Whitney Lew James is an associate teaching professor in the University Writing Program at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. James has incorporated the Wikipedia assignment into her courses since 2024. In the age of AI, has the Wikipedia assignment played a role in how you think about teaching research, source evaluation, and writing? If … Continued
Avni is a senior majoring in biology at the University of Oklahoma. As part of her Wikipedia assignment this spring, Avni improved the Wikipedia article focused on Agnes Yewande Savage, the first West African woman to train and qualify in orthodox medicine. After graduating, Avni plans to pursue a career in healthcare. Of all of … Continued
Gabriel Ashley is a recent graduate of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where he double majored in history and Italian. Through their Wikipedia assignments this spring, Gabriel and his classmates significantly expanded Wikipedia’s content about colors, adding information about the history and science behind specific shades. Curious about the first formal scientific investigation of … Continued
By Francisco Laso, Ph.D. Environmental Studies, Western Washington University A student once stopped me after class and said, flatly: “You know your class is deeply depressing, right?” He wasn’t wrong. I teach Extractivism and Its Alternatives in Latin America, a four-credit course that examines what happens when an economic system is built on removing natural … Continued
Mike Pascoe is the President of the Lafayette History Museum in Lafayette, Colorado and associate professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Campus. When I enrolled in one of Wiki Education’s 250 by 2026 Wiki Scholars courses, I expected to learn how to edit Wikipedia more effectively. What I did not expect was how quickly … Continued
Jennifer Bernstein, PhD Editor-in-Chief, Case Studies in the Environment Faculty, Texas Tech University In an eight-week, online introductory environmental science course, I assigned the Wikipedia assignment in lieu of a traditional research paper. Students selected an article from a list of geoscience terms and improved it through editing and contributing text, references, and media. My … Continued
Marketing and Information Systems major Tim Qian is a senior at the University of Washington. As part of his Wikipedia assignment, Tim created the new Wikipedia article on the 2008 Shell Bodo Oil Spill. Tim, creating a brand new Wikipedia article is a big deal! Why did you choose to work on this article? In … Continued
By Kaelynn Ross, student at the University of Alaska Anchorage Trying to figure out a direction for my Wikipedia assignment last term proved to be tricky. I hadn’t spent much time on Wikipedia previously, and all of the things I was interested in also seemed to be loved by many other editors, so finding additional … Continued
David Minh is the Robert E. Frey, Jr. Endowed Chair in Chemistry at Illinois Institute of Technology and the Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Biagon Inc. Introduction This semester was the first time I had students complete the Wikipedia assignment, where they evaluated and made edits to an article in the free online encyclopedia. … Continued
