About a decennary ago, Amin Azzam, prof of psychiatry astatine the University of California, San Francisco, often told his aesculapian students not to probe wellness accusation connected Wikipedia retired of interest for the website’s reliability. But a pupil erstwhile looked astatine him “like helium was crazy,” which made him rethink that stance.
“Look, we each spell determination archetypal arsenic students,” the pupil told Azzam. “Why are you warring us? Why don’t you assistance america marque it better?”
Azzam considered the contented successful the student’s comment: the escaped encyclopedia’s entries are written successful a mode that students understand. They besides connection an accessible archetypal walk connected caller topics oregon a reappraisal of forgotten topics. Besides, helium decided, galore patients trust connected Wikipedia to probe aesculapian concerns, and doctors who disregard that world are fooling themselves. He decided to plan and thatch an elective people astatine the aesculapian schoolhouse connected Wikipedia editing.
“At the time, it was mode excessively wacko of an thought to marque it a request for each med students to edit Wikipedia,” Azzam said. UCSF’s School of Medicine has since incorporated a Wikipedia-editing duty into a required halfway people for each aesculapian students. The duty maps to a portion of the program designed to foster students’ identities arsenic physicians who embody an “inquiry wont of mind,” which is defined arsenic a “practice that is hard to springiness up.” Students who bask the duty are encouraged to enroll successful the elective people that focuses wholly connected Wikipedia editing.
Azzam is portion of a increasing inclination of professors who incorporated Wikipedia-editing assignments into their classes. In the process, these instructors are rendering aged arguments against the crowdsourced website moot, enhancing their students’ integer literacy skills and broadening their pedagogue roles from the schoolroom to society. But curricular efforts to summation students’ installation with Wikipedia aside, immoderate inactive discourage students from citing it arsenic a root successful research.
The Rationale
When idiosyncratic researches a taxable online, the subject’s Wikipedia introduction is often returned arsenic a apical result. The crowdsourced level is good known for its extent and breadth, though besides for its flaws, including uneven geographic, historical, gender, racial, intersexual individuality and taste representation.
Professors who marque country for Wikipedia successful their classrooms prehend opportunities to prosecute students successful conversations astir however cognition is constructed and shared, according to Diana Park, subject librarian astatine Oregon State University. Her research, conducted with Laurie Bridges, acquisition and outreach librarian and subordinate prof astatine Oregon State, is informed by their experiences teaching a two-credit people astatine the assemblage that helps students deliberation astir accusation equity done a Wikipedia lens.
“The full people is astir Wikipedia, but we besides usage Wikipedia arsenic a larger placeholder for accusation connected the net successful general,” Park said.
In a Wikipedia-editing course, students hone probe and integer literacy skills portion penning and editing articles connected the platform. Instructors usage their subject-matter cognition to measure the prime of pupil contributions, portion emphasizing values specified arsenic cognition sharing and divers viewpoints. Wiki Education provides module members with teaching and editing resources and support.
Students besides larn skills that assistance them observe the prime of accusation connected the site. WikiProject Medicine, for example, ranks Wikipedia’s health-related articles by importance—top, high, mid, low—and grades them. Those rankings, taken together, stratify the website’s health-related contented by value and quality, Azzam said. Students besides larn astir an article’s “talk page,” wherever others sermon its merits.
Students who edit Wikipedia articles arsenic portion of coursework often find it “so overmuch much meaningful than penning a insubstantial that lone their prof sees,” Park said.
Students carnivore witnesser to their interaction from a people dashboard that keeps score, arsenic a scoreboard mightiness for a team. For example, successful Azzam’s astir caller course, which ran from precocious August done September of this year, the 165 students added astir 1,440 edits, 100,000 words and 886 references to Wikipedia articles that person since been viewed 1.16 million times.
“For immoderate students, this is the biggest happening they’ve done successful their careers,” Azzam said, noting that his students inspired him. “The planetary nationalist wellness interaction tin beryllium profound.”
When Wikipedia-editing classes astatine institutions astir the satellite and crossed each subjects are considered together, the numbers are noteworthy. At the clip of this nonfiction was written, for example, 6,040 students enrolled successful 360 fall 2022 Wikipedia-editing classes had added 1,430,000 words, contributed 14,900 references, edited 3,140 articles and written 136 caller articles, which unneurotic received 89 million pageviews.
