I’ve been hearing some comments about  recent articles and news broadcasts, like this one,  Trust but Verify,  relating to Wikipedia being “banned” as a source by the history department at Middlebury College (now being joined by UCLA and others).  

Actually, Wikipedia isn’t banned for student use entirely, just not permitted as a cited source for student papers and projects–Middlebury’s history department also doesn’t  permit Encyclopedia Britannica as part of an effort to teach students about using “scholarly” college sources, according to Cathy Davidson in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Challenge

Davidson shares a fascinating challenge–instead of disallowing Wikipedia, why not use this discussion as an opportunity to explore with students this whole new realm of information sharing?

Wikipedia is not just an encyclopedia. It is a knowledge community, uniting anonymous readers all over the world who edit and correct grammar, style, interpretations, and facts. It is a community devoted to a common good — the life of the intellect. Isn’t that what we educators want to model for our students?

Explore

She has an excellent discussion of ways to explore that with students, including looking at the “discussion” tab on an article; for an example, try the discussion tab on articles on Apple computers or on the Kennedy assassination to see the debate that goes on “behind” the articles.

A Library By Any Other Name (isn’t that a great title for a library blog?) offers some good analysis of Wikipedia, and also shares their new attempt to explain their ten guiding principles for those unfamiliar with it.

Exploring this tool(or any research tool) more deeply with students gives them a better understanding of both the power and the limitations of web 2.0.