5 ways you can help Wiki Ed!
The Wiki Education Foundation is a wholly independent non-profit organization. Donations off banners at the top of Wikipedia articles don’t go to us (only donations at wikiedu.org/donate do). We don’t charge our program participants for our services (although support is always appreciated!). Instead, we rely on your enthusiasm to help us grow. We know time is a … Continued
5 reasons Wikipedia assignments boost science comms skills
Wikipedia, love it or loathe it, is one of the most-viewed sources of science information on Earth. Wikipedia is visited more often on mobile devices than USA Today, Fox News, and CNN combined. If students had an opportunity to communicate science with any of those audiences, most instructors would jump at the chance. Once those … Continued
7 ways the Year of Science is already making a difference
The Wikipedia Year of Science is a massive effort to mobilize students, instructors, and libraries from higher educational institutions to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of science. We’ve met countless scientists and supported the work of thousands of students in the USA and Canada. With the Year of Science entering the second round, we wanted to look back on the impact … Continued
Five ways the NWSA-Wiki Ed partnership has made an impact
Wiki Ed staff presented at the Wiki Diversity conference this summer, an event hosted by Wikimedia DC at the National Archives. Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight, co-founder of WikiProject Women in Red, and a driving force for writing women into Wikipedia, spoke as a keynote. The conference aimed to focus on “diversity issues throughout the Wikimedia movement.” Wiki Ed and Patti Provance … Continued
Five reasons Wikipedia belongs in History of Science courses
Wikipedia aims to collect “the sum of all knowledge.” But what counts as knowledge, and how we get it, is a complicated, and often untold, story. That’s why history of science courses can make a real difference on Wikipedia. The history of science calls on students to explore the roots of scientific concepts. They draw … Continued
The slow, necessary death of the research paper
Timothy Henningsen is an Assistant Professor of English at the College of DuPage. He’s run Wikipedia assignments in about a dozen courses, and has talked about the experience elsewhere. In this post, “The Slow, Necessary Death of the Research Paper (And How Wikipedia Can Revive Composition Instruction)” he discusses the benefit of Wikipedia writing assignments compared … Continued
Five reasons a Wikipedia assignment is better than a term paper
1. People read it. With a term paper, a student is spending a term preparing to write a paper they print out, submit for a grade, and then throw away. How many envelopes with graded papers are left in your mailbox at the end of every term? Think about research as a fuel. Students are … Continued