“Looking under the bonnet” of Wikipedia's open publication process is a chance to promote an informed, appropriately critical understanding of the free encyclopaedia that learners are already using ubiquitously. Discussing and challenging Wikipedia policies could support the teaching of general information literacy at any level. When learners improve or review Wikipedia articles, this involves them in defining established knowledge in their subjects. To date, more than 500 course leaders in universities have set assignments in which students improve Wikipedia articles for course credit. In some areas such as psychology, management or politics, a large proportion of Wikipedia’s quality content has been produced by learners. In turn, the learners get to experience publication and review, where they are expected to read, analyse, write, and reference to a high standard. According to the Wikimedia Foundation, a great majority of students surveyed say they prefer Wikipedia assignments to traditional assignments, and find writing for a global audience motivating. On the negative side, writing for the public can be daunting, Wikipedia’s encyclopaedic style can be hard to adjust to, and Wikipedian feedback can be blunt. So a Wikipedia assignment cannot be wandered into. It needs advance planning and careful monitoring.

1. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
Wikipedia: a platform for
learners as producers #W03
Dr Martin Poulter
JiscWikimedia Ambassdor 2013/14
@mlpoulter
I don’t like . I like .
I’m a Wikipedian.

2. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
What isWikimedia?
“Imagine a world in which
every single human being
can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge.
That's our commitment.”
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3. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
Some numbers
80,000
two billion
285
25,000
3
500 million
20 million
11
5 million

4. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
Assessment levels
Class Criteria
FA The article has attained featured article status. Detailed community review process.
GA The article has attained good article status. Specific review process
B The article is mostly complete and without major issues, but requires some further work to reach
good article standards.
C The article is substantial, but is still missing important content or contains a lot of irrelevant
material. The article should have references to reliable sources, but may still have significant issues
or require substantial cleanup.
Start The article has a usable amount of good content but is weak in many areas. Quality of the prose
may be distinctly unencyclopedic; but the article should satisfy fundamental content policies such
as notability, and provide sources to establish verifiability.
Stub The article is either a very short article or a rough collection of information that will need much
work to become a meaningful article. It is usually very short, but if the material is irrelevant or
incomprehensible, an article of any length falls into this category.

5. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
Some article hit rates
Article Monthly hits
Asperger Syndrome 426,803
Henry VIII of England 438,855
Volcano 160,940
Habeas Corpus 123,500
John Locke 179,382
Lymphoma 226,934
World War I 516,579
Dependent and independent variables 220,831
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6. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
Is and Is Not
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7. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
Wikipedia Educational Assignments
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8. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
Student experience
• 72% of students (from a US survey reported
by the Wikimedia Foundation) preferred a
Wikipedia assignment to a conventional
assignment.
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9. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
Wikipedia Educational Assignments
• Course leader chooses a range of relevant
Wikipedia articles
• Students andT.A.s get Wikipedia training
• Students prepare and review drafts
• Students interact with otherWikipedians
• Lecturer reviews articles before and after the
course
• Students write reflective paragraphs
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10. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
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11. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
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12. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
How does an encyclopedia article
differ from a student essay?
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13. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
Wikipedia Educational Assignments
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education
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14. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
`
Slide by Annie Lin of the Wikimedia Foundation, CC-BY-SA
http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Annie_Lin_keynote_presentation_at_EduWiki_conference.pdf&page=14
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15. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
What might go wrong?
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16. I gratefully acknowledge funding from, but do not speak for, Jisc and Wikimedia UK.
Thanks
martin.poulter@wikimedia.org.uk
wiki.wikimedia.org.uk
infobomb.org
Twitter: @mlpoulter