GMU Center for History and New Media‘s Jeremy Boggs has written an excellent blog post describing his approach to assigning Wikipedia in a US History course he’s teaching. Boggs provides a very clear and thoughtful approach that would work well as a model for any discipline. Here’s what Boggs writes about the benefits of students doing this sort of project:
- Learn how to do research: A no-brainer here. The assignment involves some basic research and writing skills, a modest but substantial amount for a 100-level survey course.
- Demystify Wikipedia: Most people have preconceptions about Wikipedia, but very little experience actually reading AND writing an Wikipedia article. Fewer people have experience communicating with other Wikipedia users, particularly admins and editors. This, in turn, influences how they interact with others on various social sites and services. Moreover, students learn that not just anything can be published on Wikipedia, there are rules and policies in place for the content that gets to stay on Wikipedia.
- Learn the difference between fact-only writing and analytical writing: Most of my students have a difficult time understanding how to make an argument, how to differentiate between fact-based “reporting” and analysis. By actually being forced to write a “just the facts” report, they have been able to see the difference between the two.
Read the rest of Boggs’s article “Assigning Wikipedia in a US History Survey”.
Closer to home, Duke graduate student Alexa Garvoillle writes about her experiences using Wikipedia in Cathy Davidson’s American Novel course. Garvoille’s post also suggests “a theoretical framework for using Wikipedia in the classroom,” based not only on her experiences at Duke, but also working with Durham Public Schools:
“As a teacher and learner, the experience of evaluating contemporary media and engaging in Web 2.0 materials during a course helped me see the value of maintaining a focus on relevance and immediacy in the classroom.”
Read the rest of Garvoille’s post on her blog, The Rebellious Reader.