User:AlakymSregdor/sandbox

Past Reputation
When it comes to using Wikipedia in the classroom, there has always been a negative viewpoint. Many educators have frowned upon using it, especially as a source in a paper, stating that it is not a credible source because it allows anyone to change the content of the encyclopedia at any time without even identifying themselves. Teachers and school librarians are concerned about students relying on Wikipedia as a reference source for research due to its anonymous authors; vandals who intentionally insert malicious information; its unreliability given the ever changing nature of the wiki; the potential for bias; and a lack of verifiable sources for many of the articles. "Teachers and school librarians appear to treat Wikipedia as an information literacy tool to teach students what is wrong with the encyclopedia and to justify the negative attitudes towards its use. Allowing students to use Wikipedia only to require them to corroborate their information in other “more reputable” sources equates to steering the students to the other sources in the first place." Another downfall for teachers was the sites readability. Many found that some articles suffer from poor writing quality and important information was missing. This causes problems with students learning the wrong information on a topic or picking up on grammatical errors.

New Viewpoint
The credibility of Wikipedia is being re-evaluated. There have been studies that show there are some benefits to using Wikipedia in the classroom, not as a resource for papers but as a teaching tool. Just because students shouldn't use it in their research, doesn't mean they shouldn't use it as a reference. "By “use it in their research,” I suspect that the instructors are stating that students cannot cite Wikipedia. However, in my experience, it seems that students take this restriction to mean that they should not consult Wikipedia. This approach needs to change, and a few librarians have been able to work Wikipedia into their instruction."

Many believe that it can also be used to create authentic classroom writing assignments. Researchers of writing-to-learn have long suggested that the process of written composition can empower students to reflect on what they know and integrate existing knowledge with new knowledge. Students often do their best work when they are able to write on a topic that they are interested in or are very knowledgable about.

As well, Wikipedia has developed tools to assist readers in their navigation and evaluation of the material presented. One of these helpful tools includes portals. Portals have links to other portals, allowing students to look at information by subject, instead of jumping from page to page. Students can use this to choose a research topic.

Finally, using Wikipedia can be a great way to get students excited about their papers and research by getting them to add their work to Wikipedia itself. "Instead of seeing their papers read by the instructor, shredded, and forgotten within hours, they get to see their work incorporated into the largest reference work in existence." This empowers students and makes them feel like what they are learning is actually contributing to society.