A Call for Wikipedia in the Classroom Mark Kissling

Home , Wikiquote

ot long ago, I made a list of ten topics that I have taught in my social studies tion. Sometimes a question arose while classes: John Brown, atomic bomb, supply and demand, Gandhi, World Cup, reading; sometimes, while preparing a NCambodian Genocide, XYZ affair, Jane Addams, geography, and checks and lesson; sometimes my students referenced balances. Then, using Google, I searched for each term. What I found was not surpris- people, objects, or trends in popular ing: a Wikipedia website was the first link listed for eight of the ten searches.1 culture with whom or which I was not familiar. Wikipedia was a fast and easy As teachers and students increasingly and uses of Wikipedia, I describe one way to find out just a bit more. dwell in a digital world, Wikipedia is central purpose I have in teaching with it: I ran into problems, though, when a powerful presence. To what degree, teaching about knowledge construction. I my high school students started citing though, do we recognize and teach about conclude by briefly expanding my focus Wikipedia in their various research proj- Wikipedia in our classrooms? To what to think about how teaching with a wiki ects. Didn’t they know that the informa- degree do we discuss Wikipedia with our can enhance my purpose for teaching tion presented there could be posted by students (aside from declaring that we with Wikipedia. anyone? I had taught a number of les- do not want it cited as a source)? While sons throughout the school year about it is wise to plan and teach cautiously “No Wikipedia!”… “Do not cite perspective and bias in textbooks and with respect to Wikipedia, I believe that Wikipedia!” other resources. I had stressed the need to teachers need to acknowledge its strong- On its “About Wikipedia” page, critique, or “critically read,” all informa- hold in our students’ lives (and in our own Wikipedia is described as “a multilingual, tional texts; that is, to consider who cre- lives) and teach correspondingly. That web-based, free-content encyclopedia ated a text, when, where, how, and why. is, social studies teachers must provide project based on an openly editable We had analyzed primary and secondary opportunities for their students to learn model.”3 Founded in 2001, Wikipedia sources to better understand the motiva- to critically read Wikipedia, while at the is accessible in over 50 languages, is solely tion behind the creation and use (or re- same time helping them understand how online, and is free. The “pedia” of its creation) of texts like the Declaration of it is created, how it defines and positions name refers to an extensive network of Independence or Bartolomé de Las Casas’ knowledge, and what it makes possible websites, each related to a specific topic writings about life in the Americas during and fails to do. Creating experiences (and the equivalent of one encyclopedia Spanish conquests. I was concerned that like these—that “provide for the study entry). Although there is a fundamental students were blindly using the ideas of of relationships among science, technol- structure to Wikipedia—some users have unknown others, whose authorship could ogy, and society” (NCSS Curricular Theme special permissions as “administrators,” not be investigated and whose informa- )—is central to our mission.2 In this “bureaucrats,” and “stewards”—anyone tion could not be verified immediately article, I take up my initial experiences with Internet access can contribute, even (if ever). On top of this, I felt that they with Wikipedia, describing how I came anonymously, to its content.4 This online were using Wikipedia because it was to embrace it in my classroom. I consider openness to the public, and pliability simply the easiest thing to do. Like my how the attention devoted to Wikipedia by the public, is what makes Wikipedia searches to learn about what is unfamiliar in the pages of Social Education has pre- a “wiki.” to me, my students could find out plenty sented a mixed message of trouble and I first began using Wikipedia about six of information (accurate or not) in a mat- usefulness. In examining both troubles years ago when I wanted quick informa- ter of seconds.

