Wikipedia Education Program/News/20 November 2012

Welcome to the Wikipedia Education Program Update -- a newsletter from the Wikimedia Foundation about efforts to bring Wikipedia into higher education classrooms. The newsletter is released on the first and third Tuesday of each month. To be notified of the latest issue, add this page to your watchlist or email LiAnna Davis (ldaviswikimedia.org), the Wikipedia Education Program Communications Manager, to be added to the distribution list.

New teaching tool brochure released

A new brochure, titled "Instructor Basics: How to use Wikipedia as a teaching tool", is now available from the Wikimedia Foundation and on Wikimedia Commons. This brochure covers key Wikipedia policies and structures that educators wanting to do a Wikipedia assignment in their classes need to understand, best practices on article selection and working with the community, and sample grading rubrics. Download the brochure.

Sample syllabus brochure revamped

The sample syllabus provided for instructors interested in having their students write Wikipedia articles as part of the course curriculum has been updated based on recommendations from more instructors who have participated in the Wikipedia Education Program. The new version provides a week-by-week breakdown of how you can incorporate a "write a Wikipedia article" assignment into your classes. It includes some key milestones that have proven effective at ensuring that students derive the greatest educational benefits from editing Wikipedia. Download the syllabus brochure.

NCA conference highlights Wikipedia initiative

The National Communication Association is joining the Association for Psychological Sciences and the American Sociological Association in calling for academics in their discipline to improve the content on Wikipedia through using it as a teaching tool in their classrooms. The Wikipedia Education Program was featured at the NCA convention in Florida last week, with a workshop attended by more than 40 instructors and a booth in the exhibit hall. See more information about the NCA Wikipedia Initiative.

Student's article featured on main page

A student at Davidson College created the article on the psychology of music preference as an assignment for Professor Greta Munger's course on Cognition and the Arts, which is participating in the U.S. Education Program this term. The student's article got accepted into the Did You Know section on Wikipedia's Main Page last week, where it received more than 2,000 views. Read the article.