Technology in the Classroom

Wikipedia is now one of the most viewed websites in the world.  When your students conduct online research it will inevitably come up.  Since Wikipedia is open for editing by anyone, can you really trust it?  Many teachers do not and tell their students to steer clear of it.  However, Wikipedia is not going away and there may be a better way to handle it.

Andy Carvin, of National Public Radio, wrote an article on his site in 2005 entitled: “Turning Wikipedia Into an Asset for Schools.”  I encourage you to read it.  Much of what he writes, I couldn’t agree with more.  First off, some articles are written better and provide references for their information.  That right there is a skill for your students to determine what looks legitimate and what does not.  For those articles that look worthwhile, your students need to verify the information through multiple sources.  That’s a 21^st century skill.  And the real fun begins when your students find inaccuracies and join the Wikipedia community to correct the errors.  In this article, Mr. Carvin writes, “They go to the entry’s talk page and present their findings, laying out every idea that needs to be corrected. Then, they edit the actual entry to make the corrections, with all sources cited . . . Get enough classrooms doing this, you kill several birds with one stone: Wikipedia’s information gets better, students help give back to the Net by improving the accuracy of an important online resource, and teachers have a way to make lemons into lemonade, turning Wikipedia from a questionable information source to a powerful tool for information literacy.”

I encourage you to rethink Wikipedia and how you teach information literacy.  These are the skills our students need now more than ever.

Filed under: 21st Century Skills and