Terri Hlava teaches Justice Studies, Disability Studies, and Cultural Pedagogy courses at Arizona State University.
It wasn’t very long ago that Wikipedia meant a website to look up information, a first stop in a learning journey. But now, it means so much more to my teaching partner and me. These days, the Wikipedia assignment means an unprecedented opportunity for our students to shape knowledge and influence culture – independent of TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X, an opportunity to improve accessibility and increase authentic representation of marginalized communities. It means that students engage deeply with course content.
It wasn’t very long ago that my teaching partner and I hadn’t considered incorporating Wikipedia into our courses, and now, we cannot imagine teaching about social justice topics without the Wikipedia assignment – because it requires students to understand (and engage in) the politics of knowledge production, as Dr. Tracy Perkins pointed out when she introduced us to the idea of teaching with Wikipedia with the support of Wiki Education.
As persuasive as her presentation was, we weren’t fully convinced until we tried the Wikipedia assignment in our own class and saw our students appreciate the trainings and the practice exercises. Classroom conversations went from primarily practical information about course content to more theoretical discussions with students reminding each other that all assertions had to be cited, no new knowledge could be introduced during this stage. They truly embraced the Wiki Education ideals and standards. Facilitating meaningful discussion is one thing, but incorporating technology is quite another matter…
Truth be told, I put the “no logical” in “tech-no-logical”. So, the idea of using technology in an upper division class was intimidating. OK, it was a little worse than intimidating – I was pretty scared at first. But the Wiki Education team helped us set up our course and integrate the assignments into our syllabus. Dr. Perkins helped the students open accounts and navigate the dashboard and made sure that everyone was set up for success. Thanks to this support, we eased into the experience with our students leading the way.
When students selected articles, our primary requirement was that they research from a place of authenticity, meaning that students had to identify with some aspect of the information they were evaluating – the intent with this requirement was to amplify marginalized voices – not overwrite, overshadow or exclude them. Although we didn’t ask, students eagerly explained the connections to their topics, and these explanations increased classroom community and allowed students to appreciate each other’s areas of expertise.
Following those conversations, students’ confidence grew with each training exercise and every practice activity. When they posted their edits, we celebrated their scholarship and watched as the number of readers grew, slowly at first, and then exponentially by the end of that week! Students were elated by the readership statistics! We were excited for them, and so grateful to Dr. Perkins for sharing her experience and expertise with us.
However, as usual, there was an exception. One student’s work was removed almost immediately, and he was not surprised, because he said that he hadn’t put forth his best effort. That lesson was powerful for the class – they understood the reasons for posting work that had been cited, and they saw the swift consequences for posting work that did not meet this standard. When the work vanished so quickly, we reminded students that we were not grading the longevity of their edits. This debriefing conversation took us beyond the joy that the other students experienced when their work was being seen by so many readers. Together, we discussed the removal as a requisite measure of integrity.
And it was then that our students really grasped the magnitude of their edits – they understood that their work contributed to the greater good – a perfect segue into that next conversation about the politics of knowledge production, a topic we’d visited and revisited throughout the course. In this context, we asked students how members of marginalized communities continue to be underrepresented in these spaces (though there is progress in this area) and how cultural concerns can be erased and sometimes replaced. Each student provided accurate, relevant examples, and they mentioned the work of the vigilant editors who keep watch over the content, intending to remedy these issues. By the end of our course these students also considered themselves members of the Wiki Education team!
That first time teaching with the Wikipedia assignment made me a believer in the power of this process – my co-teacher and I learned a lot, but our students learned much more, and that is always our goal.
Thank you, Wiki Education, for providing these opportunities. Thank you, Dr. Perkins for your unwavering support, and thank you Helaine, Andrés, and Brianda for supporting the work of Wiki Education worldwide.
Interested in incorporating a Wikipedia assignment into your course? Visit teach.wikiedu.org to learn more about the free resources, digital tools, and staff support that Wiki Education offers to postsecondary instructors in the United States and Canada.
