Wikipedia as a Teaching Tool/Case Studies (Bookshelf)/Text

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Introduction

Since Wikipedia began in 2001, innovative professors have integrated the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit into their curriculum. In 2010, the Wikimedia Foundation started a project called the Wikipedia Education Program to provide more support for instructors who are interested in using Wikipedia as a teaching tool.

In this brochure, professors around the world will explain Wikipedia assignments they've used to meet learning objectives for their courses. They will also explain how they graded these assignments. These case studies can help you form a plan for how you can use Wikipedia as a teaching tool in your class.

This brochure is just the beginning, however. For each case study, you can go online to get the assignment details. And if you've created an assignment that you'd like to share with other professors, just go online and add yourself! Follow the links at the bottom of each case study for more information.

Learning Objectives

Professors say the following are typical learning objectives they use the Wikipedia assignment to meet:

1. Writing Skills Development

There are several ways students improve their writing skills with Wikipedia. First, they learn how to write for a diverse and interested readership that represents a significant percentage of the worldwide online population. During the process of contributing information to the encyclopedia, students must learn to write with others and to accept revisions of their work. Furthermore, with Wikipedia's emphasis on verifiability and "no original research," students gain a greater understanding of the difference between fact-based and persuasive writing style.

2. Media and Information Literacy

Wikipedia's transparent and collaborative content development process allows students to gain a deeper understanding of how information is both produced and consumed. This provides an excellent opportunity for students to reflect on available sources and their appropriate usage.

3. Critical Thinking and Research Skills

Students learn to critically analyze Wikipedia articles to determine how well the article covers the topic, to assess what information is missing and to evaluate to what extent the article is documented with reliable sources. In the larger context, the evaluation of Wikipedia articles helps your students learn how to evaluate different sources, not just Wikipedia. The process of assessing an existing article and deciding what information is missing is very similar to the literature review process that is crucial in scholarly research.

4. Collaboration

Students learn first-hand how to collaborate with a community of active volunteer editors (including their fellow students) in the development of encyclopedic content. They often receive feedback on their work and learn to negotiate with other editors in building consensus on content.

5. Working on Wiki: Technical and Communication Skills

Wiki software use is growing in both educational and corporate settings. Wikipedia assignments teach students how to use the popular MediaWiki software. Students also learn to effectively communicate online with people they've never met. Students communicate on article and user talk pages, developing skills and techniques appropriate for getting their message across to their intended audience.

Case studies: Assignments

Copyediting

United States

• Professor name: Adrianne Wadewitz, Visiting Assistant Professor
• Professor university: Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis
• Course name: Argumentative Writing
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): Advanced undergraduates
• Learning objectives: Writing Skills Development, Media and Information Literacy, Critical Thinking and Research Skills, Working on Wiki: Technical and Communication Skills
• Discipline of course: Many
• Class size: 40
• Individual or group assignment: Individual
• Duration of assignment (in weeks): 1

Quote from professor:

Students are asked to copyedit Wikipedia articles and engage editors in conversation about their writing, striving to improve the clarity of the language of the material. In doing so, they must consider the global audience of Wikipedia and the difficulty of communicating with anonymous Wikipedia editors. Hopefully by the end, they will realize that copyediting is a painstaking, necessary, and sometimes politically fraught process.

In Argumentative Writing, students learn to write in different voices for different audiences. In learning about the specific voice on Wikipedia, they learn about the “authoritative” voice and how its tone can convince, even if its content is unconvincing. The ways in which tone and content reinforce and/or undermine each other are crucial for students to learn in such a course.

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• See email.

Definitions

United States

• Professor name: James M Lipuma, Teacher Education Programs Director; and Davida Scharf, Director of Reference & Instruction
• Professor university: New Jersey Institute of Technology
• Course name: Technical Communication
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): Advanced undergraduate
• Learning objectives: Writing Skills Development, Media and Information Literacy, Critical Thinking and Research Skills
• Discipline of course: English in a Humanities department
• Class size: 100–150
• Individual or group assignment: Individual
• Duration of assignment (in weeks): 8 weeks

Professor quote:

The Wikipedia Improvement by Supported Expert Revision (WISER) Project requires students to identify articles needing revision and improve them by editing definitions, adding content and adding reliable and appropriate sources as references. Students prepare a written response to a request for a proposal in which they make a case for why the changes are needed, why they are qualified to make them, and why their sources will provide adequate support. After revising the article, the students reflect on their work by persuading Dr. Lipuma in a formal letter that they actually accomplished the work they had proposed.

