

Thanks for the update Steve, Are there any new courses that we may see in the future?

Comments

We are hoping for a bunch of new courses!

Currently in progress:

• WikiTree Projects
• Trans Canada Trail
• Introduction to Writing a Narrative Biography

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Soon to be currently in progress:

• Getting involved Beyond Your Branches

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Oh!  I like the sound of this one!!

Answer 2

This is great. I hope it'll become a central part of new user onboarding.

I can already imagine ways it will be of immense value, effectively making many help pages interactive. I think it will also be a great way to stretch limited mentor and trail guide resources.

One killer use case I thought of, going through the NEWT training. It will be much easier to one-time generate multi-language training materials (I'm thinking specifically for French and Spanish) than it is to find dedicated multilingual mentors and guides. This is a constant issue for us with the Canada project, and Mexico (and Latin American) projects. I'd love to make WikiTree more regionally accessible and this could really help!

I would happily help to develop, or proofread, or field test any other modules for this project.

Comments

Thanks Brad!

I hope it'll become a central part of new user onboarding.

We are working on some of those details now. In the future, new members will be invited to participate in the Academy NMHT course to learn more about the site and how to start contributing.

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One killer use case I thought of, going through the NEWT training. It will be much easier to one-time generate multi-language training materials (I'm thinking specifically for French and Spanish) than it is to find dedicated multilingual mentors and guides. This is a constant issue for us with the Canada project, and Mexico (and Latin American) projects. I'd love to make WikiTree more regionally accessible and this could really help!

That is definitely something I am excited to see myself! The site supports multilingual operations, we have just not yet had a volunteer willing to help translate.

Answer 3

Can we have a list of who is teaching what please?

Ann

Comments

That's a reasonable request, one likes to know who ones tutors are.

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That information is available in the Course details.

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The materials that I've seen are self-service, automated. No tutors needed. I'd suggest running through it, following the links above. It's quick and it'll probably answer a lot of your questions, as it did mine.

(edit: or do what Steve said)

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Brad - you are correct for the existing (and upcoming) courses. The "Teachers" (what they are called in the Academy) are moreover just the members who created the content. They do not typically function as tutors or teachers in the literal sense.

Now when it comes to blended learning - both working through a course and doing activities on WikiTree - you will have more of a tutor/guide role available.

But again, those members will be identified in the course details :)

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Steve are you saying, we will still get the personal touch from a guide/tutor like I received in the PIP Voyage? It was an unbelievable learning experience.

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@Loretta - if the project designs their trail/course that way - yes :)

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I can’t see them-without joining the academy but the blurb says you don’t have to join to see the courses.

Ann

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@ Steve, Thank you for the information, I really enjoyed collaborating with my PIP guide.

edited to add @ Steve

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As Steve has said, there is a wide range of approaches that can be taken with course creation. The underlying software is used in a lot of university and other academic environments.

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I completed the New Member How to Course out of curiosity to find out how it worked.  I found it interesting, from the point of view of understanding how the academy worked.  I do not think I would have enjoyed it so much if I had been a new member, keen to get my family onto WikiTree. Also, it will not be a good way of learning for everyone, one size does not fit all and people learn in different ways.  I can see that the academy might be useful for short courses of a specific subject and material could be added that will support the work of trails. I seems to me that its a bit like having an help page that works in a different way.

Looking at the stats that Steve has provided, 68 people completing the New Member How to Course is a drop in the ocean, when you consider how many people are on WikiTree, and many of them could be people like me, who are just looking, to see what it is about.  A lot of work still needs to be done, just to make people aware that the academy is here, let alone enabling new members to find it.

In my opinion the academy will never replace trails.  It lacks the personal touch of trails.  Our trails do fantastic work and our awesome Trail Guides are invaluable to WikiTree, giving up their time to make friends with new members and help them to learn about WikiTree and intergrate them into our community.

