Wikipedia

                                              Website Link: en.wikipedia.org

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Full Description

Wikipedia is a comprehensive online encyclopedia that has informational

pages on all kinds of topics and is curated and edited by members of the

public using reliable cited sources, and is moderated by Wikipedia

moderators. Wikipedia pages provide visuals, clearly organized sections,

references, links to other pages, and other components such as diagrams.

Pages are usually well written with a good amount of information and can be a good place to visit to easily access all kinds of information. It is completely free to use and is a platform that promotes shared learning and free dissemination of knowledge.

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Classroom Implementation & Educational Rationale

Besides the obvious of having students use Wikipedia to do research on various topics (given the vastness of the encyclopedia), students can actually take a more active role in using Wikipedia. Wikipedia has what are called “stubs.” These are Wikipedia pages that are missing a lot of information. Students can be asked to complete these “stub” pages on topics connected to a course curriculum/unit (e.g., specific and little-known genetic disorders). This will help students learn to write concisely and will also cement their understanding through writing about it for use by other people. This assignment will allow them to practice referencing/citation skills, as well as digital literacy (page formatting, use of images, etc), information curation processes, and critical thinking skills.

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Connections to Research

​While Wikipedia is in general reliable with reliable sources, sometimes, when using it, students may have to apply heuristics strategies to determine whether or not the information is reliable, as sometimes wrong information is left unseen/uncorrected. Students may have to use the consistency heuristic, which involves checking multiple websites to make sure information is consistent (Masterka, 2014). Students may also have to use source-based heuristics to ascertain that cited references are reliable (Masterka, 2014). Wikipedia can be used by teachers to set up WikiEdu course dashboards, and can also be used during instruction (University of Michigan Library, 2022). Wiki Education actually has a Wikipedia Student Program that allows students to edit stub articles, and most instructors affirm that a Wikipedia assignment improved their students’ digital literacy and research skills (Wiki Edu, 2017).

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Reference

Materska, K. (2014). Information heuristics of information literate people. Communications in Computer and Information Science, 492, 59–69. Springer Link. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14136-7_7

 

University of Michigan Library. (2022, October 21). Research guides: Resources for using & editing Wikipedia: Teaching with Wikipedia. University of Michigan Library. https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=283187&p=1886531

 

Wiki Edu. (2017, November 1). Teach with Wikipedia. Wiki Education. https://wikiedu.org/teach-with-wikipedia/#:~:text=93%25%20of%20instructors%20agree%20that

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                                                                                   Provided By Mary Lu