Social Education 60 I began to write into assignments and “The defining principle that anyone can anyone with Internet access can create rubrics a requirement that stipulated edit its contents … does, I think, limit an account with Wikipedia and imme- “no Wikipedia!” But over time, espe- its usefulness to students who are not diately begin editing entries.12 This, cially as students pushed back on my experts in the fields covered and very Andrew Keen argues, leads to a “cult demand, I altered this requirement to well might not recognize a mistake.”8 of the amateur,” a situation in which the “do not cite Wikipedia!” My message was In subsequent articles, Risinger echoed knowledge of experts is cast aside by the that Wikipedia might be a good start- this concern.9 However, more recently, sometimes-unfounded assertions of a ing place—in fact, it is a great starting Risinger has stated that he has begun to mob of non-experts.13 What results, the place—but it is not a good ending place. view Wikipedia more positively.10 thinking goes, is a fertile landscape for What I did not consider much at that Despite Wikipedia’s commonplace the spread of misinformation, and Keen time, is the way in which a Wikipedia status among Internet users,11 there has documents several sizable examples of entry is constructed and how it could not been an article in Social Education this problem. be used for teaching about knowledge explicitly devoted to teaching about or Jaron Lanier argues that Wikipedia construction, historiography, bias, and with Wikipedia. Therefore, what has does more than spread misinformation. other important social studies ideas. been printed in the journal amounts to Credited with coining the term “virtual a mixed message: Wikipedia is a poten- reality” in the 1980s, Lanier recently Wikipedia in Social Education tially troubling, potentially useful teach- published You Are Not A Gadget, a book Each April since 1997 and, before ing resource. I agree on both accounts; critical of the impact of “Web 2.0” tech- that, periodically since 1983, Social however, these are great reasons for nology like Wikipedia.14 Although Lanier Education has published technology- social studies teachers to teach about is a champion of technology, he does not themed issues for social studies teaching. Wikipedia. endorse it at the cost of dehumanizing A survey of all of these issues up through people, that which he sees Wikipedia 2005 concluded that “these articles … Wikipedia’s Troubles doing. For Lanier, Wikipedia detaches reflect the larger trends in social studies As has been noted in Social Education authors from their texts, creating an illu- education towards a changing role of the and many other publishing outlets, sion that the text “mash-up” is true and, teacher and learner, one that depends on constructivism and student-centered learning.”5 Recognizing the turn toward technology in the teaching of social studies (and everyday living), this now- ECHOES and REFLECTIONS annual focus has been quite helpful to A Multimedia Curriculum on the Holocaust my teaching. However, despite numer- ous articles on a variety of technologies and technological uses, Wikipedia has Meet State Standards With Award-Winning received limited attention in this journal. Multimedia Curriculum Given its ubiquity, I wonder why? The first mention of “the free ency- ECHOES AND REFLECTIONS INCLUDES: clopedia” in Social Education was in 2005 with the suggestion that “teach- Ten lessons supported by literature ers and students will find answers (and excerpts, poetry, photographs, student handouts, and journal assignments. more questions) on just about any topic in the universe.”6 Since then, Wikipedia Over two hours of eyewitness testimony. has surfaced mostly in the form of use-

ful teaching website links provided by Connections to contemporary issues of C. Frederick Risinger (in his “Surfing cultural diversity, intolerance, and genocide. the Net” column) or as supplementary resource links in connection to arti- BUY NOW FOR THE SPECIAL PRICE OF $59.99 cles.7 Enter Promo Code: SE2011 In response to one of Risinger’s Wikipedia link suggestions, a letter to www.echoesandreflections.org [email protected] the editor questioned the appropriate- ness of Wikipedia as a resource in a secondary classroom. The author wrote,

