2/8/11

Wikipedia in the Classroom

What are the "affordances" and "constraints" of the technology? In other words, what does the technology allow us to do or prevent us from doing?
Wikipedia can be an excellent resource for classrooms. It is an online encyclopedia that is free to use. The pages are constantly updated with new information. It even provides sources at the bottom of the page to verify if the page is valid.

There are also some drawbacks to Wikipedia, especially in the classroom. First, there is always the chance the Internet will be out just like it was for much of the weekend in my dorm. I was unable to access Wikipedia, and there is always the chance that could happen in a classroom. Hard copy encyclopedias do not require Internet access, but they are also not as regularly updated. One major drawback is that Wikipedia pages can be edited by everyone and do not need to be peer reviewed like journal articles. This could lead to some inaccuracies. However, there is a disclaimer for Wikipedia that states something should be cited to be trusted. Students may become too reliant on Wikipedia and take everything stated on there as truth.

 
What new skills do we need to teach students?
 
We will need to teach students how to use Wikipedia as a starting point for research, but not also how to be cautious and determine the accuracy of statements on each page. Students will need to be taught how to use Wikipedia and how to access the sources used to write the articles.

By having the class creating a Wikipedia page or something similar, we will also need to teach students how to edit pages.

What will I need to do differently in terms of how I teach in the classroom? How will teaching and learning look different?


The way I would use Wikipedia would be having students create a page about the topic we're studying. I would teach them the basics about the topic so they can work together to create the main summary. Then I would let students work on their own or in groups about specific subtopics to add to the article. Much of teaching will be how to use the technology and determine the accuracy of sources. Learning would be done through outside research.


How does the technology help me to foster creativity, innovation and some of the other 21st century skills?

I like to think of doing a class Wikipedia page about a topic as a modern day collaborative research paper. The entire class works towards one goal of creating a detailed page about a topic and does outside research. However, much of this collaboration would take place online. Eventually everything will be online: books, newspapers, journal articles, so knowing how to edit pages online is a definite 21 century skill the students would obtain from this.

What are some ways I can use this technology in my classroom?
As described before, I would have students create a classroom Wikipedia page about a topic we're studying. They would add to it throughout the unit and would work in groups on different subtopics to add to the page. Ultimately, all students would have to edit and approve editing the page in order to make the information on there as accurate and important as can be.
I would also use Wikipedia to demonstrate how to get started on finding sources for a research paper. I would show how you can find an interesting line on Wikipedia which you can further develop into a well researched topic.


Ultimately, there are many ways to use Wikipedia in the classroom that I may not have covered. There are some definite benefits of using it, but there are also some major drawbacks.  
So I'm asking you, do the benefits of using Wikipedia outweigh the risks of it being constantly edited by ordinary people?