WikiConecta/A Wikipédia/A Wikipédia como recurso educacional/EN

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IntroduçãoA WikipédiaO WikidataO Wikimedia CommonsA WikiversidadeProgramas de educação

Wikipedia is one of the most important resources for public education in the world and is widely used by educators from various knowledge areas and levels of education. It's free, open licensed, and anyone with access to the Internet around the world can use it. No ads, no collection or personal data sale, and no fake news. On Wikipedia, students can develop the "Skills for the 21st Century", digital and information literacy, critical thinking, in addition to practicing writing and communication.

It is one of the largest open educational resources (OER) in the world. OER are teaching, learning and research materials that are available under open licenses. These resources follow two basic principles: they need to be open in their use licenses and in their technical part, that is, they must strive for technical and legal “interoperability” to facilitate their use and reuse. Exactly what Wikipedia is intended to be.

Wikipedia is open to be read and printed for free; to be shared and reused under free and open licenses; and to receive contributions and edits from anyone interested in sharing their knowledge. In the Wikipedia community, we believe that every individual has something to contribute to the sum of all the world's knowledge. More than a repository, Wikipedia is a learning space, well organized and with precise rules, which can even encourage the adoption of open educational practices. Anyone can edit the Portuguese Wikipedia, as long as they create an account and follow basic rules such as verifiability or notability.

In this unit, we talk about some of the skills that can be worked with students through Wikipedia so that you understand the potential of pedagogical uses.

One platform, several nuances

Wikipedia is a powerful educational tool that can be added to other resources used by educators to achieve the most different pedagogical objectives.

Like other encyclopedias, it is a tertiary source of information. That is, it summarizes descriptions, interpretations and analyzes found in reliable secondary and primary sources. Wikipedia is not intended to compete with scientific annals, peer-reviewed journals, or academic books. On the contrary, all this material is very welcomed to support the content inserted in the articles.

All information presented in each Wikipedia article ideally comes from reliable, independent sources, that are published in institutionalized vehicles and periodicals. And we say ideally because, when dealing with a collective work, editors do not always follow these recommendations strictly. This is a major fear of educators who intend to start their journey with the online encyclopedia – who reviews the information that is inserted in Wikipedia?

This issue is addressed in detail in another unit, but it is worth mentioning that there are currently more than 50 general administrators, not to mention the other reviewers, who work hard and voluntarily to ensure that the content of Portuguese Wikipedia is of quality and based on reliable sources. They work collectively to identify, evaluate, and cite reliable sources that enrich the articles. They also work by excluding content that has no available sources, that is not considered notable enough to exist on Wikipedia and, above all, that was written in bad faith.

In addition, editors strive to be impartial in writing and gathering information. As it is an encyclopedia edited by several hands, people from all sides of a discussion are contemplated in an article. Therefore, Wikipedia is considered less biased than many other sources of information because it is based on consensus: there is only one article on Albert Einstein and supporters and opponents need to agree with what is written in it. Highly controversial subjects are protected from editing to prevent the appearance of erroneous and biased information. In these cases, only editors with higher level functions can edit them, as the entry of the current Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for example.

Finally, Wikipedia is a very up-to-date source of information. Because it has more editors than any other – with nearly 25 edits happening per second, 2.8 million registered users and over 9,000 active users – it's often one of the most up-to-date sites on the Internet.

Various ways of educating

Due to these and several other characteristics of the online free encyclopedia, Wikipedia offers several pedagogical approaches for educators. With its use, students can acquire the so-called "Skills for the 21st Century", digital and informational literacy, critical thinking and training in writing and communication.

Next, we address each of these results that come from using Wikipedia with students.

Digital Literacy

Digital literacy is the ability to discern reliable from unreliable information across various media platforms, a fundamental skill for students and any professional today. According to UNESCO, "media and information literacy" refers to a series of competences that help to maximize the advantages and minimize the disadvantages of the new informational, digital and communicational landscapes. Such skills are essential for all citizens, as they allow them to engage effectively and critically with information, in addition to using digital technologies with discernment.

There are three main skills that can help promote critical engagement on digital platforms and responsible digital citizenship: access, evaluation and creation of information. And the three skills can be taught by using Wikipedia with students.

By using Wikipedia, students can acquire agency in the digital environment and their information consumption habits are improved, learning where and how to find reliable information. They also move from passive consumers to knowledge-creating agents for the common good by gaining the necessary foundations to contribute to Wikipedia. As students begin to understand the Wikipedia's strict policies of source gathering, they learn how to differentiate between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources; learn how to identify reliable and verifiable sources; learn how to identify biases in the search for sources; they begin to understand how knowledge is constructed and how inequalities in knowledge result from choices linked to sources

In summary, Wikipedia assists students in Digital Literacy through:

• defining the necessary information on a given topic that will be jointly edited;
• the search for relevant information in different scientific and journalistic sources;
• evaluating the information found and the selected media content;
• of understanding how information is created in the most different instances.

