To Use or Not to Use: Wikipedia in the Classroom

After writing about this topic on our classroom wiki, this article caught my eye. I still remain caught in the middle as to whether Wikipedia really is a "friend" or "foe." I like how this article doesn't necessarily take sides; rather, the author provides helpful tips to educators and students when using the website in the classroom. For example, it is important for users to understand who posted on Wikipedia and use the footnotes or external links when available.

I especially liked the classroom activity that was included at the end of this article. The author suggests having students (probably secondary) check the reliability of information on a Wikipedia page. Students would have to cross-reference the "facts" on the website with a reliable resource to make sure it is, in fact, true. "This can be a powerful activity for teaching information literacy lessons about citations, plagiarism, Internet safety and judging the quality/reliability of online content" (Jason Tomaszewski, 2012). All of these skills are so critical in today's digital world, and with the popularity of Wikipedia - why not use it as a tool to teach!