5 Reasons Why Wikipedia Is A Good Teaching Tool

By Author: Kellie
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Every once in a while, we here our students cite great facts or topics from relevant websites or blogs. I'm sure you've heard Wikipedia being mentioned every now and then.

For those of you who haven't visited the site yet, Wikipedia is:

A free multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its name is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites, from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning ‘quick') and encyclopedia. Wikipedia's 12 million articles (2.8 million in the English Wikipedia) have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world, and almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone who can access the Wikipedia website. Launched in January 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, it is currently the most popular general reference work on the Internet.

So instead of the traditional large volumes of books you previously had in your shelf, the creators of Wikipedia have developed a system where a community of trusted editors (volunteers) works on informative articles ...
... on any available subject.

You might be thinking of adding this website as a magic wand in your teaching career and helping you with certain topics that textbooks may not have yet covered. But you're also probably thinking is it worth the try? Well, it certainly is.

I'm not suggesting you consider Wikipedia as your sole source of information but as a valuable supplement.

Here are top 5 reasons why you should have Wikipedia as a good teaching tool:

Collaboration of Trusted Editors : - There is a strict policy on editorial process for Wikipedia considering the fact that it's an encyclopedia which is available for editing anonymously. But according to Wikipedia: Each entry in Wikipedia must be about a topic that is encyclopedic and thus is worthy of inclusion. A topic is deemed encyclopedic if it is notable in the Wikipedia jargon; i.e., if it has received significant coverage in secondary reliable sources (i.e., mainstream media or major academic journals) that are independent of the subject of the topic. With that in mind, you can expect topics and articles presented on Wikipedia to have that trusted credibility.

Selections of Languages : - There are about 246 languages supported by Wikipedia. So if you want to have information to be derived in a non-English native language, the left Languages sidebar should help you translate in just one click.

Effective Search Engine : - It may not be as competitive as Google, but Wikipedia's search does have some useful results. For example if you search for teaching, aside from the article about teaching itself it also gives you: For university teachers, see professor. For ‘extra-help teachers', see tutor. For Parapros, see Paraprofessional educator. These give you versatility when researching a topic and expand to other subjects of interest.

Notes and References to Different Sources : - This is one of my favourite features in Wikipedia. At the bottom of each article you will have dozens or even hundreds of notes and references to the subject. These references could be from cited websites, online documents, newsletters, videos, etc.

Revision History : - Although this feature doesn't get visits often, but it does help to know the timeline of revisions done to the article on the History section of Wikipedia. Especially for articles and topics which get updated or modified by certain events or other related facts.

About the Author : -
Dave Fuentes is an SEO Analyst/Consultant and is also contributing content for TheEducationProfessionals.Com Teaching Jobs, the number one online resource for those seeking an education career in Dubai and the Middle East.