SocialEducation_Ad_4.75x4.75_1.24.11_v1.inddMarch/April 2011 1 1/24/11 5:07 PM 61 thus, uncontestable. With its commitment or when it conflicts with other knowledge? I describe at the onset of this article) to “neutral point of view,” Lanier asserts How does it relate to power and who that they have studied in school. that “Wikipedia seeks to erase point of benefits/suffers from this relationship? Next, they can search online for the view entirely.”15 The primary founder of Wikipedia, topics, noting the large presence of The warnings about Wikipedia from Jimmy Wales, asserts that Wikipedia is Wikipedia.17 Keen, Lanier, and others are not easily dis- an enterprise for bringing together the missed. And for this very reason, teachers “sum of all human knowledge.”16 But is 2. It is necessary, then, for students to need to address them. Indeed, directing that how knowledge construction works— understand what Wikipedia is and students away from Wikipedia is a denial do we simply add it together? What hap- how it works. With access to an of the real landscape of our students’ lives. pens when there are competing knowledge online computer and a projector, a Social studies education centers on teach- claims? How is knowledge from communi- teacher can easily demonstrate what ing students about living in the(ir) world(s), ties that do not have access to the Internet, goes into editing a Wikipedia page.18 and like it or not, Wikipedia has a strong or to computers, represented? What From this demonstration, students foundation there. limitations are raised when knowledge can see that any person can edit an is detached from a speaker or a writer? entry and do so easily. Wikipedia’s Usefulness Questions like these focus on exploring While not advocating for Wikipedia to what it means to live responsibly in a 3. A good next step is for students to become the new library or the new text- social world. brainstorm a list of all the ways in book, I am advocating that it can become Students can learn about the complex- which Wikipedia might be used in an important resource for good social ity and tension embedded in knowledge general Internet usage, research, and studies teaching. There are many uses construction by examining and critiqu- so on. for Wikipedia in the classroom—I present ing Wikipedia, by asking who stands to some in Table 1—and the first and most gain and who is hindered by the informa- 4. Students can read Wikipedia’s important, I believe, is to use Wikipedia tion that is presented as well as why and own public statements about the to question the nature of knowledge. I how. One possible sequence for teach- site—e.g. its history, its intentions, want students to explore and wrestle with ing students to critique, or critically read, its purposes19—and compare these a variety of questions: What is knowledge? Wikipedia is: claims to the various brainstormed Who makes, authorizes, and presents it, uses. They can consider questions and how? What happens when it changes 1. Students can create a list of topics (as such as: How do these uses and claims overlap? In what ways are there disconnects? How might we Table 1: Teaching Strategies Using Wikipedia reconcile the various disconnects (particularly those that stem from Within the social studies curriculum, students can… the “troubles” that I raise above)? • learn how Wikipedia works in order to learn how to critically read any (social studies) source As an example of this sequence, let’s • compare and contrast a Wikipedia page with other class texts (like a imagine that you’re teaching about an textbook, argumentative essay, counter-narrative, etc.) upcoming local political election. After • create or edit a Wikipedia entry using work and research from class (and track what happens to these entries over time) your students recognize the ubiquity of • debate: Wikipedia and how it operates (Steps 1 o whether Wikipedia is an acceptable source for a research project and 2), they can consider (Step 3) how a o Wikipedia’s legal relationship with various forms of intellectual voter might use Wikipedia. One possibil- property ity is that the voter will gather information o the benefits and drawbacks of the democratization of the Internet, about the candidates running for office particularly focusing on the opposition between experts (who is from the candidates’ Wikipedia pages and an expert?) and the masses (can many voices yield a better idea then use this information to cast a vote. As than one?) students come across Wikipedia’s commit- • analyze Wikipedia’s “neutral point of view” claim and then explore how ment to “neutral point of view” (Step 4), Wikipedia handles and presents information about highly controversial they can consider how a Wikipedia post- topics (e.g. Roe v. Wade, the death penalty, universal health care) ing written by one candidate’s team might • write persuasively for a particular public audience about the role of 20 Wikipedia in everyday Internet usage differ from a posting by the other’s team. • examine Wikipedia’s operating structure as a system of government At this point, there are tough questions to answer, and these center around the idea

Social Education 62 that knowledge is constructed, not static: teacher serves as the “organizer” of the pages on our class wiki. On the first page, What is meant by neutral? Can a person wiki, students (or “members”) can con- I asked students to share their immediate be neutral? Can a Wikipedia page have tribute freely, writing text, posting pictures, reactions to the book. We discussed how a neutral point of view? embedding videos, making new pages, dia- they might “post” in a variety of forms: Will Richardson, in his accessible loging with their peers, etc.26 This ability reflections, salient quotes, pictures, poetry, book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other allows students to present their knowledge web links to supplementary information or Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, offers and wrestle with the inherent problems of resources, etc. They could also dialogue a thoughtful discussion of Wikipedia and constructing knowledge with others. with their peers under the “Discussion its uses in schools.21 Richardson’s book I recently taught a unit in which my class Tab.” On the second page, I asked stu- is important for any teacher consider- read Elie Wiesel’s Night. As a companion dents to collaborate, in the same manner ing what it means to use technology in to their reading, I created two different as Wikipedia, to write an “entry” that ana- the classroom. But he avoids the topic of Wikipedia and knowledge construction. There is an assumption that students already critically read Wikipedia. I echo many of Richardson’s sentiments, but students first need to possess a solid understanding of what is at play within a Wikipedia entry. Social studies teachers teach critical reading skills all the time as a function of teaching civic competence;22 we need to make sure, though, that we extend our focus beyond the classroom with its textbooks and traditional resources to the most common places in our students’ lives. When students have a deeper understanding of its workings, Wikipedia becomes a tool they can utilize effectively; no longer is it “the” place to find out information online, but it is “a” place to consider. With over 10 million articles, it becomes a vast learning ground to find knowledge, but also to examine how knowledge has been and continues to be constructed.23

