I view Wikipedia as a resource that my students can read to
provide leads or understanding of information they are researching. Although I
know that they will use Wikipedia because it’s free, easily assessable, and appears
as the first link in their search. When
given a written assignment, I usually provide them with a limited list sources
related to the content. I have in many occasions explained to the students that
Wikipedia was similar to an encyclopedia except the information is written by
various authors. I will accept them
reading the information, but I do not count it as a major resource for their
assignment. Now I do use Youtube,
Schooltube, Teachertube , and Discovery Education in my lessons and
presentations. I allow my students to use these sources also in their assignments.
Even though Youtube is used most often by them for the type of projects they
have to complete, I enjoy watching their creativity with them. I know that
these video sources are not documentaries, but the messages can have a profound
effect on their learning.
I think the gender differences descriptions are correct that
only 16% are contributors and 9% edit. Hearing the type of tactics that are
used on Wikipedia was new information to me. I did not know that a contributor’s
work that was added could be rejected and deleted. This was astounding. In the
meantime, I could understand why this would not be an attractive profession for
activity for women. I think this is why men dominate in contributing to Wikipedia
over women.
I agree with you thoughts on Wikipedia. I like the idea of giving the students a list of sources to use. In your class do all your students write on the same topic? I give a nutrition research paper but my students can chose their topic.
ReplyDeleteI 100% agree with you thoughts on YouTube. I use them a lot in my health class. I think it does a great job of giving the students a visual.
I also love the idea of giving the students a list of resources to use. It forces them away from common sites like Wikipedia, which, as you mentioned, is usually the first result after a search. Students seem as if they choose it out of complete laziness. It's a good starting point but should definitely not be used as a sole source. Professor Siko told us to think about how we would handle introducing students to creating wikis and yet say that Wikipedia is a bad source. He asked, "doesn't that taint the experience for the students?". This question is super tricky, to be honest, this is my first time ever creating a wiki so I'm not quite sure if I even like it enough to work it into my curriculum.If I do end up liking wikis and come up with some great ways to implement them into my class, I would still hold up the fact that all wikis, including the one that they are going to create may contain untrue or biased information. I'm not sure it would taint the experience for the students much. I mean, we have been telling kids that social media can be a dangerous place and it hasn't seemed to taint their experience there. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteIf they've been cyberbullied, I would argue their social media experience gets tainted really quick. But I digress...
DeleteShould the students EVER only use one source? Can Wikipedia be one of many equal sources?
Nice post Blair, I agree with you about the wiki editing part, I think this is special about Wiki Web site that it allows and encourages all users to edit and add pages within the site. This design is considered highly democratic in that it encourages/facilitates user collaboration, accumulates users’ opinions, and cultivates active cyber communities on the Web.
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ReplyDeleteI experience my first Wikipedia critique. I have never paid that much attention until I listened to the audio describing how the correction and exclusions that should be done by the contributor. The wiki had comments such as cite needed, who said that, is this your opinion. Although our readings referred to students using wiki's for group assignments and collaboration, should sites like this be used as teachable moments to show students how to submit corrections?
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with you. I never tried Wiki myself in the classroom, but I believe that this is a great opportunity of teachable moment "citation and plagiarism".
ReplyDeleteReviewing the information provided about the different media reporting that was identified as providing false information to the public made me realize that all sources need to be reviewed carefully as well as cited reference and sources. This is what I was referring to when I was doing a search, click on Wikipedia but whoever was editing or reviewing made the comments and statements to the contributing editor about the validity of their posting. Even though I realized what was occurring, I really think that examples such as these can assist student with their collaborating
ReplyDeleteon wiki assignments. This relates to Fu study where teacher monitors student work and comment on their wiki pages. Although Google sites was used the student attitudes results were rated high. Students indicated that using the Wiki enabled them to achieve the course objectives and was easy to use.
How you control the flow of information depends on the goals of the assignment. If you restrict the sources, then you're not having information literacy as part of your overall goal. And that's OK!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHowever, there should be points (and this depends on the age of the student) where students need to be critical of information. So, not only are you evaluating them on their final product, but you should also have means by which you evaluate their information literacy skills (source variety, plagiarism, evaluation of credibility, etc.).