Talk:Wikimedia skill swap

This is what I'm trying to do with Trainer training (a pretty bare page as I've not written up the idea much yet). "Skill swap" is a good public name for it. The idea is that the session has a theme, such as the ones suggested by Tom on this page, and there is a facilitator (I hate that word, but it correctly describes the role) who is reasonably confident with that topic. The attendees break up into small groups, focus on one aspect of the issue, research it in various ways, and present back to the whole group what they have learned. The facilitator doesn't spend all their time presenting but just chairs the discussion and stops people going down dead ends. In this way, everybody has an experience of teaching others, learning from others, being useful. The wiki twist is that participants actually get to do the thing they are learning about. At the end, the facilitator signs off that the participants have studied that topic. I may adapt some of Tom's content for the trainer training page. MartinPoulter 14:11, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Indeed, the main thing I want to focus on is the simple concept that listening to people talk is not the Wiki Way, doing is what's important. —Tom Morris (talk) 16:04, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

I've submitted something similar for Wikimania 2012. Except that I see this as an opportunity for Wikimedians to give each other one to one sessions on particular tools etc. Training small groups has the advantage that you can make more efficient use of the trainer's time, but the physical requirements for the sort of rooms and facilities you need are very different. Also I'd suggest that one to one coaching sessions are a good icebreaker for the start of a conference. WereSpielChequers 20:09, 21 February 2012 (UTC)