Dr. Thomas Peace taught a course called Crises and Confederation at Huron University College in the spring. The course focused on Canadian history from 1867 to the present and explored four main themes: Indigenous peoples, language and multiculturalism, war, and gender.
“In the past I have had students prepare proposals for exhibits that connect the broad themes to our local context in London, Ontario,” Dr. Peace writes about the course. “This year, I’m planning to shift the proposal into a Wikipedia article on a specific moment of historical significance, asking them to include in their article a photograph of an artifact or location here in London that connects to the broader subject.”
Wiki Education assists instructors, like Dr. Peace, who want to incorporate Wikipedia editing into their higher education courses. We provide assignment templates, how-to trainings for students, and staff support to help ensure students make meaningful contributions to the site and have a good experience doing it. Dr. Peace’s students did just that, adding more than 40,000 words to Wikipedia articles on a wide range of topics. In addition to expanding 17 different Wikipedia articles, students created five new ones.
One such new article is about the Black Power movement in Montreal during the 1960s. Student editor User:Pridenkom wrote more than 6,000 words in the article and cited 17 references. Pridenkom also found an existing photo on Wikimedia Commons to illustrate the information.
The Black Power movement in Montreal began in the 1960s, building off of decades of frustration over structural racism affecting Montreal’s black community. The movement sought change from cultural, economic, and political angles and found inspiration in other movements of the time like the Harlem Renaissance, Garveyism, Pan-Africanism, and Rastafari. The movement culminated in a student occupation of Sir George Williams University in 1969, which inspired conversations about racism both within the Montreal community and internationally. Thanks to Dr. Peace’s student, anyone with internet access can read about this history on Wikipedia.
Interested in teaching with Wikipedia? Visit teach.wikiedu.org for all you need to get started. Or reach out to contact@wikiedu.org for more information about how you and your students can get involved.
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