Teaching with a Wiki One way to help students understand how to critically read Wikipedia is by having them contribute to a class wiki.24 In 2008, Social Education published an article detailing how wikis can be used to facilitate historical inquiry.25 The article, about “wikinquiry,” not only offers an example of how a wiki can be used in teaching, it highlights the role-change in social studies education toward constructivism and student-centered learning. From my perspective, one of the best reasons to teach with a wiki is that students will engage in their own construction of knowledge through its use. While the

March/April 2011 63 27 13. Andrew Keen, The Cult of the Amateur (New York: lyzes Night as a primary source. This studies topic) yielded at least one link from Doubleday, 2007). task required them to construct and recon- Wikipedia. Although there was much liter- 14. Jaron Lanier, You Are Not a Gadget (New York: struct their own and their peers’ knowl- ature on the pitfalls of Wikipedia, students Alfred A. Knopf, 2010). “Web 2.0” is a catch phrase that is often invoked in literature about the Internet edge, but to do so from a “neutral” stance did not know or fully understand them. but seldom defined. For a detailed discussion, see (including a requirement, like Wikipedia, Instead of simply banning Wikipedia the website of Tim O’Reilly, who coined the term: “What is Web 2.0,” http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/ to write in the third person). for class-related work, teachers should what-is-web-20.html. The first wiki page provided a welcom- strongly consider teaching students how 15. See Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., “Wikipedia: ing medium for students to share their to use it. In the process of teaching about Neutral point of view,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ NPOV; Lanier, 48. individual reactions. The various texts, Wikipedia, as well as teaching with a class 16. Jimmy Wales, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., links, and ideas were exceedingly diver- wiki, students can wrestle with some of the (Wikiquote, 2010) http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/ gent, representing their unique readings largest questions central to social studies Jimmy_Wales. 17. A wrinkle for this is that students can create a list of and reactions. The diversity of postings (in education, particularly those related to the topics relevant to their lives. While this might expand content and form) showcased that knowl- construction of knowledge. the focus more than is desired, I think it is important for students to see Wikipedia’s connection to the top- edge is constructed, not pre-determined or ics in which they are most interested and embed- uniform. After the students and I had read Notes ded. through each contribution to the wiki page, 1. For “World Cup,” a Wikipedia website was second, 18. See Houman Harouni’s description of his demonstra- directly behind a link for FIFA, the organization that tion to his students about how Wikipedia works in we had a rich foundation for discussing the runs the World Cup. For “Cambodian Genocide,” a “High School Research and Critical Literacy: Social book in class and synthesizing our ideas. Wikipedia website was third, although a subsequent Studies With and Despite Wikipedia,” Harvard search for “Khmer Rouge” turned up a Wikipedia While the first wiki page facilitated stu- Educational Review 79, no. 3 (2009): 473-493. website first. I also searched for each topic on my list 19. I recommend the “Help:About” (http://en.wikipedia. dent expression, the second page stunted it. using Bing. The results were quite similar. org/wiki/Help:About) and “What Wikipedia is Not” Discussing in class the collaborative task 2. National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:What_ A Framework for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Wikipedia_is_not) pages as online texts to be read, of detailing Night as a primary source, (National Council for the Social Studies, 2010): 21. discussed, and questioned. students reflected on how they found 3. For histories of Wikipedia, see “Wikipedia: About,” 20. As an extension of this step, students can compare a the neutrality requirement challenging, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About; and candidate’s Wikipedia page to the candidate’s official Andrew Keen’s The Cult of the Amateur (New York: website and consider what accounts for similarities especially working with the words of their Doubleday, 2007). The former is an official stance and differences. peers. While the goal was to produce a from Wikipedia; the latter offers a strong critique of 21. Will Richardson, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Wikipedia. Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (Thousand Oaks, constructed and reconstructed text, they 4. See Section 3.3 (“Editorial administration, oversight, Calif.: Corwin Press, 2006). found difficulty with anything other than and management”) of the “About Wikipedia” page 22. See “What Is Social Studies and Why Is It Important?” tacking on their additional thoughts to for an explanation of user permissions. In some in National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies: instances, general users cannot add content to a page A Framework for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment what was already posted. They discussed that is deemed overly controversial or has had an (National Council for the Social Studies, 2010): 9. “edit war.” a few reasons for this: first, the difficult 23. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., “Wikipedia,” http:// 5. Cheryl Mason Bolick, Meghan M. McGlinn, and www.wikipedia.org. content of Night made analysis of it tough Kari Lee Siko, “Twenty Years of Technology: A 24. A major difference between Wikipedia and a class Retrospective View of Social Education’s Technology to negotiate; second, they were wary of wiki is that a class wiki can be made private so that Themed Issues,” Social Education 69, no. 4 (2005): only teachers and students can post on it. The wikis altering their peers’ ideas and words; and 160. that I use in my teaching have been created through third, they sometimes disagreed with what 6. C. Frederick Risinger, “Surfing the Net: An Internet www.wikispaces.com, which offers K-12 educators their peers had written, but hesitated to Guide to Teaching the Constitution,” Social the opportunity to create private, ad-free wikis for Education 69, no. 5 (2005): 248-50. broach this conflict without the ability no cost. 7. In one article, Wikipedia is a topic in a story about 25. Jeremy D. Stoddard, Mark J. Hofer, and Molly G. to dialogue. Internet censorship battles in China. See Shawn Healy, Buchanan, “The ‘Starving Time’ Wikinquiry: Using While my primary goal of the unit was “Looking at the Law: The Great Firewall of China,” a Wiki to Foster Historical Inquiry,” Social Education Social Education 71, no. 3 (2007): 158-162. not to teach overtly about knowledge con- 72, no. 3 (2008): 144-6, 158-60. 8. Deanna Buhr, “The Drawbacks of Wikipedia,” letter 26. There are several Social Education articles about the struction and Wikipedia, our use of the to the editor, Social Education 70, no. 2 (2006): benefits of online discussion in social studies classes. wiki provided a concrete experience of 61. For example, see Whitney Blankenship, “Making 9. Risinger, “How to Teach about ‘Aligning Elections’ Connections: Using Online Discussion Forums to the complexity of knowledge construc- Using the Internet,” Social Education 71, no. 6 Engage Students in Historical Inquiry,” Social tion, especially through a medium like (2007): 293; Risinger, “Teaching Historical Analysis Education 73, no. 3 (2009): 127-130. and Thinking Using the Internet,” Social Education Wikipedia. 27. I supplied writing prompts such as: What can we tell 72, no. 1 (2008): 32. about the author from the text? What can we tell about 10. Risinger, “Teaching about Comparative Government,” the time period under study from the text? What can Conclusion Social Education 73, no. 5 (2009): 217. we tell about the time period of publication from the 11. Risinger noted in 2008 that Wikipedia had become text? When I first discovered Wikipedia, it was “one of the top 10 visited sites on the World Wide an interesting idea and a useful personal Web.” See “Teaching and Learning about Skills for Mark Kissling teaches social studies teacher resource, but I did not recognize its inher- the 21st Century Using the Internet,” Social Education preparation courses at Penn State University. A 72, no. 7 (2008): 382. former social studies teacher at Framingham High ent teaching possibilities. I began to real- 12. For example, it took me less than 10 minutes to create School (Massachusetts), he is also a doctoral can- ize that any Internet search by a student an account and edit the entry for one of my favorite didate at Michigan State University. He can be historical figures, Woody Guthrie. (particularly when researching a social reached at [email protected].

Social Education 64