Students found the task engaging and often went beyond the basic requirements. Receiving feedback and being given the opportunity to revise their work worked well. In addition the collaboration of the instructor and the librarian enables a rich merging of two interdependent areas of expertise—technical writing and information literacy. The librarian is portrayed as the source expert and participates in critiquing student work, but both instructor and librarian critique content and sources. Writing for the Wikipedia audience and the librarian as audience helps students see that their instructor is not their only audience and critic. Many students have commented that they have become more critical in their thinking thanks to this course.

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Literature Review

Egypt

• Professor name: Iman Ezzeldin

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Write an article

Brazil

• Professor name: Dr. Juliana Bastos Marques
• Professor university: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro State (UNIRIO)
• Course name: Special Topics in Ancient History – Roman History in Wikipedia
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): advanced undergraduates
• Learning objectives: Writing Skills Development, Media and Information Literacy, Critical Thinking and Research Skills, Collaboration, Working on Wiki: Technical and Communication Skills
• Discipline of course: History
• Class size: 20
• Individual or group assignment: Individual
• Duration of assignment (in weeks): 13

Professor quote:

For the first four weeks, I ask my students to write a 3-page report where they analyze the current state of the articles chosen for future edition, with critical reading of both content and form. I give them seven weeks after this to edit their chosen articles in sandboxes  We might need to explain what a "sandbox" is in this context. --Frank Schulenburg (talk) 03:43, 9 May 2012 (UTC) with feedback from me and the Ambassadors. Finally, I ask them to complete a 3-page individual assessment and feedback for the course.

By far, learning how to interpret texts and write clearly and concisely with their own words, with references, was the most positive aspect of the activity. This is difficult, necessary, and comes with practice. Students were very apathetic at first, perhaps showing resistance to a very new activity proposed by the professor. Only close to the deadline they understood the implications of what they were doing. The assignments were thus a paradigm shift for the students as well.

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Write a Featured Article

Canada

• Professor name: Jon Beasley-Murray, Associate Professor of Latin American Studies
• Professor university: University of British Columbia
• Course name: Murder, Madness, and Mayhem: Latin American Literature in Translation; North of the Río Grande: Latin American Civilization and Culture; Magical Realism Reconsidered: Survey of Spanish-American Literature since the 1820s
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): advanced undergraduates
• Learning objectives: Writing Skills Development, Media and Information Literacy, Critical Thinking and Research Skills, Collaboration, Working on Wiki: Technical and Communication Skills
• Discipline of course: Spanish/Latin American Studies
• Class size: 15–30
• Individual or group assignment: Group
• Duration of assignment (in weeks): 12

Professor quote: In each of these courses, students were asked to work in groups to create or to improve Wikipedia articles related to the course topic. These articles were usually devoted to the books and/or authors that we were studying in what was in each case essentially a literature class. In many cases, but not all, the articles already existed in some form or another, of variable quality. Students were particularly encouraged to submit their articles to Wikipedia peer review and quality processes, such as "Did You Know,"  Same here. --Frank Schulenburg (talk) 03:44, 9 May 2012 (UTC) "Good Article," and "Featured Article" nominations.

It exceeded expectations in just about every area. I was perhaps most surprised by how much this also became an assignment about writing (and revising).

Additional quote for use elsewhere in the brochure: I think it is every academic’s duty to engage in some way with Wikipedia, and the changed regime of knowledge that comes with similar Web 2.0 sites and applications. It is also our responsibility to teach students to navigate this new and unfamiliar world. I found this assignment a good way of doing this, and also in some small part adding to the common treasury of knowledge, and so breaking down some of the barriers between academia and the public.

