User:Tonisant/Teaching Wikipedia
Embracing Wikipedia as a Learning & Teaching Resource
I presented these ideas at the University of Hull's Technology Expo on Wednesday 23 March 2011:
Wikipedia is the devil. This is the general feeling from teachers at all levels of education. It's understandable that those of us trained through authoritative, fixed texts would feel this way about Wikipedia. The countless examples of mischief across all sorts of pages reinforces the idea that Wikipedia is not a useful tool for learning and teaching, especially in higher education. However, Wikipedia remains popular with students for all sorts of reason. It's an obvious short-cut to finding out about something, even if what you find out is not always entirely accurate. It's also a great springboard to further online (even offline) information about a specific topic.
If students are going to use Wikipedia anyway, one way or another, why don't we as lecturers and tutors provide them with a support mechanism than ensures they:
a. understand how a wiki really works (i.e. collaboration)
b. learn to distinguish between "reliable", "less reliable", and "unreliable" sources
c. comprehend the difference between subjective and objective viewpoints
d. discover ways to produce data on the internet rather than just consume it
Wikipedia in the Classroom
On Wednesday 5 January 2011 I attended a webinar organized by Educause called Wikipedia in the Classroom: Changing the Way Teachers and Students Use Wikipedia. [1]
The session was presented by Annie Lin [2] [3] [4] [5]
Here are some related links and resources from that session:
- enwp.org/WP:SUP - Wikipedia School and University Projects
- bookshelf.wikimedia.org - Wikimedia Bookshelf (CONTAINS RESOURCES AS PDF)
- Wikipedia:CAMPUS - Info on/for Campus Ambassadors
- Wikipedia resources from Educause
- #EduLive on Twitter - worth a look...but may become irrelevant later
EDUCAUSE ARCHIVES FOR WIKIPEDIA WEBINARS
- Wikipedia in the Classroom: Changing the Way Teachers and Students Use Wikipedia
- What Wikipedia Can Teach Us About the New Media Literacies
See also
- Wikipedia wants more contributions from academics - Zoe Corbyn, The Guardian, Tuesday 29 March 2011
- Academics, in New Move, Begin to Work With Wikipedia - Josh Fischman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 28 May 2011
- Now, you can also become Wikipedia's campus ambassador- daily.bhaskar.com, 29 May 11
- How to Improve the Quality of Wikipedia’s Drivel - Michael Martinez, SEO Theory, 22 July 2011