The resources below are for instructors looking for ways to incorporate the UKY BLM Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon (or other Wikipedia-focused activities) into their teaching.
Where to Start?
If you want to involve your class in the UKY BLM Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon but are not quite sure where to start, a good place to look is the Instructor Basics: How to Use Wikipedia as a Teaching Tool brochure which includes activities, assignment design tips, and do’s and don’ts. Take a look at our “Start Editing” page on our site for tips to get started.
Example Learning Outcomes and Assignments
As you begin to plan how to use the Edit-a-Thon in your teaching, consider the learning outcomes that you want students to achieve as a result of the activity. Having a clear picture of the desired outcome will help you pick/plan the right assignment. The chart below lists a few sample learning outcomes paired with corresponding example assignments of variable experience levels. For more detailed examples see the Case Studies: How Professors are Teaching with Wikipedia brochure.
| Sample Learning Outcome | Example Assignments |
| Writing for a General Audience:Students use purposeful tone, vocabulary, and wording to communicate to a specific type of audience. | Beginner – Find basic, common spelling or grammatical errors in an article that is important to you and edit them. Intermediate – Find a Wikipedia article about the content we are discussing that is written in an unclear or unapproachable manner. Make edits to the article replacing the “jargon” with clearer wording. Advanced – Work collaboratively to write an original Wikipedia article for a notable person, event, or concept relevant to our current topic of study. |
| Visual Communication:Students will demonstrate mastery of a concept by developing a visual representation of that idea. | Beginner – Add an original picture you have taken to Wikimedia Commons that expresses an idea or thought. Intermediate – In a small group, assess an article rated “sub” or “start” and add images that help to flesh out the ideas present. Complex – Take, upload, and add images to the article you are drafting to elaborate on the topics |
| Critical Thinking and Research:Students will analyze a text and identify its main ideas and purpose. | Beginner – Based on your own research, add a source to the additional reading section of an article relative to our content. Intermediate – Edit an existing but limited article to include more information verified by trusted sources based on your own research. Advanced – Write a Wikipedia article using your own primary and secondary research for a notable subject or topic you’ve learned about in this course that you feel is missing. |
Additional Assignment Examples
Students may engage in Wikipedia editing to:
- Evaluate an article’s references and emend or add to them to bolster the article’s quality and credibility.
- Find a Wikipedia article that could use more research/information/context, or that needs to be updated based on new developments, events, or perspectives.
- Compose a Wikipedia article as part of a larger research project they are conducting for a class, e.g., as a public-facing communication component.
- Evaluate the information, arguments, language, and tone of a Wikipedia article for bias or skewed perspectives, and emend the article accordingly.
- Survey the availability, amount, and quality of information for a given topic and reflect on the bigger picture and messages that Wikipedia conveys about that topic as a highly visible, public repository of knowledge.
- Reflect on the process of editing Wikipedia as it relates to how information and knowledge are created for public use.
Here is an additional example of an assignment for an introduction to literature course.
Tips for Designing Collaborative Assignments
Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon Proposal Template
If you are interested in designing collaborative assignments contact UK’s Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching.
Tutorials and Training Modules for Students
Students who are entirely new to editing Wikipedia can go through The Wikipedia Adventure, a click-through tutorial where they will create a registered account and practice the functionality of editing articles. This resource takes about one hour to complete. Students can also work through the Wiki Education Training Modules.
Information Literacy
Using Edit-a-Thon activities for your teaching helps students develop information literacy. In other words, these activities can help students develop a better understanding of how information on digital platforms is created and consumed, therefore making them better readers, researchers, and critical thinkers. For example, you might ask students to make edits to existing Wikipedia articles and then write a reflection on what they chose to edit, and what they think that their edits accomplished in terms of creating a more authoritative and/or useful entry. Students might evaluate existing articles for their use of research, as well as their tone, argument, bias, and clarity. An advanced activity might engage a more nuanced understanding of objectivity and ask students to consider Wikipedia editing as public-facing intellectual work that has real stakes for public literacies, policy, and action.
Additional Resources
- Wiki Edu Landing Page – Information about Wiki support for using Wikipedia in the classroom.
- “The First Twenty Years of Teaching with Wikipedia: From Faculty Enemy to Faculty Enabler” by Robert E. Cummings and other chapters in Wikipedia @ 20: Stories of an Incomplete Revolution MIT Press 2020. (linkblue login required). Ebook that offers an extensive look at the past, present and future realities of Wikipedia.