I should decalre that I am an England Project Leader and so have a big interest in ensuring that the England Project Orphan Trail continues to be a success. I rather see the academby as a potential servant of our trail, doing some of the repetitive jobs to save work for our Trailblazers. Then our Trailblazers will be able to spend more time doing what they do best, being a friend, and introducing people into a community full of love, friendship and fun.

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Thank you Joan for taking the time to do this.

I was thinking about trying out but hadn’t got round to it as I wanted to see course content first without having to register.

Ann

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My advice Ann, is register and have a look for yourself. Took me less that half an hour.

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Hi Joan, thanks for the feedback. But there seems to be quite a few generalizations and misunderstandings I would like to respond to:

I do not think I would have enjoyed it so much if I had been a new member, keen to get my family onto WikiTree.

As a long-time user myself, I can definitely see how it might not seem useful to new members who were itching to get started adding family - but we have seen quite the opposite response so far. We have had feedback from some very new members who were struggling with the site, and after taking the course were thankful for the Academy and the [currently limited] information it provided. I have received no less than 20 messages (all from members who were new to the site) thanking us for the NMHT course and begging for more content.

Also, it will not be a good way of learning for everyone, one size does not fit all and people learn in different ways. I can see that the academy might be useful for short courses of a specific subject and material could be added that will support the work of trails. I seems to me that its a bit like having an help page that works in a different way.

This is 100% true, and one of the items that the Academy is hoping to enhance on WikiTree - different and connected ways of learning. I hope you will not take this first course as the only way members can learn on/through the Academy - it is very far from using all of the features available.

As Doug mentioned, the underlying software we are using is currently in use in over 164,000+ organizations across the world, with more than 352 million users across both academic and enterprise level usage.¹

The software was designed to support both teaching and learning through a host of collaborative course tools like forums, wikis, glossaries, database activities, and much more. It supports progress tracking, reporting, has multilingual capabilities, offers a range of embedded content (e.g., videos, audio, slides, or H5P), and even has options for real-time sharing of audio, video, slides, whiteboard, chat and screen. It even support open learning standards like SCORM content.

Looking at the stats that Steve has provided, 68 people completing the New Member How to Course is a drop in the ocean, when you consider how many people are on WikiTree, and many of them could be people like me, who are just looking, to see what it is about.  A lot of work still needs to be done, just to make people aware that the academy is here, let alone enabling new members to find it.

A very small drop in the bucket indeed - but also keep in mind that there has not been a whole lot of advertisement of the Academy just yet. This is especially true for new members. But that will change...

We are looking at ways to integrate this into the new member onboarding process as an option to learn more about the site rather than reading and navigating through pages and hoping they find the information they need. Ways to integrate existing information into new formats that help members learn about not just the site, but genealogy in general - in ways that they can understand.

Will every member enjoy the Academy? Absolutely not! But if we can help even a fraction of the new and existing membership, then the Academy is serving its purpose.

In my opinion the academy will never replace trails.  It lacks the personal touch of trails.  Our trails do fantastic work and our awesome Trail Guides are invaluable to WikiTree, giving up their time to make friends with new members and help them to learn about WikiTree and intergrate them into our community.

This is something that has always baffled me - the notion (accusations) that the Academy was replacing anything. It has only been proposed as a compliment to WikiTree; available for those who want to make use of it (as Teachers or Students). It is not meant to replace help pages, informational space pages created by members, or the work being done through trails, or even replacing Trail Guides for that matter - and this has never been suggested - but often repeated or implied.

Perhaps communications have not been clear in those regards? In that case - I have always had an open door policy... Anyone can contact me at any time for clarification, to ask questions, or even just to share thoughts.

I should decalre that I am an England Project Leader and so have a big interest in ensuring that the England Project Orphan Trail continues to be a success. I rather see the academby as a potential servant of our trail, doing some of the repetitive jobs to save work for our Trailblazers. Then our Trailblazers will be able to spend more time doing what they do best, being a friend, and introducing people into a community full of love, friendship and fun.

