There’s a great conversation about Wikipedia going on at Weblogg-ed which I’ve been following with interest, and I want to add my pro-Wikipedia voice here.
As a learner, I love Wikipedia — it’s a great place to start exploring a topic.
And as a teacher who wants to facilitate learning, I love Wikipedia for the very same reason — it’s a great place to start exploring a topic.
Is Wikipedia potentially in error on some topics? You bet. So is any publication, for that matter. That’s why I ask for citations of multiple sources for any topic and spend time talking about assessing the credibility of an author and his/her writing. Incidentally, Katt has published some excellent ideas on the topic of the Hows and Whys of Wikipedia in the Classroom, including assessing credibility.
Are there topics in Wikipedia that I wish students wouldn’t access? Absolutely. The thing is, they will whether or not it’s blocked at school. I’d rather focus on helping students become the kind of people who don’t want to bother with questionable topics instead of forcing them to be sneaky about what they access.
Do students rely too much on Wikipedia? Maybe. I find, however, that as we discuss and use the tool, they are more likely to check out the supporting links for an article, and from there launch an entirely different level of research.
So I plan to teach students how to use Wikipedia, being fortunate enough to be working with a school administration that embraces student learning around technology.
Brad,
Thanks for the support. I’m glad to know there are so many others who are using Wikipedia. I’ve heard so many arguments that it’s either a bad source or too easy for students to copy and paste from. But I agree wholly with you–if we cannot teach our students how to use Wikipedia in their studies, we fail them in some aspect of their future.
You’ve got some great ideas on your blog. Keep it up!
Katt