While the overwhelming majority of students strive to avoid plagiarism on Wikipedia, they sometimes still miss the mark. Wikipedia’s definition of plagiarism differs in important ways from those set forth by academia, which is often the root of misunderstandings related to plagiarism. When students are caught plagiarizing, it’s often a case of close-paraphrasing. Students might … Continued
It’s the end of the term which means grading season is upon us. The ultimate goal of a Wikipedia assignment is to simultaneously improve content on Wikipedia while providing students with important digital literacy skills. But doubtless, students are likely eager to find out their grades, and instructors may be wondering how exactly to assess … Continued
By improving Wikipedia as a classroom assignment, students increase the public’s access to previously inaccessible knowledge, and improve Wikipedia’s coverage of underrepresented topics. And in the process, they learn about their own privilege to information as a university student as well as the social and historical forces at work regarding the sharing and recording of … Continued
While most students in the Classroom Program have written innumerable term papers, few had ever contributed to Wikipedia before joining our program. The Wikipedia assignment differs from the more traditional writing assignment in several key ways, which is why it’s critical to set expectations early on in the term. While Wikipedia is based on a … Continued
Since Fall 2015, Wiki Education has had the unique pleasure of working with Dr. Amin Azzam, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. Each term, Dr. Azzam offers a 4-week elective to fourth-year medical students, during which time they improve medical content on Wikipedia. I had the opportunity to visit Dr. Azzam’s Fall … Continued
As the term begins to wind down, many of our instructors are beginning to assess the work their students contributed to Wikipedia. Just as the Wikipedia assignment differs from traditional writing assignments, so does the grading of these projects. Over the past several terms, our instructors have regularly expressed that they would like more guidance … Continued
As the Fall 2017 term gets into full swing, Spring 2017 may already seem like a distant memory for most. But for Wiki Education, Spring 2017 was a critical term for us as we supported our largest number of courses and students to date. Our instructors and students are the foundation of our program, and … Continued
While Wiki Education spends a great deal of time traveling to conferences and universities around the country, it’s not often that we have the chance to host participants in our program at our San Francisco office. On July 31, we had the pleasure of welcoming Naniette Coleman, an instructor in our program from UC Berkeley, … Continued
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
