I have to say as an English teacher and a person who really values knowledge, I did have a bias against Wikipedia. Don't get me wrong, I personally use it all the time, but I often would steer my students in a different direction because I was afraid they would not have the same ability to look discriminantly at the information as I.
After reading this chapter, however, I kind of changed my mind. One thing that struck me was when Steve Jobs called wikipedia "one of the most accurate encyclopedias in the world". I also liked the quote that writing in a wiki "is to compose within a living organism." As a teacher, I often harp on the notion that every student can contribute, that more minds are better than one. My bias against wikipedia was kind of hypocritical to what I was telling my students. Also, our encyclopedias are out of date because the world continues to change, this medium allows for the knowledge contained to evolve as change occurs.
We are always looking for ways to get authentic audiences to look at our student's work. Why not a wiki?
1 comment:
You have written my thoughts and feelings exactly...except for the English teacher part...about Wikipedia. I am going to spend some time looking through it now and I am going to give it a chance. If it is as accurate as the chapter states, we've got ourselves the encyclopedia to end all encyclopedias. I'm glad I have no family members who work for World Book!
You have great insight.
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