You are browsing the archive for Update.

School of Data Fellows: Applications are CLOSED!

- June 11, 2014 in Community, News, Update

Yesterday – 10th June, we closed our first ever round of applications for fellows. We are astounded by the response and wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who applied and everyone who helped with the outreach!

This is a quick post to slice and dice our applications data and to let applicants know about the next steps!

3173867029_ac433290f3_z
Image credits: Alex France on Flickr

We received over 200 applications from 51 different countries, here’s how they sliced up:

Applications by region:

Africa – 55
Asia- 45
Europe – 30
Latin America -52
MENA – 8
Not eligible/ Duplicate – 11

We’re also delighted to announce a large number of female applicants – approximately ⅓ of applicants. While we will clearly work to make sure we achieve even better than this in terms of equality, we are delighted to see such a promising start from our first round of applications!

What’s next?

The School of Data team and the crack team of local experts from each region will be combing the applications in the next few days. Shortlisted applicants will receive an email in the next few days requesting an interview with the team.

All candidates will be evaluated according to the same criteria. As a refresh, here’s what they are:

  • Overall impression
  • Teaching potential
  • Skills and experience
  • Potential to support NGOs and/ or journalists
  • Bonus points (as we mentioned before – things like superb videos or quirky application methods etc will be looked upon favourably)

What if I didn’t get selected or wasn’t eligible?

Don’t despair! We’re working on two major areas:

1) An enhanced community programme, which will outline lots of ways to get involved with School of Data. Watch this space or sign up for the newsletter below.
2) The next round of fellowship applications, we hope to be able to run this programme again – hopefully with a wider selection of countries. Watch this space!

Don’t want to miss an announcement? Sign up for the School of Data newsletter!

Flattr this!

No Comments »

How to earn a Badge at the School of Data (screencast)

- March 11, 2014 in Update

How to Earn a Badge at the School of data

This is a short screencast on how to earn a Badge at the School of Data.

You can earn Badges by completing the following modules:

Also you can get badges by attending events or participating in a data expedition!

Flattr this!

No Comments »

Badges are Here! Get yourself some.

- February 28, 2014 in Update

Starting today the School of Data supports Open Badges to acknowledge and reward your efforts to use data effectively. Get them for learning, participating and special achievements and show what you are doing around the School of Data.

Badges

Open Badges are a fantastic way to track and reward all the informal learning you do around the web. At the School of Data we decided to use them as a main tool for you to keep a record what you’re doing. We are not alone: Around the world educational institutions and other groups are awarding badges for learning and engagement – the School of Data now joins in, allowing you to better show skills you gained and things you did.

You’ll ask yourself – so what exactly do I have to do to be awarded a badge? Depending on the badge you’ll have to:

More possibilities will come.

To display your badges you’ll need to sign-up to a backpack – don’t worry you can do so on the way. The backpack is a virtual accessory that collects all your badges and allows you to display subsections of it. If you’re proud that you participated in a Data Expedition e.g. you can select to show that badge off to everyone!

Now what are you waiting for? Get yourself some badges!

Flattr this!

No Comments »

Help us alpha test the School of Data

- February 24, 2014 in Update

Exciting times are ahead at the School of Data. Currently we’re working hard behind the scenes to implement Open Badges. Badges will allow you to show (informally) what you’ve learned and done at the School of Data.

To get badges we’re revamping the Quizzes found on the bottom of some courses – if you answer a quiz and give an email address, you’ll receive a badge!

If you have 5-10 minutes spare, your help in getting the new infrastructure ready would be greatly appreciated! You can test the new quizzes, and/or the feedback form.

Both will be embedded into the School of Data website – and if you play it right you’ll be awarded an exclusive “alpha tester” badge! To claim the badge you’ll need to sign up for Mozilla’s backpack – don’t worry you can do this along the way.

If you find any bugs or unintended behavior: Please notify us either on schoolofdata [at] okfn.org or post an issue on github

Thank you, dear community!

Flattr this!

No Comments »