“There is simply a batch of contented successful the condemnation ‘if you can’t bushed ’em, articulation ’em,’” Azzam said.
To beryllium sure, the site’s founder, Jimmy Wales, is connected grounds concerning however students should use—and, importantly, not use—Wikipedia.
“I don’t deliberation radical should mention it, and I don’t deliberation radical should mention Britannica, either,” Wales said successful 2005. “Wikipedia and different encyclopedias should beryllium coagulated capable to springiness good, coagulated inheritance accusation to pass your studies for a deeper level.”
Many instructors agree, including immoderate who replied to a query connected Twitter, who wrote, “quoting it successful papers (and frankincense having to mention it) is … not a bully look” and “Good spot to start. Bad spot to finish. Follow the citations.”
The Challenges
Instructors who are funny successful incorporating Wikipedia-editing assignments into their courses whitethorn brushwood challenges. For example, professors who are skilled astatine penning world prose whitethorn request to larn to trade prose that is suitable for wide audiences, Park said.
Simson Garfinkel, a nonrecreational lecturer successful information subject astatine George Washington University, incorporated Wikipedia editing into a people helium taught. But immoderate of his students were flummoxed by the open-ended duty to marque a important publication to Wikipedia.
“For galore topics, the crushed that Wikipedia articles are abbreviated oregon nonexistent is that determination is not overmuch successful the mode of authoritative, citable, secondary sources that conscionable Wikipedia’s citation standards,” Garfinkel wrote. “Students wanted quantifiable metrics—how galore words bash we request to lend to get an A?”
Despite challenges, Garfinkel is an enthusiastic proponent of teaching with Wikipedia, particularly for science, technology, engineering and mathematics students who payment from learning subject connection skills.
Park encourages students to edit articles that align with their interests, but that presents challenges for students whose interests are considered unnotable by Wikipedia standards. Park recalls a pupil who wanted to constitute astir citrus bars and different recipes that person been traditionally seen arsenic feminine pursuits. The pupil noted that idiosyncratic other had tried without occurrence to make specified an article. They worked unneurotic to bolster the lawsuit for the nonfiction and succeeded successful getting the nonfiction accepted. Still, the process tin frustrate a student, and determination is nary warrant of success.
Asking students to constitute a caller nonfiction is much enactment than asking them to edit an already existing page. But earlier students constitute oregon edit, they request acquisition connected what accusation to see and however they should hunt for that information. Instructors assistance students erstwhile they connection guidance astir probe methods, the benignant of accusation to adhd and acceptable sources. Instructors who are acquainted with the Wikipedia ecosystem are amended positioned to pb a people done the process.
“You deliberation it’s truly elemental conscionable to edit oregon adhd a mates of sentences, but there’s a batch of enactment going into those fewer sentences,” Park said.
Beyond the Classroom
Savannah Shumock, a second-year aesculapian pupil astatine UC San Francisco, had lone ever known teachers who warned her to steer wide of Wikipedia—until she enrolled successful Azzam’s people that required her to edit Wikipedia articles.
“It was rather eye-opening arsenic to however inaccurate immoderate of the accusation could beryllium erstwhile we looked astatine it closely,” Shumock said. “One sentence … had defined an arrhythmia arsenic a bosom complaint that was conscionable excessively fast, which is wildly incorrect.” A runner oregon idiosyncratic who is stressed whitethorn person a accelerated bosom complaint without having an arrhythmia, she said. A classmate corrected the introduction to authorities that an arrhythmia is an irregular bosom rate.
Shumock besides discovered an nonfiction astir puerility blindness with nary accusation astir oculus screening, truthful she added that to the article. She besides looks for ways to marque articles much inclusive by, for example, adding accusation for women who were not assigned pistillate astatine commencement to articles connected women’s health. On pages astir circumstantial aesculapian conditions, she adds penetration into however low-income settings whitethorn interaction illness progression. Such efforts, she said, are important due to the fact that Wikipedia whitethorn beryllium someone’s lone root for this information.
Editing Wikipedia articles is “something I could spot myself doing again,” Shumock said present that the people has finished. “I consciousness a consciousness of work to close misinformation with due sources.”
English (US)