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Education/Newsletter/August 2013/EduWiki Conference 2013 - Call for Proposals

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Wikimedia UK's second annual EduWiki conference will take place in Cardiff, UK on 1 and 2 November 2013. Panorama of Cardiff Bay, location of EduWiki Conference 2013

A recent white paper from TurnItIn, the online plagiarism-prevention service used widely across higher education in the UK, claims that "Wikipedia has an outsized presence as a content source for student writing". [1] This study is based on an analysis of over 112 million content matches from 28 million student papers submitted to TurnItIn between July 2011 and June 2012. 11% of these content matches are from Wikipedia. However, the same report is quick to explain that Wikipedia has academic merit in terms of educational value. TurnItIn's recommendation is to "educate students that the true value of Wikipedia is to provide a curated summary on a topic, and that they should follow the sources and citations at the bottom of Wikipedia entries to verify the accuracy of the information and to uncover primary source material" [2].

Wikimedia UK is now inviting proposals for papers, presentation, provocations and/or posters, especially ones addressing the Wikipedia problem highlighted by the TurnItIn white paper. Proposal for panels and roundtable discussions from groups of three or four participants are also welcome.

Indicative topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Wikipedia belongs in Education, including Higher Education
  • Wikipedia's academic merit and educational value
  • Examples of using Wikipedia in the high school, college or university classroom
  • Ways to deter university students from plagiarizing Wikipedia
  • Going beyond Wikipedia by engaging with any of the other major Wikimedia projects: Wikibooks, Wikispecies, Wikiquote, Wikinews, Wikisource, Wikiversity, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons, among others.

Email your proposal (including an abstract of up to 200 words) to education﹫wikimedia.org.uk by Monday 26 August 2013. All proposals should also include a brief bio (around 50 words).

Queries about the conference or any other aspect of Wikimedia UK's Education activities can be sent directly to WMUK's Education Organiser toni.sant﹫wikimedia.org.uk

[1] TurnItIn White Paper. 'The Sources in Student Writing - Higher Education', p.10

[2] ibid. p.11

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