File:Teaching Research & Critical Thinking Skills Through Wikipedia at WikiConference USA 2015.webm

English: From the conference program:

Many instructors in academia approach using Wikipedia in the classroom with apprehension or completely ban its use due to the fact that "anyone can edit Wikipedia". However, students as well as faculty often find themselves using Wikipedia to do basic research and learn more about a given topic. Instead of discouraging students from using Wikipedia, it is important to teach students how to best incorporate Wikipedia into their research. Learning how Wikipedia works and how to effectively use Wikipedia is a skill that students will be able to use outside of the classroom and take into the workplace.

This session will discuss how Wikipedia can be used to teach research and critical thinking skills by providing students will the tools necessary to evaluate Wikipedia articles. There are a variety of assignments, some of which only require part of a class session that can be used to teach students about Wikipedia. This includes designing assignments to assist students in understanding what makes a "good" Wikipedia article by having students review references listed and asking them to determine the creditability of sources used. It can also include asking students to review an article and discuss how well the topic is covered and if there are gaps, asking students to edit the article and thereby improve the quality of Wikipedia. Assignments can also take the form of looking at how information is presented in an online community driven website. Students can be tasked with reviewing the talk page and the history of the article to determine how the article was developed over time. By discussing what information was included in the first iteration of the article, students are able to see how an article can improve over time and see how edits from an active online community can result in a robust article on a given subject.