How plagiarism is different on Wikipedia and how to help your students avoid it
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
Assessing Wikipedia contributions
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
New resource for students in science communication courses!
Students have improved a number of different scientific topics on Wikipedia, including conservation biology, voice disorders, environmental policy, medicine, and more! Communicating scientific topics to a general reader, who may not have any scientific background, requires students to master course material and speak with authority on a topic they’re studying. Students are uniquely positioned to translate scientific concepts, as … Continued
5 things you didn’t know the Dashboard can do
Winter and Spring terms are officially underway. We already have 3,500 students enrolled who are already learning about, and contributing to, Wikipedia. But as an instructor, how are you supposed to keep up with all that work? Especially if you are just learning about Wikipedia for the first time yourself. Luckily, the Wiki Education Dashboard is here … Continued
Video helps medical students edit Wikipedia
Student editors in Wiki Education’s program who contribute to medical topics have a new resource available to them in their online training modules this fall: A how-to video specifically related to contributing medical content to Wikipedia. The video was a joint project between Osmosis, University of California San Francisco Professor Amin Azzam, and Wiki Education. Osmosis is … Continued
Five reasons to donate to Wiki Education on Giving Tuesday
Today is Giving Tuesday, a U.S. holiday to encourage donations to worthy nonprofits. If you’re planning to make financial contributions this year, we hope you’ll consider supporting Wiki Education. Here’s why: 1. We’re dramatically improving the availability and accuracy of information available on Wikipedia. Since 2010, students in our program have added more than 35 million words to Wikipedia, … Continued
New brochure helps students editing history articles
History is one of the most popular disciplines for teaching with Wikipedia — but it’s also an area where students sometimes struggle. In history classes, students tend to do research, drawing conclusions from primary sources. But that’s not how history articles on Wikipedia are constructed as original research isn’t allowed on Wikipedia. Instead, student editors … Continued
New guides for writing about books or films
We’re pleased to announce two new resources for students contributing to Wikipedia articles about books or films! One of the ways we support classes working on Wikipedia for a class assignment is through printed handouts and brochures. Wikipedia can be an intimidating place for a new user, and it’s easy to get lost in the … Continued
New brochure explains how to edit political science articles
When you contribute to an article on Wikipedia, there are best practices to consider regardless of what subject you work on, but there can also be particularities to different topic areas. For that reason, Wiki Education works with instructors, organizations, and the Wikipedia community to develop subject-specific editing brochures to supplement our other training materials. … Continued
Five reasons you should donate to Wiki Education on Giving Tuesday
Today is Giving Tuesday, a U.S. holiday to encourage donations to worthy nonprofits. If you’re planning to make financial contributions this year, we hope you’ll consider supporting Wiki Education. Here’s why: 1. We’re dramatically improving the availability and accuracy of information available on Wikipedia. Since 2010, students in our program have added 25 million words … Continued