Is Wikipedia a Reliable Source of Information?

One of the first websites that is likely to come up in an online search for information is Wikipedia, a Educational Technology for Teachers.

free encyclopedia that allows anyone to edit and add information. Much of this post is an excerpt from my book,

The allure of Wikipedia is that it is free and easy to find, and almost anyone can share their knowledge and post or edit an article. However, this allure has also led teachers to be wary of the reliability of Wikipedia's content. In a previous podcast episode, I discuss a test you can use to determine the accuracy of information sources, called the CRAP test. But Wikipedia is a different issue altogether.

While anyone can edit the pages, it's important to remember that changes on Wikipedia pages are monitored. One experiment that we conducted in class involved sabotaging a Wikipedia article for a University by changing the University's official slogan. It took only two minutes for the change to be corrected back to the original slogan. We tried the same change again, and again it was corrected, but this time it took a few hours.

Some studies have even found that Wikipedia is as accurate as other major encyclopedias and information (see Reliability of Wikipedia for more information). So if Wikipedia is just as accurate as other major encyclopedias, then why can't students use this information as a cited source? Is it that we just have a bias against sources of information that can be easily found online? One point to remember is that the studies featured at the above link are reported by Wikipedia, which has an interest in casting a positive light on it's own information. However, it is pretty clear with the way that things are reported, that Wikipedia is overall a very accurate source of information.

My suggestion for teachers is that right now it is probably best to allow students to use Wikipedia as a tool to gather preliminary information on a topic but not as a reference to cite within a paper. Instead, students should be encouraged to follow the references at the bottom of a Wikipedia article for more accurate citations. Even so, it makes me wonder at what point should we allow citations of Wikipedia articles in student papers if these articles are indeed as accurate as they are purported to be?

Media and technology don't directly influence learning: But use them anyway!

An interesting tenet of instructional/educational technology is that media doesn't influence learning. In other words, the different types of media (and technology) that you implement for learning won't in and of themselves change the amount of learning that happens. Instead, it is the instructional/learning methods that you implement that affect whether students learn. Richard Clark first suggested this idea long ago, but it seems to have held true over many years (see Clark, 1994). A vast number of studies, for instance have shown no significant difference between learning gains from online and face to face classes that use the same learning methods (Russell, 2001).

So if media and technology don't influence learning, then what does? The greatest influences on learning come from the learning methods employed (independent of the media and technologies used). Some possible learning methods that can lead to the greatest learning gains include making sure that students' mental models are activated, that students see a demonstration of how to do things, that students are able to get enough practice completing activities and that they can take what is learned and integrate it into their daily lives (Merrill, 2002; Francom & Gardner, 2014).

So if media and technology don't influence learning, then why do we use them? Why do we take the time to get out the laptops and iPads if they won't necessarily lead to better learning outcomes. One compelling argument is that these technological tools are a part of our life, and thus should be a part of our school life as well. If education is going to prepare students to thrive in the 21st century, they must know how to take advantage of current tools and ideas. To me, this argument is a more than adequate reason to integrate media and technology into learning, but there are also other compelling reasons.

The connection between technology and learning is not a direct one, but I believe there is a more indirect connection that is important. I believe that the existence of technological tools and resources allows for new methods of teaching and learning that were not previously possible (see Kozma, 1994; Puentedura, 2010).  So, because of technology and media tools, teachers can more often implement quality teaching and learning methods. For instance, without technology and media tools, many project-based learning activities aren't as easy to design or implement. Information literacy activities were not as efficient before internet database searches. These types of learning activities can be implemented more often in a classroom that has the necessary technology and media tools, therefore learning outcomes can be improved. And that is a very compelling reason to implement technology into teaching and learning!

References:

Clark, R. E. (1994). Media will never influence learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 21–29.

Francom, G. M., & Gardner, J. L. (2014). What is Task-Centered Learning? TechTrends, 58(5), 27–35.

Kozma, R. (1994). Will media influence learning? Reframing the debate. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 7–19. 

Merrill, M. D. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43–59.

Puentedura, R. (2010). SAMR and TPCK: intro to advanced practice. Retrieved February, 12, 2013.

Russell, T. L. (2001). The no significant difference phenomenon: a comparative research annotated bibliography on technology for distance education : as reported in 355 research reports, summaries and papers. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina State University.

Digital Media Camp: Teaching Media Literacy and Digital Media Skills

Information, media and technology skills are vital for success in the 21^st century (Dani, Wan, & Henning, 2010; Partnership for 21st century skills, n.d.). Information literacy, media literacy and computer literacy comprise these important skills. Media literacy and digital media skills have been connected with civic engagement and knowledge of community issues (Hobbs, 2013; Hobbs, Donnelly, Friesem, & Moen, 2013). Yet, media literacy educational opportunities are not as abundant as they should be in an educational system that places great value on basic skills as measured on standardized tests (Rogow, 2011).

In a suburban area of South Dakota, I have developed and implemented a yearly Digital media camp to support media literacy and to help enhance digital media skills among students. See dmcamp.tumblr.com for more information and sample projects. This camp is the first of its kind in this area of the state, and it has been designed to supplement a school district in which students do not gain sufficient knowledge and skills in these areas as part of their regular schooling. The goals of the camp – now in its third year – include helping students to increase their digital media skills, create digital media projects, and increase their media literacy.

Camp participants are ages 9-13, and the camp is held in the end of May each year after school is out. During this camp, participants design and develop a variety of digital media projects. Participants also learn the purposes of media and the process of media creation for each format. At the end of Digital Media Camp, participants hold a showcase in which they show all of the projects they created during the camp. These projects include a dramatic audio recording featuring sound effects, a documentary video recording produced and directed by participants, a dramatic video recording featuring plot structure, and additional audio and video projects.

On the last day of camp, students create a final project as part of this camp experience that represents the culmination of their learning about digital media. The equipment that students use at Digital Media Camp is purposefully kept simple so that students can transfer their learning and continue to create video and audio projects after the camp is over. 

We'll be setting the dates for the 2015 digital media camp soon. Let me know if you are interested in being a part of it!

ReferencesDani, D., Wan, G., & Henning, J. E. (2010). A Case for Media Literacy in the Context of Socioscientific Issues. New Horizons in Education, 58(3), 85–98.Hobbs, R. (2013). Improvization and Strategic Risk-Taking in Informal Learning with Digital Media Literacy. Learning, Media and Technology, 38(2), 182–197.Hobbs, R., Donnelly, K., Friesem, J., & Moen, M. (2013). Learning to Engage: How Positive Attitudes about the News, Media Literacy, and Video Production Contribute to Adolescent Civic Engagement. Educational Media International, 50(4), 231–246.Partnership for 21st century skills. (n.d.). Framework for 21st Century Learning. Retrieved December 4, 2013, from http://www.p21.org/Rogow, F. (2011). Ask, Don’t Tell: Pedagogy for Media Literacy Education in the Next Decade. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 3(1), 16–22.

EdTech for SD Teachers Podcast - Episode 13: The CRAP test for Information Literacy

This week, I discuss the CRAP test to help you determine the accuracy of an information source. Teachers can adapt this test for different ages of students in order to help them learn this important 21st century skill. Here are the elements of the CRAP test:

Currency
Reliability
Accuracy
Purpose and point of view

Here are the links from this post:

• Reliability of Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia

More information in my book - Educational Technology for Teachers - including a full section on information literacy.