The Academy wants to be a servant to your trail! That is exactly what it is built for. It is an offering to help the WikiTree community (as well as trails and Guides) to achieve their goals by providing a platform what they can share their knowledge, skills, and passion with a broader community in different formats by using blended learning techniques that take the administrative functions out of the equation and allow us to focus more on helping others.

¹ https://stats.moodle.org/

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Thank you Steve.  I was aware that not many people had the course and that it will take time to get it known better.   And we do need more courses to make it work better.

I also know that it was never intended to replace trails, but there is that perception and I know quite a few people have been upset by it.  It is an issue that needs dealing with and we need to send a clear message to the community.

The England Project is looking at how we can make it work for us. We are talking to our Project Co-ordinators who work on our Trail, and would do most of the work setting up lessons.

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but there is that perception and I know quite a few people have been upset by it.  It is an issue that needs dealing with and we need to send a clear message to the community.

Let me know how I can help with that!

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I suppose the only way that you can help is making it clear that there is no threat when when comments are made on G2G threads, and making it plain on any infomation pages on WikiTree.  As England Leaders we are trying to send out a message to our trailblazers that there is no threat.

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Perhaps it would help if the Academy insignia was not a hiker. I am sure there are other types of explorers that could be used instead.

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That is a badge image for completing a specific course (New Member How-To - which is also referred to as a New Member Trail). The hiker represents "Exploring WikiTree".

The Academy has it's own logo.

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My point was that the image is a Hiker, and it is called a New Member “Trail”. Taken together, they could result in the perception that the training program is intended to replace Projects’ Trails.

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In the Canada trail, if anyone asks, we're going to tell them that Academy courses can be integrated into the trail at the discretion of the guides, and that these materials will especially be useful to new members. In a lot of ways this is going to make our job as guides easier (and this is not to even mention the largest proportion of Wikitree members who don't take the trail).

We're also excited to work with the Academy to eventually develop materials that will illustrate complex, trail specific topics as teaching aids for our guides. For instance, I've emailed so many screen grabs and copy-pasted so many named citation examples, and numbered list examples it'd be amazing to have a fifteen minute interactive worksheet instead.

I think it's up to all of us together to communicate clearly if anyone is repeating a half-heard a rumor and generating agitation. And to reiterate how much opportunity there is here for all of us to collaborate to benefit the community.

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As an aside, the logo of the academy isn't a hiker. It's a wikitree logo with a graduation cap. It's not a new member "Trail", it's a "New Member How-To" (the name and content is taken pretty directly from existing help pages).

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:New_Member_How-To

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The image at the top of this page is that of a hiker, with hiking stick and rucksack.  A hiker.  Not a mortar board.

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@Melanie, you are correct. Located right next to the text about the Academy Badge members are receiving when completing the course.

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Brad, please re-read what Steve said 

New Member How-To - which is also referred to as a New Member Trail

Answer 4

Will all "Academy" courses be offered online via software, or will any include interactive instructors? Or put another way, are they all envisioned to be on-demand vs. say, with a live instructor?

Comments

That entirely depends on how the creator of the course sets it up!

The Academy offers a variety of ways of creating content - through self-paced courses, or interactive sessions. It also supports blended learning where you can switch between online and face-to-face (not literal - but like trails do now with personal guides) types of learning.

And even better, it supports a combination of all of the above!

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As someone experienced in developing courseware with the software the Academy is using, I can say that what Steve says is correct. Courses can have provide interaction with real people. Different types of courses will have different requirements and a lot of very basic ones don't really need them. Other courses will definitely need them. The combination approach will likely become common.

Answer 5

I've joined the Academy. I created and delivered lots of training courses during my career, and I'd be happy to help out with the project.

Answer 6

Just completed the WikiTree Academy New Member How-To Course and thought it was great. It helped me understand some of the source/citation things waaaay better. Much appreciated!!