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Translation

Mexico

• Professor name: Leigh Thelmadatter, Profesor of English/Language Laboratory Coordinator
• Professor university: Instituto Tecnológico y Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de México
• Course name: Sello A
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): First year undergraduate who come into the program already meeting the school’s 550 requirement in TOEFL standardized test.
• Learning objectives: Critical Thinking and Research Skills, Collaboration, Working on Wiki: Technical and Communication Skills, Intercultural communication
• Discipline of course: Languages
• Class size: 4
• Individual or group assignment: Both
• Duration of assignment (in weeks): 16

Professor quote: I asked my students to integrate into the Spanish WIkipedia community by translating articles from the English Wikipedia to the Spanish Wikipedia. This assignment provides students an authentic immersion situation in which to use their English for communication and projects. The best part of the project is seeing Wikipedia as motivational, with real communication and with assignments that have consequences outside the classroom. Although frustrating, students did experience a certain amount of culture shock as they interaction with Wikipedians from other countries.

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More at: Commons:Category:Leigh_Thelmadatter

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Translation

Egypt

• Professor name: Dr. Dalia Mohamed El Toukhy, Assistant Professor of the faculty of Al Alsun
• Professor university: Ain Shams University
• Course name: Specialist translations from French to Arabic
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): Undergraduate
• Learning objectives: Writing Skills Development, Critical Thinking and Research Skills, Collaboration, Working on Wiki: Technical and Communication Skills,
• Discipline of course: Translation
• Class size: 6
• Individual or group assignment: Group
• Duration of assignment (in weeks): 10

Professor quote:

This project allows students to master terminology in order to produce qualified translators who fulfill the needs of the job market. Students deepen their skills around translation of political, legal and economic texts. My students are very motivated when it comes to translating texts on Wikipedia.

The students learn to master specialist translations and knowing the theoretical and practical aspects of it. They understand the necessity of developing their skills and engaging in the ongoing practice of working in groups and working with technological tools like the internet in order to gather information.

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Photos

Czech Republic

• Instructor to feature: Jiří Reif, Ph.D.
• Professor university: Charles University in Prague
• Course name: Nature conservation
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): Advanced undergraduates:
• Learning objectives: Writing Skills Development, Media and Information, Critical Thinking and Research Skills, Technical skills
• Discipline of course: Environmental studies
• Class size: 30
• Individual or group assignment: individual
• Duration of assignment (in weeks): 8

Professor quote: Students were supposed to describe a chosen protected area in the Czech Republic and present the data by giving a talk in front of class and by writing an article on Wikipedia. A personal visit to the area, its photographic documentation, and citing from existing literature were all requested for a successful assignment.

Generally, I have a very positive feeling about the assignment. Students were really “pushed into the game” in most cases and worked more enthusiastically than during other kinds of courses. I am very glad that they realize the value of publishing their written work on Wikipedia – their schoolwork did not end up “in the teacher’s drawer”. Last but not least, the complete availability of the article on the Internet and its critical assessment by independent wikipedians made the students learn to work with sources – a skill that will be useful for them during further studies.

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Student work

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Illustrations

United States

• Instructor to feature: Bruce Sharky, Professor
• Professor university: Louisiana State University
• Course name: Regional Planning and Design
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): Master's students
• Learning objectives: Media and Information Literacy, Critical Thinking and Research Skills, Technical Skills
• Discipline of course: Landscape architecture
• Class size: 11
• Individual or group assignment: individual
• Duration of assignment (in weeks): 12 (part of larger off-wiki assignment)

Professor quote:

I gave my students a list of about 30 topics, they could choose whichever one they wanted. The topics had to do with natural processes in coastal Louisiana, such as wetland loss, hurricanes, etc. The larger assignment included a paper and an in-class presentation, but I asked them to go on Wikipedia and find an article that could use an illustration that would explain graphically what was written in words.

Students were very excited about the assignment because they were able to be published, they were treated as a grown up, they were making a contribution to Wikipedia, and people all over the world were critiquing their work. I found that the quality of their other work was some of the best I've seen of my students, and I think it was because of the Wikipedia assignment. It made students think critically about the kind of graphic illustrations they do with all of their assignments. As landscape architects, we have to communicate to the pubic, and this assignment helped them gain those skills.

