EDUCAUSE | EDUCAUSE CONNECT - 7 Things You Should Know About Wikipedia - Comments

Information Fluency indeed ...

mpasiewicz — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:02:24 -0500

On a related note, a couple of good entries from Danah Boyd and Clay Shirky have emerged from a recent discussion of blog entries from one Michael Gorman. Here are a couple of good quotes from Danah's entry ...

Why are we telling our students not to use Wikipedia rather than educating them about how Wikipedia works?

Would Galileo have been allowed to write an encyclopedia article?

many academics tend to be concerned!

hes8 — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 21:05:02 -0500

"However, since Wikipedia’s entries don’t undergo verified expert review, many academics are concerned about its use for academic purposes." No doubt! Are these "many academics" also "concerned" about academic use of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV programs, ... ? Or is it just new (digital) sources that activate their concern? Let's face it, these days there are a large number of information resources available to us (and even more if one has privileges at a good academic library) - and these resources vary greatly in comprehensiveness, detail and, oh yes, reliability. Information fluency includes the knowledge of judging the appropriateness of information sources for use in various contexts. (For more of my discussion see http://www.ncsu.edu/it/open_source/it-educ-u.html ) My suggestion is that "many academics" should focus more on information fluency rather than making blanket condemnations.

7 Things You Should Know About Wikipedia

ckeller — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:39:24 -0500

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia anyone can add to or edit. A highly popular resource, Wikipedia has become a primary research tool of college students, and it may help them develop comparative research skills. However, since Wikipedia’s entries don’t undergo verified expert review, many academics are concerned about its use for academic purposes.

The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.

In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About…" briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution. To learn more, please visit the ELI Resources page.