Making healthcare more accessible through translation
Kitty Quintanilla is a second year medical student at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine. Here, she shares why she’s passionate about increasing access to free information. Have you ever had your parents ramble at you about the “when I was young, we didn’t have all these computers and the internet and … Continued
Wikipedia: Impactful science communication in higher education
Sarah Mojarad teaches a Social Media for Scientists and Engineers course at the University of Southern California where students write and improve Wikipedia articles as an assignment. Here, she shares her pedagogical motivations for doing so and the impact it has on students. “Chemistry is often elusive but Wikipedia helps to make chemistry topics, and … Continued
My experience editing Wikipedia’s “Vaccination” page during medical school
Since 2013, the UCSF School of Medicine has offered an elective course on editing health-related Wikipedia articles. The course is one month of full-time work, and is offered 2- 3 times each academic year. The following are reflections by Derek Smith, one student who enrolled in Dr. Amin Azzam’s March 2019 cycle of that course. I approached … Continued
Small class, big footprint
Dr. Michael Rushing is an Associate Professor of Piano in the Department of Music at Mississippi College and taught a Wikipedia writing assignment for the first time last fall. Here, he describes how his students responded to putting their hard work out on a world stage. In the Fall of 2018, two students in a … Continued
Developing metaliterate and information literate Wikipedians in the classroom
Trudi Jacobson is Head of the Information Literacy Department at the University at Albany, SUNY. Here, she explains how she wove a Wikipedia writing assignment together with the six frameworks of information literacy. This course not only taught me how to write on Wikipedia, which by the way I always thought was the coolest concept, … Continued
Women’s Suffrage: My Wiki Life
Eilene Lyon is a Colorado-based freelance writer specializing in historical non-fiction, and an avid genealogist. Eilene learned how to create and expand Wikipedia articles in our professional development course as a way to give back to society and ensure that accurate information is being presented in a well-written format. This is a republishing of her … Continued
Off the bookshelf and into the world
Dr. Anthony Denzer is Department Head and Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering at the University of Wyoming. He taught a Wikipedia writing assignment for the first time last fall in his architectural history course. Here, he shares why he’ll do it again. Maybe you know that Mecca Flats, built in Chicago in 1892, is a significant lost … Continued
Who gets to be an expert on Wikipedia?
Dr. Erin Siodmak is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the City University of New York in Women and Gender Studies and Sociology. Last fall, Dr. Siodmak learned how to help close the gender gap on Wikipedia through our online course. Here, Dr. Siodmak talks about what it means to claim the title of “expert” on … Continued
Student’s perspective “completely altered” after Wikipedia assignment
Emilee Helm is a student at the University of Washington. This term, she learned how to create and expand articles on Wikipedia as an assignment in Nathan TeBlunthuis’ Interpersonal Media – Online Communities course. Here, she reflects on what she got out of the experience. When I began working with Wikipedia, I could not have imagined I … Continued
Why Wikipedia often overlooks stories of women in history
Associate Professor Dr. Tamar Carroll and Librarian Lara Nicosia use our resources to teach students at Rochester Institute of Technology how to edit and create new Wikipedia pages related to women’s and gender history. Here they reflect on why having students improve the living, public archive is so important. Movements like #MeToo are drawing increased … Continued