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Student work:

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Videos

United States

• Instructor to feature: Jennifer Geigel Mikulay, Assistant Professor of Professional Communication
• Professor university: Alverno College
• Course name: Advanced Media Studies
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): advanced undergraduates, many of whom are returning students
• Learning objectives: Media and Information Literacy
• Discipline of course: Communication
• Class size: 40
• Individual or group assignment: individual
• Duration of assignment (in weeks): 4

Professor quote

Students create an original informational video to illustrate a Wikipedia article dealing a subject related to architecture, dance, heritage, landscape, machines, music, parks, or sports. The project is designed to facilitate the expansion and integration of media knowledge. Students experiment, problem solve, engage aesthetic abilities, and apply insights from course readings and independent research. All images and music must be original, out of copyright, or available with a Creative Commons share-alike license.

The assignment is designed to increase media literacy, provide experience with digital video, and encourage web content development. Students learn about Wikipedia as a digital project and as a collaborative community with a specific culture. They learn about the uneven gender dynamic in Wikipedia and tech fields generally. They also learn the value of sharing their work in a highly accessible venue. The feedback students get on their work means a lot to them. When Wikipedians leave notes on their talk pages or otherwise comment on the videos, the students really appreciate the engagement.

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Your assignment!

 Text encouraging professors to add their own assignments TK.

Case studies: Grading

Content added to Wikipedia

United States

• Professor name: Anne J. McNeil, Seyhan N. Eğe Assistant Professor of Chemistry
• Professor university: University of Michigan
• Course name: Organic Chemistry of Macromolecules, Physical Organic Chemistry
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): Ph.D. courses, though advanced undergraduates also took the course and participated in the projects
• Learning objectives: Writing Skills Development, Critical Thinking and Research Skills, Collaboration, Working on Wiki: Technical and Communication Skills
• Discipline of course: Chemistry
• Class size: Ranged from 10 to 36
• Individual or group assignment: Groups of 2–3

Professor quote:

The students work in small groups to edit a Wikipedia article that is related to the course material and not already adequately described in Wikipedia. I gave the students a set of minimum expectations: at least 3 sections, 3 figures, and 8 references must be added to the site. Then, during the two-stage peer review process, I gave the students a list of questions meant to provide more specific guidelines about what is expected. For example, “is the web page suitable for first-time/general users as well as those looking to understand the topic in more detail?” I also used these questions when determining their final grade. I had the students present their individual contribution to the site, which allowed me to give students different grades within each group based on their individual efforts.

Breaking down the grading into sections (content, figures, references, presentation, peer reviews, etc) gave me a simple yet fair structure with which to evaluate the sites. Each student received a unique grade, which is variable based on his or her individual contribution to the site and their peer reviews. This alleviates any concern by the students when someone does not pull their weight.

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Other choices at: commons:Category:Wikipedia_Education_Program_Case_Studies_photos

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Blog posts

United States

• Professor name: Rochelle Davis, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
• Professor university: Georgetown University
• Course name: Introduction to the Study of the Arab World, Theorizing Culture and Politics
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): M.A. and 2nd/3rd year undergraduates
• Learning objectives: Writing Skills Development, Critical Thinking and Research Skills, Working on Wiki: Technical and Communication Skills
• Discipline of course: Multidisciplinary
• Class size: 20
• Individual or group assignment: Individual

Professor quote:

Students chose a topic for the semester (related to the class). They researched it and contributed an entry to Wikipedia (review of literature/neutral point of view writing), and then a research paper on the same subject (academic writing with an argument based on their review of the literature). They also wrote five blog entries about their experiences over the course of the term.

I graded the assignment based on five criteria:

1. vision for the entry content: Did you divide up the material in a way that reflects both the literature and neutral point of view? Did you make the appropriate headings?
2. your research in thinking-beyond-Google to find relevant and diverse sources;
3. your organization of the entry and the content: Did you organize the material or are there things in one section that belong elsewhere? Did you provide relevant material? Are there things missing?
4. your writing of a well-supported, well-researched entry: Neutral point of view? Sources/footnotes? Grammatically correct? Paragraphs well-constructed?
5. how you address the comments you were given by me and others.

The blog entries were graded by whether they did them or not.

