Conference workshop presentation by Caroline Ball and Jonathan White. Presented at the University of Derby's Learning and Teaching Conference 2018.

1. Sensitivity: Internal
Wikipedia is
Not the Enemy
Caroline Ball, Subject Librarian
Jonathan White, Subject Librarian

2. Sensitivity: Internal
The most widely used information
resource…in the world!
• More than 40 million articles in 293 languages
• English language Wikipedia has 5.7 million articles with over
900 articles added daily
• 18 billion monthly page views…
• …and some of those hits are from you!
• 72% of you said you used it at least once a month…

3. Sensitivity: Internal
Should our students be using
Wikipedia as an academic resource?

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Are we perpetuating a ‘learning black market’?
(White and JISC, 2011)

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“I never use Wikipedia.”
O%

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Does Wikipedia have a role to play in
University learning and teaching?
Discuss…

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An opportunity?
• To distinguish quality
• To think critically about online material
• To develop citing and referencing skills
• To develop research skills
• To develop literacy and grammar
• To contribute to global learning community

8. Sensitivity: Internal
Activity
• Search for a Wikipedia article on a topic familiar to you –
something you teach or research
• Take a look at the references and bibliography –
• are they familiar or unfamiliar to you?
• are there sources you would be happy for your students to use?
• are the sources open access or behind paywalls?
• if this was a student essay, would you consider these references
acceptable?

9. Sensitivity: Internal
Activity
• Take a look at the article printouts provided.
• This is an article that has been rated by Wikipedia as C-class,
meaning:
• Substantial, but missing important content, contains some references
to reliable sources, but may have significant problems or require
substantial clean-up.
• Evaluate this article. What flaws can you identify? How would
you improve this article?

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Digital capabilities framework

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Mapping to the Information Literacy Framework
Abilities​ Information Literacy
Framework learning
outcomes​
Wikipedia activities​
1. Identify​ Identify a personal need for
information​
Use a Wikipedia article to familiarise self with rough concept
and context.​
2. Scope​ Assess current knowledge and
identify potential sources of
information​
Use Wikipedia article references to identify sources used.​
3. Plan​ Construct strategies for
locating information and data​
Ask students to research topic using open access sources
from Wikipedia – then compare same research using library
subscription sources.​
4. Gather​ Locate and access the
required information and data​
Use library subscription sources to provide references for
articles with unverified claims.​
5. Evaluate​ Review the research process
and compare/evaluate
information and data​
Compare a Wikipedia article with a traditional
encyclopaedia article, textbook or journal article.​
6. Manage​ Organise information
professionally and ethically​
Enhance articles by locating references for unverified
claims. Find suitable images for re-use using Wikimedia
Commons or Creative Commons.​
7. Present​ Present, disseminate, apply
and synthesis the knowledge
gained.​
Discuss importance of neutrality in writing Wikipedia
articles. Expand existing Wikipedia articles using quality
academic sources. Create new articles.​

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Opening the floor…

13. Sensitivity: Internal
Thank you for listening!
Caroline Ball, Subject Librarian – Derby
01332 591760
c.ball@derby.ac.uk
@heroicendeavour
Jonathan White, Subject Librarian – Buxton
01298 330671
j.p.white@derby.ac.uk
@JonWhite82