ERIC Number: EJ981490
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Mar
Pages: 12
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0098-6291
EISSN: N/A
The Wikipedia Project: Changing Students from Consumers to Producers
Sweeney, Meghan
Teaching English in the Two-Year College, v39 n3 p256-267 Mar 2012
Whenever the author teaches English 102, a research-focused, second-semester composition course, at least one student asks her whether or not she "allows" Wikipedia. She then redesigned her course to leverage Wikipedia as a source of inquiry. In other words, she "allows" Wikipedia, but through the Wikipedia project, which is designed to address the deeper issue of students needing better information literacy. The Wikipedia project requires students to contribute their research to Wikipedia, building off a recently published Instructional Note in "Teaching English in the Two-Year College" that had students rhetorically analyze Wikipedia. Students contribute their research to Wikipedia, thereby improving their ability to evaluate online sources and revise their writing for different purposes and audiences. By contributing to Wikipedia, students switch from consumers to producers and subsequently change their relationship with Wikipedia, thereby increasing their information literacy and enhancing their multimedia composing processes. (Contains 2 notes.)
Descriptors: College English, English Instruction, Writing (Composition), Student Research, Collaborative Writing, Electronic Publishing, Encyclopedias, Information Literacy, Web Sites, Content Analysis, Audits (Verification), Revision (Written Composition), Evaluation Criteria, Audience Awareness, Discourse Analysis
National Council of Teachers of English. 1111 West Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096. Tel: 877-369-6283; Tel: 217-328-3870; Web site: http://www.ncte.org/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A