Wikipedia talk:Ambassadors/School Recruitment

Latest comment: 13 years ago by The ed17

I have an opportunity to pitch the Ambassadors Program to the administration of a local college. I hope that what I put together may be of use to others, so I am drafting the proposal here. The initial proposal needs to be short and on paper. If the Provost approves, I may then have an opportunity to present to department heads, hopefully in detail and interactively. Please feel free to contribute. I do need to have a one-page executive summary. -- Donald Albury 11:33, 6 May 2011 (UTC)Reply

I don't know if you've presented it already or if this helps, but from the point of view of a Wikipedian -> student, writing on Wikipedia improved my writing skills tenfold and gave me the basics on how to research a proper paper. In high school and my lower-level college courses, the former was rarely emphasized (mostly in my two required basic English courses) and the latter was not at all. Without Wikipedia, I would have faced many more challenges as I moved into my 300- and higher history courses. I can even give you a before and after: one of my first articles and my most recent. I think you'll see the differences quickly. :-) Granted, that has only been my personal experience with three years in-between those two links, but perhaps it can help you. Regards, Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 07:02, 15 May 2011 (UTC)Reply
Thank you for offering that. My initial submission is a one page "executive summary", but if I get an opportunity to present to a group, I would like to use your comments and examples. I fully understand what you are saying. Even with a PhD and many years writing proposals, plans and procedures in the public sector, I've learned much about writing from editing Wikipedia (frankly, I spend more time per word thinking about what I'm writing in Wikipedia than I ever did on anything other than my dissertation, or computer programs, but that's different). -- Donald Albury 10:02, 15 May 2011 (UTC)Reply
I can fully agree – I once spent a class period rewriting a lead to an article by hand in the back of a notebook. That's as opposed to staying up all night to write research papers for classes. :-) Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 20:10, 15 May 2011 (UTC)Reply