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  "path": "/2026/05/30/an-open-course-for-scientific-journalism-in-brazil/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-30T11:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://diff.wikimedia.org",
  "tags": [
    "Introduction\nto Scientific Journalism",
    "NeuroMat",
    "Bolsa José Reis de\nJornalismo Científico",
    "MOOC",
    "Using Wikiversity in\nteaching scientific journalism: openness, collaboration and\nconnectivism",
    "Renato Janine\nRibeiro",
    "CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons",
    "complementary\ncertification interface",
    "project’s monitoring dashboard",
    "hearing health",
    "university\nextension"
  ],
  "textContent": "“Introduction\nto Scientific Journalism” has been a free course available on Portuguese Wikiversity since 2021 and has since become a core infrastructure for the training of scientific journalists connected to Brazil’s main public science funding agency, the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). The course was originally conceived in 2017 through a partnership between Wikimedia Brasil and the research institution NeuroMat, with funding from FAPESP. The idea was to provide a platform for a ninety-hour certified course that would fulfill the requirements of FAPESP’s own scientific journalism fellowship call, the José Reis Program for Scientific Journalism Fellowships (Bolsa José Reis de\nJornalismo Científico). At the time, the fellowship had become nearly inaccessible because applicants were required to complete a scientific journalism course, something that Brazilian academic institutions had largely stopped offering after a prolonged crisis in science journalism education in the country.\n\nThe course was designed as a connectivist MOOC, that is, an open teaching and learning infrastructure aimed at fostering collaboration and sustaining a participatory community around it. The initiative is grounded in principles of openness, collaborative authorship, and connectivist learning, exploring how Wikimedia environments can support decentralized and participatory forms of education. The design was documented in scholarly publications such as “Using Wikiversity in\nteaching scientific journalism: openness, collaboration and\nconnectivism“.\n\n\nEvolution of course enrollment from 2021 to 2026\n\nThe course is organized into six modules: Methodology and Philosophy of Science; History of Science and Technology; Ethics of Science; Central Themes in Contemporary Science; Modes of Organization and Funding of Research Systems in Brazil and Abroad; and Media, Languages, and the Practice of Scientific Journalism. Each module contains between five and seven lessons, multimedia resources, and at least one final assignment. Altogether, the course comprises 56 course pages on Wikiversity. Assignments are based on contributions to Wikimedia projects, including the production of educational resources about ethics in science for Wikimedia Commons, edits to articles about the history of science on Wikipedia, and analyses of science journalism materials on Wikiversity itself.\n\nA video produced for the third module of the course on Ethics of Science, featuring Renato Janine\nRibeiro. \nCC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.\n\nThe course content was curated by ten scientists affiliated with CEPID NeuroMat, while the educational materials themselves were produced by four FAPESP scientific journalism fellows. Technical development involved four additional contributors. The project also developed a complementary\ncertification interface, allowing participants to obtain certificates with unique identifiers and institutional recognition.\n\nAccording to the \nproject’s monitoring dashboard, the course has registered 766 enrolled participants since its creation on Portuguese Wikiversity, of whom at least 335 created their Wikimedia accounts specifically to participate in the course. The infrastructure has sustained continuous editorial activity across Wikimedia projects, including article editing, collaborative discussions, educational page development, and certificate issuance over multiple semesters. Within the context of the course, 1,761 pages were edited on Wikiversity. Participants also uploaded 174 audio and video files to Wikimedia Commons, mostly interviews with Brazilian scientists who had not previously been represented on Wikimedia projects. In addition, nearly 1,800 pages on Wikipedia were edited by course participants.\n\nThe course later inspired similar initiatives on Portuguese Wikiversity in areas such as \nhearing health and university\nextension programs. This shows how Wikimedia platforms, and Wikiversity in particular, can evolve from isolated educational resources into sustainable sociotechnical infrastructures for open science and collaborative learning.",
  "title": "An open course for scientific journalism in Brazil"
}