Emory Libraries will host a symposium and workshop for using Wikipedia in higher education on Wednesday, Sept. 26, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. This event is free and includes coffee, a light breakfast and lunch. Faculty, graduate students and others involved in teaching at Emory are encouraged to attend all or part of the symposium as schedules permit.
The event will be held in the Jones Room of Woodruff Library. All who wish to attend must RSVP by Sept. 19, as space is limited. The events are sponsored by the Emory Center for Faculty Development and Excellence and the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship.
At this symposium, Jami Mathewson, educational partnership manager at Wiki Education, will demonstrate how Wikipedia assignments develop student research, writing and information and digital literacy skills. Irene Browne, Emory University associate professor of sociology, will talk about how she used Wikipedia in a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) course examining gender, race and inequality.
“Incorporating Wikipedia editing into my syllabus enhanced my ability to turn the classroom into a productive learning community in which every student’s contributions are valued and shared,” Browne says. “The Wikipedia component also motivated my students to produce their best work and rely on research evidence that could withstand the scrutiny of Wikipedia’s global public readership.”
The lunchtime keynote speaker will be Bo Adams, director of Pitts Theology Library and Margaret A. Pitts Assistant Professor in the Practice of Theological Bibliography.
After lunch, Mathewson will delve into the inner workings of Wikipedia and discuss how academic scholars and institutions can improve Wikipedia. Attendees will get a hands-on opportunity to learn how to edit Wikipedia articles of interest to them.
Educational analyst Jennifer Sutcliffe, who is organizing the event, says Wikipedia assignments “make excellent alternatives to a traditional final paper or project, and involve deep research and learning on topics that students choose to edit.”
Through this symposium, attendees will learn how editing Wikipedia articles enhances student learning and information literacy. It will also introduce resources for incorporating Wikipedia into teaching and learning, along with the skills needed to start editing Wikipedia articles.