I've watched the progression of the use of Wikipedia in the classroom over my own lifetime. After a few years of cultivation, when Wikipedia first emerged as a resources for a wide variety of topics, I can recall teachers slandering the validity of information posted on Wikipedia and forbidding the use of Wikipedia as a source in research projects.
Then Wikipedia became a source of free entertainment between my friends and myself, set the tumbler on random and read about whatever nonsensical topic popped up. Better yet, we would find a random page and see who could get to Hitler or Jesus in the fewest "clicks" or links.
Further on in my education, in my later high school and collegiate years, professors began to include Wikipedia as a research source. No longer was there a great ban on Wikipedia, but an informal acceptance of the validity of Wikipedia's content.
What changed? Did school teachers and professors alike attend a Wikipedia conference which deemed the source as valid? Or did something in the content of Wikipedia change that teachers favored enough to permit it as a source? Do you agree with this change? I know I do!
Great question! I didn't actually realize teachers had become more lenient with the use of Wikipedia for research assignments and papers. In my field, I want students going straight to the source. So even if the Wikipedia page does carry appropriate sourcing, that's what I prefer they use. But I also hold a library orientation at the beginning of their program to get them familiar with journal article locations, database searching, and reference texts in our collection.
ReplyDeleteLove the game though, thanks for that idea! :) Who doesn't appreciate a bit of mindless entertainment?
From my research on Wikipedia, while professors and teachers use it themselves, they are still hesitant to suggest it a source for students, which is unfortunate. I think people are just starting to see the use and ease of it, to be honest, because there still isn't much research on Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteI agree that teachers and academics don't mind students using Wikipedia, but. I think they prefer it be used as a way to find primary sources. Google provides search results. Wikipedia provides information results.
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