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Other choices at: commons:Category:Wikipedia_Education_Program_Case_Studies_photos

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Reflective Papers

United States

• Professor name: Michael Mandiberg, Associate Professor
• Professor university: College of Staten Island/CUNY
• Course name: History of Design and Digital Media
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): 2nd/3rd year undergraduates
• Learning objectives: Writing Skills Development, Media and Information Literacy, Critical Thinking and Research Skills, Collaboration, Working on Wiki: Technical and Communication Skills
• Discipline of course: Media Studies/Art History
• Class size: 22
• Individual or group assignment: Individual

Professor quote:

I asked my students to write a short (2-5 page) reflective essay on their experiences using Wikipedia. The reflective paper was graded based on the thoroughness and depth with which they reflected on their experience, but the paper was also used as a lens to evaluate their final project.

Their final project was to add 1200 to 2000 words to a stub article related to the course. The were expected to create an info box, add images, and add at least 20 relevant and authoritative citations. While I was able to use the article history to evaluate the objective quality of each student’s contributions, it was very useful to see the shifts in subjective self-awareness and perception that is a large part of why I had my students write on Wikipedia. I was able to confirm from the student’s own voice the transformations I had witnessed (or believed I had witnessed) via the text they added: it empowered them, it transformed their research skills, it was rewarding for them to do something that was for the greater good, and most importantly, it made their writing better and kept them academically honest.

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Peer Reviews

United States

• Professor name: Shamira Gelbman, Assistant Professor
• Professor university: Illinois State University
• Course name: U.S. Political Parties
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): advanced undergraduates
• Learning objectives: Writing Skills Development, Media and Information Literacy, Critical Thinking and Research Skills
• Discipline of course: Political Science
• Class size: 70
• Individual or group assignment: Individual

Professor quote:

As part of a larger project that involved both Wikipedia and other components, students were required to evaluate and improve existing Wikipedia articles about state-level political party organizations in the United States.

The students’ improvements to their assigned state-party articles were evaluated twice: a month into their work, and again at the end of the semester. The one-month evaluation involved three kinds of evaluation: Each student self-evaluated his or her own progress; each student was assigned to peer-review one other classmate’s work; and I provided an evaluation and suggestions for further improvement for each student based on his or her self-evaluations, peer-review report, and his or her article itself. The peer review component of this one-month evaluation was guided; that is, students received forms with pointed, open-ended questions to help structure their assessment of classmates’ work.

I’ve found that self-evaluation and peer-review make assessment more meaningful to students; they become active participants in the process rather than passive recipients of a grade. Peer review has the added benefit of facilitating students learning from each other – both in terms of the content and the quality of their work.

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Other choices at: commons:Category:Wikipedia_Education_Program_Case_Studies_photos

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Milestones

United States

• Professor name: Robert Cummings, Director, Center for Writing and Rhetoric, and Associate Professor of English
• Professor university: University of Mississippi
• Course name: Writing 101
• Course level (undergrad/graduate): First-year undergraduates
• Learning objectives: Writing Skills Development, Media and Information Literacy, Critical Thinking and Research Skills, Collaboration, Working on Wiki: Technical and Communication Skills
• Discipline of course: Composition
• Class size: 23
• Individual or group assignment: Both

Professor quote

The purpose of the assignment is to further student progress toward the composition course outcomes of learning a writing process, building skills in intellectual exploration and argumentation, understanding rhetorical purposes and diverse audiences, engaging in effective research practices, and producing prose with acceptable conventions and mechanics.

Student work was evaluated both in terms of participation in each stage of the assignment process, and also in terms of a reflective essay. At each of the seven assignment stages students were asked to conduct some type of research and then to prepare a brief report for that day’s assignment. And within the reflective essay students were asked to evaluate the project in terms of its usefulness of helping them reach the course outcomes. This strategy of creating small, incremental, writing to learn assignments each day provided manageable tasks on a daily basis which did not detract from the research process.

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Coming!

Next steps

Visit the online version of this brochure to get more details on each professor's assignment. If you've used Wikipedia in your class, you can also add yourself and your assignment details, so other professors can experience what you've learned from your Wikipedia assignment. Have another idea of an assignment or a way to grade? Add that as well! Visit  url to come for more details.

Wikipedia Education Program

Ready to join the Wikipedia Education Program? Education programs already exist in many countries, and Wikimedia volunteers are creating new programs every term. Professors don't need to be Wikipedia experts to use the free encyclopedia as a teaching tool in their classrooms; volunteer Wikipedia Ambassadors are available to offer you and your student assistance in learning the best ways to contribute to Wikipedia for class.

For more information, visit education.wikimedia.org.