Writing and Communication

One of the most valuable aspects of the Wikipedia editing experience is that it allows students to practice public writing. Generally, students are used to writing traditional academic papers that are only read by educators and a few classmates. The opportunity to write and share their knowledge with more people requires sophisticated writing skills and taking responsibility for what is being written.

When a student notices that something is missing or wrong on Wikipedia and decides to edit it, this is not a simple task like filling in a blank space or correcting a mistake on a multiple-choice test. To edit Wikipedia, the student needs to consider the type of knowledge that can be built on a given article by thinking about who are the people who write about that subject; what are the reputation of the chosen sources; or the quantity and availability of these sources.

Students must also write information accurately, after weighing opposing claims and evidence on the topic at hand, with the aim of communicating the "state of the art" of that topic and in a "neutral" writing style for a lay audience. Such a writing skill is a challenge that needs to be practiced.

In summary, Wikipedia helps students develop writing and communication skills by:

• Identifying a readership that goes beyond the educator, that is, the global audience of Wikipedia readers;
• Searching for topics that are appropriate to the course, subject and theme chosen;
• Engaging in formal communication processes to share ideas publicly;
• Exchanging feedback on their production through peer review on Wikipedia and accepting criticism, arguing when there is disagreement;
• Writing formally, in an encyclopedic language;
• Adhering to ethical writing standards to avoid plagiarism;
• Elaborating, reviewing and editing their work in the formal way of writing and presenting information.

Critical thinking:

Both students and educators often consider that Wikipedia serves better in terms of functionality and experience of critical thinking skills than traditional teaching formats .

Thanks to Wikipedia's neutral writing requirements, students cultivate and practice this ability to write text worthy of an encyclopedic entry. By producing knowledge with all these precautions, students also learn to consume information in the same way, developing critical thinking skills in reading and searching for information sources.

In summary, Wikipedia helps students develop critical thinking by:

• Evaluating which sources are most reliable, considering publication, format, date of publication and author bias;
• Analyzing competing and divergent arguments on a given subject and assessing the validity of their evidence, scoring what is relevant to be mentioned;
• Accurately describing several different points of view and their meaning, without overemphasizing any one of them;
• Presenting facts so readers can form their own judgment.
• Exercising neutral, direct writing without adjectives, characteristic of the academic writing.

21st century skills

21st century skills comprise the competencies, skills and learning dispositions identified as necessary for success in the 21st century society and workplaces by educators, business leaders, academics and government agencies. This identification is part of a growing international movement focusing on the skills students need to prepare to succeed in a rapidly changing digital society.

One of the attempts to identify these skills considered fundamental for students is in the document "New vision for education: unlocking the potential of technology", published in 2015 by the "World Economic Forum". The report was carried out in partnership with "The Boston Consulting Group" and gathers 16 crucial skills for the 21st century, divided into three categories.

The "Fundamental Education" category gather skills that show how students apply essential skills in everyday tasks. They serve as the foundation on which students need to build "Competencies" – how students approach complex challenges – and "Character Qualities" – how they deal with changes in the context in which they find themselves . Are they:

Fundamental formations:

• Literacy and arithmetic
• scientific literacy
• Literacy in ICT (Information and Communication Technologies)
• financial literacy
• cultural literacy
• civil literacy

Skills

• Critical thinking/problem solving
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Creativity

Character qualities

• Initiative
• persistence/grit
• Adaptability
• Curiosity
• Leadership
• Social and cultural awareness

Among the fundamental formations, the use of Wikipedia with students helps in scientific literacy, as they exercise critical thinking, problem designing, searching and evaluating sources, in addition to writing with peer review. It also helps with ICT literacy because students learn about how a digital platform works, how to work with codes and how to use these platforms critically.

In terms of skills, with Wikipedia students can learn to think critically, communicate with the international community of editors and readers of the online encyclopedia, collaborate in community writing and be creative to build content that is attractive to the public.

Finally, in relation to character qualities, the use of Wikipedia also helps in the exercise of having the initiative to solve problems, gaps and content biases, for example. Adaptability is exercised when dealing with writing made by thousands of hands and in an environment with rules and standards established by consensus. Curiosity is the key driver for anyone reading or writing Wikipedia, and the more students edit, the more curious they become. Leadership and social and cultural awareness can be worked on by organizing with other editors and working specifically on certain themes or topics, in an attempt to make marginalized knowledge visible and by writing content that has a social and cultural impact.

In summary, Wikipedia is an important pedagogical resource for developing skills considered essential for the 21st century.

*The content of this class was based on and/or translated from the program "How to teach with Wikipedia", developed by WikiEdu – an organization that serves as a bridge between Academia and Wikipedia – and the program "Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom", developed by the Education team at the Wikimedia Foundation.