In class this morning I was amazed on how hypocritical (for the lack of a better word) education has been regarding Wikipedia. Something that was brought up in class was the fact that we have been enforcing the use of textbook encyclopedias that are outdated and have reached the point where these books are no longer up to date and relevant. Instead of allowing students to use something that is updated constantly by thousands of people to ensure that what is on there is factual, the education system would rather tell their students that using textbook encyclopedias are more reliable and that information placed onto the internet is false.
I want to discuss the issue on how students are constantly told that they cannot use Wikipedia to find information and sources for an assignment, although it is more reliable and up to date than a book. The thing that is never mentioned when Wiki is brought up, is the fact that these pages are rated with a rubric that shows how the article is in quality of information and if it has interest to whatever category of Wiki it is in. In order to get anything higher than a B class rating, an article must be reviewed and approved by multiple individuals that are qualified to rate the given article. If students are allowed to be educated on where to find reliable sources on Wikipedia, then they are open to a whole world of information that they were not previously allowed to search. With the reliable and updated information, students will be able to create more accurate assessments through researching online rather than in a book that was originally written 50 years prior.
As a student, I was always told to never use Wikipedia, like it was frowned upon in the education community, but now that technology has improved, I now am hearing that Wiki is a great place to find information and sources that could help build strong research. With the help of class this morning, I now know how to check Wiki articles to find their quality and teach my students how this could be a great resource for their assignments.
Don't be this teacher when it comes to your students using Wikipedia...
Jeff definitely put things into perspective for me, regarding content applicability and efficiency. I honestly have no idea why I never questioned the push for textbooks in the past (even in my undergraduate work), if it is true that content is changing and transforming every 14 months. Textbooks sure as heck are not the resources to consistently rely on. Not that they are not full of really great information, but it is far more time-consuming to update a textbook than it is a digital platform. It is so strange, and also kind of scary, how easily we flock to whatever someone has told us. Not that it is necessarily inaccurate or a lie, but, in the example of believing we should not use Wikipedia, too many of us were quick to rule that out because the teacher said so.
ReplyDeleteWith me being a music teacher I never thought about using online resources (or textbooks) in my classroom because everything is based off of sheet music. I had the idea of doing a once year reaserch opprotunity to help students familiarize themselves with different famous composers and genres of music. Using Wiki might be the way I have them study these people once I show them how to find reliable articles.
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