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Submissions/Wikipedia in teaching translation: revisited (and how to make sure your university collaboration works better than mine)

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Info

This is an Open submission for Wikimania 2017 that has not yet been reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

Submission no. 6018 Subject - E2
Title of the submission
Wikipedia in teaching translation: revisited (and how to make sure your university collaboration works better than mine)
Type of submission
lecture (can be transformed into a roundtable discussion, if deemed appropriate by the Programme Committee)
Author of the submission
Łukasz Golowanow pl:User Airwolf
Language of presentation
E-mail address
lukaszgolowanow@gmail.com
Username
Airwolf
Country of origin
Poland
Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)
Personal homepage or blog
Abstract

During Wikimania 2013 I gave the presentation ‘Wikipedia in teaching translation at the university level’ discussing a project conducted at the University of Gdańsk in the preceding three years.

While the Hong Kong presentation focused on past achievements, this time I describe hopes for the future. The Gdańsk Centre for Translation Studies attempts to engage students in projects which let them utilize their skills outside of the isolated university setting. My presentation focuses on the prospects of syncing two goals: development of students as professional translators and development of Wikipedia in Polish.[1] With almost 5,000 Featured Articles and almost 26,000 Good Articles, en.wikipedia is an abundant source of texts covering a variety of topics; translators who wish to specialize in narrow fields can also be provided with texts matching their interests.

Why is this important?

As a profession in high demand translation is a sought after path of university education. The main drawback of translator education is that numerous practical exercises end with the result being stashed away. I know from my experiences as a student and from discussing the issue with my own students how frustrating this is.

As my project has since been removed from the curriculum, my goal is for it to be reinstated in an improved form at UofGdańsk and then, possibly, to be taken up by universities around the world as a supplementary mode of teaching future translators. I openly admit that in the first iteration of the course I did not fulfill its potential. Part of it was due to external circumstances, but another part was due to my own errors. The presentation is supplemented with a summary of issues which I tackled, successfully or otherwise.

  1. Note that pl.wikipedia is an intermediate goal, the end goal being to expand the project to other Wikipedias in languages other than English.
What will attendees take away from this session?

The intended outcome is twofold. Firstly, the presentation will enumerate prospects for teaching translation at a university level through utilizing texts from Wikipedia. As an academic teacher, I will focus on the perspective of the educator, not of the student. Secondly, I will provide some advice for Wikimedians engaged in university collaborations. I will describe my errors and flaws in my piloting of the initial programme so as to help others avoid the same fate.

Theme of presentation
Education
For workshops and discussions, what level is the intended audience?
Length of session (if other than 25 minutes, specify how long)
20–25 minutes
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
I will, if granted a scholarship by WMPL
Slides or further information (optional)
Special requests
Is this Submission a Draft or Final?
Info

This is a Completed submission for Wikimania 2017 ready to be reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

Interested attendees

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  1. Bladyniec (talk) 09:16, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Amir É. Aharoni (talk) 18:40, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]