Group+C+(Wikipedia+as+an+Educational+Resource)+-+Sarah,+Hollie,+Kate,+Caroline

=**Wikipedia as an Education Resource** = by Sarah, Hollie, Kate, and Caroline

Exposure to Wikipedia is practically unavoidable. In one test, Wikipedia was listed among the top three Google searches 100 out of 100 times ([]). __A conscientious educator can employ, and some argue should employ, Wikipedia as an educational resource in many ways:__
 * Overview:**


 * To promote the idea of “Open Education”**
 * "Open education allows every person on earth to access and contribute to the vast pool of knowledge on the web. Everyone has something to teach and everyone has something to learn." -Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales ([])
 * “At the University of British Columbia, Jon Beasley-Murray allowed his students to write entries for the online encyclopedia in lieu of the usual term paper assignment. One student said it was initially daunting to work online, where anyone could watch. But she found the assignment exciting and meaningful, significantly more so than a term paper which often gets filed away forgotten once the semester ends. A second student revised his entry 1,000 times, and a third student regularly slaved away at the project until the early hours of the morning.” ([])


 * To teach Critical Thinking**
 * Banning Wikipedia doesn’t teach students to distinguish between reliable and unreliable information. ([])
 * Wikipedia isn’t going anywhere, so we need to teach students about it accurately. They need to know how and when to use it. For example, The Wired Campus article entitled “Wikipedia Founder Discourages Academic Use of His Creation” includes a quote by Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia. It stated, “It is pretty good, but you have to be careful with it,” he said. “It’s good enough knowledge, depending on what your purpose is.” This goes to show that even the creator of this technology giant believes that users are still responsible for making decisions about what to believe about the content. ([])


 * To apply important reading and writing skills**
 * Whether students are using Wikipedia to find information, or they're being asked modify content on the site, many important skills come into play. For example, when asked to modify or write an entry, students need to consider writing for an audience, locating accurate information, composing well-developed sentences, organizing information in a logical format, and editing.


 * To give students access to Outside Sources cited on Wikipedia**
 * Each Wikipedia article contains citations for notes and references. Wikipedia can be a valuable portal to other source that traditionally are considered more reliable.
 * Persons who cite Wikipedia as a source are only going partway in the research process. Since Wikipedia is a collaborative tool with millions of contributors, it is constantly changing. Therefore, it would be impossible to cite just the website name as a creator – that’s just not true. Rather, it provides references to other sources that can be examined as the formal research process continues.


 * The Pros and Cons of using Wikipedia**

__Pros__

 * Includes 8.2 million articles in 253 different languages
 * Single largest Encyclopedia ever assembled
 * Simple to use
 * Anyone in the world can access this
 * Articles cannot contain original research
 * Articles must be based upon verifiable sources
 * Every day the content improves as more people become members of Wikipedia
 * Free for all to view

__Cons__
 * The fewer editors a specific topic has the less trustworthy the site becomes.
 * Just becuase it is easier to access does not make it as good or better
 * Less research could have been used to write them
 * Anyone in the world can access this
 * Difficulty in citing in a paper

** Click here for more information about Wikipedia as an Educational Resource **