We are in a country with a rich history and a "condensed" historical timeline. Our daily journeys could be a fast forward review of historical events and monuments that parade in front of us. How nice would they be to combine and get married with modern technology and online services and create a useful digital tool that besides valuable information also promotes educational innovation and enriches learning experience in Greek school? And because Corfu has an inexhaustible historical wealth and at the same time an appetite and passion from many educators, we have led to this year's project, CorfuPedia!! 

In CorfuPedia evolved more than 9 Secondary Education schools in Corfu, namely 4 high schools, 2 Middle High School (Gymnasiums), 1 Evening High School and 1 Evening Vocational High School! Also, the Department of History of the Ionian University participates with 2 undergraduate students and 3 PhD candidates as well as 2 researchers of history of our island. The aim of CorfuPedia is to educate our students about these historical monuments in a way that stimulates students' interest, engages modern digital communications and promotes collaboration, communication and creativity. Teaching a course and the way knowledge is transmitted is an essential factor in the learning process. The organization, the involvement of many educational institutions, many teacher training and the variety of educational tools make CorfuPedia project an innovative concept of learning experience in school but also a unique global dimension (according to the Wikipedia Education Program of the Wikimedia Foundation!)

The organization of the project

Initially, the students searched Wikipedia for articles at the chosen era. They found out that that Wikipedia did not have enough entries for the history of the island of Corfu and they decided to take action and suggested that proper and rich documentation be provided for the period of the British administration, namely for the years before the union Of the Ionian Islands with Greece (1815-1864). The British Administration period is an important period of time for the Ionian Islands and the fact that it has lasted more than 150 years is an essential element since it releases any intellectual rights that may have existed. Assistance was requested from students from the Ionian University (students and PhD candidates) as well as from 2 independent researchers in the history of our island, so that the scientific validity of the records is indisputable. In separate meetings of the teachers, students, Candidates and Researchers, the number and type of entries that were to be created were determined and they undertook to create and document scientifically the texts which would be the subsequent entries. At the same time, the students of the schools participating in the project were informed by the professors of Informatics about Wikipedia (the online encyclopedia). In addition, students and teachers were trained by the project manager in Greece, as well as volunteers from the Wikimedia Community User Group Greece, on the specific issues of Wikipedia, the tools they had and answered all their questions and queries. These training courses took place remotely, via Skype. Then, the students took the articles from the researchers and by using collaborative tools and techniques, each group of 2 students, they created the entries. The creation of the entry included, in addition to introducing the text, checking for spelling mistakes, creating the necessary references, inserting links to other entries and information. Other groups of students participated in the introduction of additional information, such as maps and photographs taken by students in educational excursions. The completion of this stage led to the delivery of the lectures to other teachers' specialties who undertook with their students to translate and update Wikipedia in languages other than Greek (English, French, German). In total, 106 students, 4 C.S. teachers, 4 philologists, 2 English, 2 French and 1 German teacher participated in “CorfuPedia” project.

Summary

The “CorfuPedia” project completed at the end of the 2016-17 school year and contributed to the introduction of a large number of entries in Wikipedia, accompanied by high-resolution photos, links to other entries and recording of deficiencies and other needs for further research and completion by other groups. About 33 entries have been created. Note that several translations of these entries have been added in English, French and German, The project now is a basis to be added to the next school year. Also, a Facebook page has been created to inform the public and the participants: https://www.facebook.com/corfupedia/. Students finally created the project website at http://corfupedia.esperinoepalkerkyras.gr/

Results

As it can be seen from the short presentation of the CorfuPedia project, the innovation lies in the fact that children are involved in an action where collaboration and communication between different educational levels is required, both between secondary and University education. The students developed co-operation rather than competitiveness, and through the collaborative approach and organization of the project they were confronted with the real problems faced by a group and gained valuable experience on how to organize a project, its implementation stages and the need of communication with other groups. Students were acquainted with collaborative digital platforms (google docs, skype, etc.), while at the same time they were taught History, Informatics but also English, French and German languages, since the original entries were translated into these languages with the participation of the respective specialties. In this way, the desired cross-linking is achieved. It is also important to mention that, the students were also familiar with the Wikipedia multilingual online Encyclopaedia of Encyclopaedias and were given the opportunity to see practical problems that arise in relation to the authors' copyrights, to become aware of and to become responsible users, and also to participate in a purely voluntary tool such as Wikipedia. By participating, therefore, in this project, students developed skills such as collaboration and communication, critical thinking and thinking processes, problem solving, formulation and problem solving, creativity but also social responsibility, offering for the common good and spirit volunteering. The project received an enthusiastic welcome from the local school and educational public of Corfu and has been promoted by the local media. The significance of the project globally recognized by Wkkipedia articles - reports of the international Newsletter of Wikipedia Wikimedia Outreach https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Newsletter/December_2016/Greek_schools_collaborate_to_write_local_history_about_Corfu, the Greek community of Wikipedia https : //el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliography: Education / CorfuPedia and is also partially funded by the Wikimedia Foundation https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid/UG_GR/Corfupedia. Finally, the Corfupedia inspired students of Kusadasi High School in Turkey to create their own project called KusadasiPedia following the same principles as CorfPedia!

CorfuPedia a cooperative project by:

Evening Vocational High School Corfu Greece

7th Middle High School Corfu Greece

Kastellanoi High School Corfu Greece

Evening High School Corfu Greece

Middle High School of Skripero Corfu Greece

Middle High School of Lefkimmi

High School of Agros

Middle High School of Argyrades

2nd High School of Corfu

Middle High School of Amfipagiton

Phd History Candidates

Independent History Reasearchers