Wikipedia:University of Edinburgh/Wikipedia in Education





Wikimedia UK and Universities
Wikimedia UK have set up a new website as a central reference point for university educators to find out about Wikipedia in Higher Education including details of past assignments, current assignments and courses planned for the future at universities the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. The page has been populated with a number of examples already; including many from the University of Edinburgh. The intention is that educators can better communicate & co-ordinate their efforts both with Wikimedia UK and with other educators if information is available from a central point of reference.


 * 1) Click here to visit the Wikimedia UK and Universities page.
 * 2) Click here to view the notes created from the recent event for Wikipedia Education Course Leaders held at Wikimedia UK's offices on 19th July 2016.
 * 3) Click here to see the Wikimedia Education Dashboard where educators can plan courses and manage student assignments.

Contact Ewan McAndrew, the Wikimedian in Residence for Edinburgh University at ewan.mcandrew@ed.ac.uk if you would like to find out more.

Some recent case studies from UK Higher Education

 * University of Edinburgh
 * Research session for Reproductive Biology Honours students.
 * In September 2015, Reproductive Biology Honours students researched, synthesised and developed a first-rate Wikipedia entry of a previously unpublished medical term: Neuroangiogenesis. The case study is detailed here. The session proved a success so is to be repeated & expanded in September 2016 and September 2017. Details can be found here: Reproductive Biomedicine 2016. The course will run again in September 2018 for its 4th iteration.
 * World Christianity MSc course
 * In September 2016, Dr Alex Chow, Lecturer in Theology and World Christianity, ran an 11 week Wikipedia assignment as part of the World Christianity MSc. The class is known Selected Themes in the Study of World Christianity (WRCH11018). This core course offers candidates the opportunity to study in depth Christian history, thought and practice in and from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Primary attention is given to methods for the study of indigenous forms and expressions of Christianity, to issues of culture and gender, and the changing patterns of relationship between Christianity in the West and other parts of the world. Issues of religious pluralism feature significantly in terms of the interaction between Christianity and other religious traditions. The assignment counts towards 10% of the final assessment. The case study has been written up here.
 * Undergraduate English Literature Course: Global Modernisms: Inter/National Responses to Modernity (ENLI10369)
 * In November 2015, Anouk Lang, lecturer in English and Digital Humanities, tasked her 4th year undergraduate students on the Global Modernisms module to research and write a Wikipedia article on a novel completely unrepresented on Wikipedia with the outcome being a previously unpublished article: Conversations in Bloomsbury, a 1981 memoir that depicts writer Mulk Raj Anand’s life in London during the heyday of the Bloomsbury Group, and his relationships with the group’s members. Anouk reported that the collaborative process engaged her students, and some students in particular who had perhaps been more reticent (or less confident) in participating in more traditional assignments, in researching the topic & in applying the digital literacy skills required to achieve the page’s creation. The net result is not an essay or report that could potentially be filed away & forgotten but instead something that adds to the sum of human knowledge & is discoverable by other readers & editors all over the world so that they, in turn, can add more to it.
 * Translation Studies MSc course
 * In September 2016, Dr. Charlotte Bosseaux, Senior Lecturer on the Translation Studies MSc course tasked her students to translate a 4000 word Wikipedia article into another language as part of their independent study component. This will make use of Wikipedia's new Content Translation tool. The Wikipedia translation project has now been repeated for four semesters in a row. The case study has been written up here.
 * Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP)
 * In May 2016, Dr. Hamish Mcleod, Senior Lecturer in Education, Community and Society (ECS), invited Ewan McAndrew, Wikimedian in Residence at Edinburgh University to host a week of Wikimedia related reading & activities as part of the Online Learning Environments module on the Postgraduate Certificate of Academic Practice.
 * Online History MSc course
 * In Summer 2016, Kacper Lyskiewicz, eLearning and Web Development Officer, invited Ewan McAndrew, Wikimedian in Residence at Edinburgh University, to run a 4 week taster course in editing Wikipedia via the Learn VLE for Online History MSc students.
 * University of Portsmouth - Applied Human Geography.
 * First-year undergraduate core module for BA Human Geography students.
 * Wikipedia related work involves students working as individuals to write an article about a village in England.
 * Telling the stories of rural England with Wikipedia
 * Dr Humphrey Southall, Reader in Geography, University of Portsmouth, written with Dr Martin Poulter, describe a Wikipedia-based assignment given to first-year students in Applied Human Geography and also looking at how academics can inform the widest public about their subject, and raise awareness of the reliable sources used in research.
 * University College London
 * Teaching translation through editing Wikipedia
 * UCL Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) ran an event for 36 postgraduate translation studies students, all new to editing Wikipedia, to learn how to contribute to the online encyclopedia anyone can edit. Co-organiser Dr Mira Vogel discusses its success.
 * When UCL students write Wikipedia - Prezi presentation.
 * Queen Mary University London
 * FLM509 Research Methods (Film). Level 5 module.
 * Second-year undergraduate module for BA Film Studies students.
 * Wikipedia related work includes groups of students reviewing, evaluating, and editing a Wikipedia page. Course handbook (PDF)
 * Middlesex University
 * MED3040 Publishing Cultures. Level 6 module.
 * Third year module for BA Publishing and Media students.
 * Students are encouraged to participate in the editing process of Wikipedia articles in order to ensure credibility across the website.
 * Case study
 * University of Stirling - Greg Singh taught students to research & write chapters of a new textbook entitled 'The Digital Media and Culture Yearbook' on Wikibooks.
 * University of Warwick
 * PS364 Human Sexuality.
 * Third year module for BSc Psychology undergraduate students.
 * Wikipedia related work involves students working in groups to edit Wikipedia articles.

A little light reading about Wikipedia in Education

 * 1) Wikipedia 15 and Education - WikiEdu blog.
 * 2) Wikipedia's ongoing search for the sum of all human knowledge - Oxford Internet Institute.
 * 3) Wikipedia amplifying impact of Open Access publications - The LSE Impact Blog
 * 4) Wikipedia: The Digital Gateway to Academic Research - Referencing Made Easy Blog site.
 * 5) Brits trust Wikipedia more than the news: survey (CNBC.com)
 * 6) 97% of instructors would teach with Wikipedia again - WikiEdu.org blog 25/03/2016
 * 7) Teaching with Wikipedia - University of Edinburgh Teaching Matters blog 8/04/2016
 * 8) Wikipedia and Student Writing - Wiki Edu Blog 14/10/2014
 * 9) The Wikipedia Library: A partnership of Wikipedia and Publishers to enhance research and discovery. - Crossref blog 04/04/2016
 * 10) Blog posts and Case Studies from the Wikimedia Ambassador at Jisc

Resources for educators
Further resources can be found in the Resources page.

Wikipedia in Education (12 part video series)
Meet Educators and Wikipedia education leaders from around the world who share why they use Wikipedia in classrooms not just as a way to access knowledge, but also as a way to develop their students’ capacities, digital know-how and to share knowledge with the world. Learn how the process turns their students from consumers into knowledge producers, leaving behind papers that only the teacher reads for articles that the whole world can access.