Have you ever incorporated Wikipedia into classroom assignments or discussions?

In a recent webcast, "The Future of Wikipedia in Education," Jake Orlowitz asked this question to our attendees. Half of the 325 respondents took a negative approach to Wikipedia, with 23% saying they never incorporated it and that it's pretty much banned from being used or mentioned, and 26% talk about Wikipedia only to suggest how unreliable and unprofessional it is. The other half of the attendees take a more positive approach, with 24% talking about Wikipedia as an example of collaboration and discourse, 24% use it as a source to evaluate its neutrality and compare it to other sources, and 2% actually have students contribute to a Wikipedia article. One cutting-edge educator even built an entire semester around learning and contributing to Wikipedia.

Like it or not, students rely on Wikipedia when it comes to their writing and research. In Turnitin's 2012 research reports that covered the top sources in student writing in secondary and higher education across 156 million content matches from 38 million student papers, Wikipedia was the number one matched source, and the encyclopedia category comprised 11-14% of all matches.

Want to learn more about using Wikipedia in your classes? Watch these two great webcasts:


The Future of Wikipedia in Education
Watch NowWhat's Wrong with Wikipedia?
Watch Now

Have you ever incorporated Wikipedia into classroom assignments or discussions?

In a recent webcast, "The Future of Wikipedia in Education," Jake Orlowitz asked this question to our attendees. Half of the 325 respondents took a negative approach to Wikipedia, with 23% saying they never incorporated it and that it's pretty much banned from being used or mentioned, and 26% talk about Wikipedia only to suggest how unreliable and unprofessional it is. The other half of the attendees take a more positive approach, with 24% talking about Wikipedia as an example of collaboration and discourse, 24% use it as a source to evaluate its neutrality and compare it to other sources, and 2% actually have students contribute to a Wikipedia article. One cutting-edge educator even built an entire semester around learning and contributing to Wikipedia.

Like it or not, students rely on Wikipedia when it comes to their writing and research. In Turnitin's 2012 research reports that covered the top sources in student writing in secondary and higher education across 156 million content matches from 38 million student papers, Wikipedia was the number one matched source, and the encyclopedia category comprised 11-14% of all matches.

Want to learn more about using Wikipedia in your classes? Watch these two great webcasts:


The Future of Wikipedia in Education
Watch NowWhat's Wrong with Wikipedia?
Watch Now

Salmon, Gilly et al (2009) How to create
podcasts for education Open University Press
(Maidenhead & McGraw-Hill, New York
www.openup.co.uk) ISBN 978-0-33523534-6
30 pp £4.99
How to create Podcasts for education is a very
informative and useful little (sic) book for
anyone wanting to enhance student learning
with audio and/or video and one which is
easily accessible to the average computer user.
Its practical advice with explanations of the
technology and surrounding technical jargon,
as well as its pedagogical tips, makes this work
ideal for teachers who are experimenting with
digital audio and video. The text is clearly
written and makes a substantial case for using
podcasts, enhanced podcasts (audio podcasts
with images, forming a sort of slide-show-
Editor), and vodcasts in teaching and learning.
Based on seminal work undertaken as the
technology emerged early this century, it
includes
* a step-by-step guide to creating podcasts;
* information on the software and computing
accessories necessary; and
* sound advice about the approaches to ensur-
ing pedagogical usefulness and technical
quality.
There is evidence of positive student feedback;
this adds well to the discussion, as do the refer-
ences to hosting podcasts, both from within an
institutional VLE and more informally.
The first chapter provides a useful chronology
of the development of podcasting techniques
and technologies with some future-gazing
and realistic identification of limitations and
barriers, while the second chapter presents a
practitioner's guide arranged around screen
grabs for a commonly used audio recording
software system. Almost any user, regardless
of confidence or experience, could begin to
produce reasonable audio files in a short
period.
In addition the glossary and the discussion of
copyright issues prompt thinking about issues
often overlooked in the rush to add new items
to the learner's toolkit.
I recommend this little book to anyone inter-
ested in enhancing learning through the use of
simply created, effective sound or sound and
vision files.
Dr Robyn Smyth (received February 2009)
Senior Lecturer Academic Developer, School
of Rural Medicine University of New England,
Australia
rsmyth@une.edu.au