Journal 10

Wikipedia - Friend or Foe?

Hammond, Thomas & David Farhie (March/April 2009). Wikipedia: Friend or Foe? Learning and Leading with Technology, 36, Retrieved April 10, 2009, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200904/

This article gives background on the website, wikipedia.com and gives reasons why it could be used as our friend or our foe. Wikipedia started in 1991 as part of the WEB 2.0 world. Wikipedia is the eighth most visited website on the internet. Most of the people that visit Wikipedia are students. The article states that Wikipedia should not be used as an information source but as a structure.

Anyone can edit information in a collaborative way. Because of this students should not believe everything that is posted on Wikipedia. It is a good source for teachers to have students go on and use for critical thinking and knowledge construction.

Why should teachers not allow students to use Wkipedia as a credible research source?

Wikipedia is not an encyclopedia or World Book, as a Web 2.0 tool anyone could add information and it is not necessarily accurate.

Think of a way a teacher could use information on Wikipedia for an assignment.

One way a teacher could incorporate Wikipedia into an assignment is by having the kids compare the information posted in the Wikipedia site and information from a credible source and write about any discrepancies.