Wikipedia - Teachers need to reconsider

I am taking some vacation time to attend the annual conference of Learning Without Frontiers, as this is of great personal and professional interest to me. I am fascinated by the idea of global learning and exploring new ways of learning that use technology to connect. The conference is at the end of January in London, so I am excited on so many levels about the opportunity - professionally, having the ability to meet, see and listen to experts in the field and hopefully network, and personally, having the chance to go to the UK, a place I have never been.

To prepare and get familiar with the speakers and event, I have been checking out many of the previous recordings of presentations and talks, which are fascinating. I just watched Jimmy Wales, the cofounder of Wikipedia, and was totally convinced of the value of using Wikipedia with students, which changes a long held belief of mine that wikipedia information is suspect.

As a teacher, I distinctly remember being told every year by our technology director to NOT allow students to use Wikipedia as a source of information for their research, because of it's open-source nature. Since anyone can edit, the information was deemed unreliable for students to use. This idea was so embedded in the culture of the K-12 education that I was in for over 17 years, that it is still something I have a hard time getting past. Despite the fact that I use Wikipedia often to get information, in the back of my mind I always doubt it's veracity.

After listening to Jimmy Wales talk, I find myself reconsidering my beliefs about Wikipedia and in fact, find myself wanting to investigate more about Wikipedia and it's uses. Perhaps edit myself and become part of this community. I think schools and districts should reconsider their
take on the use of Wikipedia by students and actually promote students become 'editors' themselves, as it forces learning - in order to contribute valuable information to Wikipedia, it is necessary to research - a tool all students need.

I recommend you all watch the talk by Jimmy Wales, which you can access directly from YouTube or look at Jimmy Wales and other amazing talks directly from the Learning Without Frontiers website, www.learningwithoutfrontiers.com

Comments

Implementation Dip - It's Not Just Test Scores, It's Any Change

I read this article yesterday by Andrew Ujifusa entitled New Tests Put States on Hot Seat as Scores Plunge . Basically, states that have implemented new standardized tests to address revised academic standards, such as the Common Core State Standards, have seen a drop in student scores, so panic has ensued. What I want to know is: has no one ever heard about the implementation dip? Whenever you try to implement something new, there is going to be a period of adjustment, scores will go down if we are talking tests, classroom behaviors will change and achievement will go down if new teaching strategies are being implemented - in short, any time you try something new, it is NOT going to go exactly as planned! Mistakes will happen, things will be bad before they get better - it's part of the whole change process. Which is why we need to be implementing changes slowly, early, and over time so that things that go wrong can be adjusted. Image from images.google.com What is th

Social Media's Impact on Personal Life - Personal Reflections

The question - does social media impact personal life? The answer - yes. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? The answer - it depends. I have been on vacation the past week or so and am currently on personal leave to finish writing my dissertation proposal (which, as you can see, I am procrastinating!) During my vacation, I swore I would take a break from blogging, Twitter, email, and all things electronic. I lied. I admit - I did honestly make the attempt and in fact, did not turn on my computer one time. However, the iPad is a constant companion, especially since the books I am reading (currently, the Game of Thrones series) are on there, so I had the iPad with me a lot - even on the beach. It was very easy to check if I had emails, to check out my Facebook or to send a Twitter or two. Long story short, I failed miserably at the disconnecting aspect. View from chair and under canopy! Which brings me back to the question of does social media impact personal life? The o

Lecture, Direct-Instruction or Talk - There's the Confusion!

In yesterday's weekly #edchat Twitter collaboration the discussion focused on the flipped classroom, where, naturally, there was quite a bit of debate around the idea of video lectures. What became apparent was the many different interpretations of the term 'lecture'. This came to the forefront for me when I offered up the idea of TED Talks as one option for learning rather than a teacher's video lecture, and someone said "TED talks are just lectures, so how is that better?" This stumped me as I have never thought of a TED talk as a lecture, which is funny, because now, forced to think about it, I guess they could be construed as lectures, depending on your definition. Which of course has led me to this post! Obviously, my perception of a lecture is not the same as others. What is MY definition of a lecture? Perhaps it's my many years of being both a student and a teacher, but for me a 'lecture' has rather negative connotations, as I envisio

Greenhaus Education and Other "Effects"

Search This Blog