Exploring automatic suggestions
One of the projects I’m excited about is an experiment with providing automatic suggestions to student editors about how to get started with improving their assigned Wikipedia articles. We want the dashboard to highlight specific improvements that student editors can make to their assigned articles, such as adding additional sources, including an image. I’ve been … Continued
Engaged Learning and Teaching with Wikipedia
On a sunny Monday in May, I headed to Tulane University’s Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching to run a “Teaching with Wikipedia” faculty workshop. Associate Director of Classroom Engagement Toni Weiss hosted me for an an intimate, hour long talk during which I spoke with interested faculty from the French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese departments. We … Continued
Wiki Education joins psychologists at Palo Alto University to talk psychology + Wikipedia
Yesterday, Wiki Education was at Palo Alto University for their first annual Evidence-Based Teaching Conference. I presented alongside Dr. Patty Brooks, Professor at the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York and Doctoral Faculty at The Graduate Center, CUNY, and Elizabeth Che, a doctoral student at The Graduate Center. We shared … Continued
Looking back at the Spring 2017 term
The Spring 2017 term saw tremendous growth, but also prompted reflection for Wiki Education. We supported 358 courses and more than 7,500 students. Collectively, those students contributed more than 6 million words to almost 10,000 articles on Wikipedia on subjects ranging from Diagnostic microbiology to Police brutality against Native Americans. Each term, we strive to improve our support for our … Continued
Plant species articles ripe for student contributions
For some classes, selecting the right article to work on can be a challenging task. For a plant taxonomy class interested in creating species articles, you’re more likely to be faced by an embarrassment of riches. Verbesina is a genus of plants in the aster family. Of the 300 species in the genus, only 19 … Continued
Creating digital citizens with Wikipedia-based project-learning
In late May, I traveled to Fordham University in New York for its annual Faculty Technology Day. The theme of this year’s event was “digital citizenship,” and we attended to explore what it means to be a digital citizen and how instructors on campus could help prepare their students to fill such roles. But I … Continued
Monthly Report for May 2017
Highlights We announced the placement of a new Visiting Scholar, Eryk Salvaggio, at the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage at Brown University. Eryk will be using the university’s resources to improve topics on an important academic subject that’s underdeveloped on Wikipedia, ethnic studies. Wiki Education staff presented about our programs … Continued
Welcome, TJ Bliss!
I’m excited to announce that TJ Bliss has agreed to join Wiki Education as Director of Development and Strategy. Many of us have gotten to know TJ from his former role as our program officer at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and I couldn’t be happier that he’s decided to join our team. In … Continued
New guides for writing about books or films
We’re pleased to announce two new resources for students contributing to Wikipedia articles about books or films! One of the ways we support classes working on Wikipedia for a class assignment is through printed handouts and brochures. Wikipedia can be an intimidating place for a new user, and it’s easy to get lost in the … Continued
Enhancing interdisciplinary teaching and learning through Wikimedia Commons
Anne Leonard is an Information Literacy Librarian at New York City College of Technology. In this post she reflects on her experience incorporating Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons into her course, Learning Places: Understanding the City. Interdisciplinary learning and place-based learning are at the heart of General Education at City Tech. For the past several semesters, … Continued