The article, "Making Wikis Work For Scholars" in the April, 28 issue of Inside Higher Ed describes how professors use Wikipedia and even incorporate it into their classes. It's common for college professors to contribute articles on Wikipedia. Some feel that this is what makes Wikipedia reliable. The article states "A quick glance at the syllabus for Breno de Medeiros’s Advanced Topics in Cryptography and Network Security course at Florida State University, to take one example, reveals reading assignments — in addition to the usual textbook chapters and published papers — that direct students to pages on Wikipedia." Some teachers even assign students to write their own Wikipedia page.
The article claims "Even if they won’t admit it, students are using Wikipedia to kick off their research and fill the gaps in their class notes ..." The article also points out the legitimacy issues that come up when it comes to Wikipedia articles. Since they're open to anybody, people can write articles without the proper education of the topic. After being published, the articles are not subject to any review by authority.
While I agree that the articles on Wikipedia could be erroneous, from my personal experiences with it, it's been helpful. When I'm learning about something I have little to no prior knowledge on, Wikipedia provides a good foundation for learning about it. It lets me know what the main significance of the topic is before I read in-depth articles about it. I can understand why teachers wouldn't allow students to reference it since it's not scholarly, but I rarely find inaccuracies on it and it serves as a helpful tool for me.
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2 comments:
Wikipedia is a tricky subject. A lot of smart people are posting serious pages onto the site but a lot of weirdos are too. The problem is know one can tell on from another. In my personal experience, teachers tell me not to use Wikipedia, i have never had an instructor tell me its ok. So the fact that some younger kids are being allowed, encouraged to use wikipedia is very bad. When they get to college they are going to get into trouble. High school teachers should be teaching students how to research using credible sources only.
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