Learning from Wikipedia: Using Digital Social Production as an Assessment Tool in Higher Education
- Resource Type
- Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Tests/Questionnaires
- Authors
- Frances Edwards
- Source
- Practitioner Research in Higher Education. 2023 15(1):1-13.
- Subject
- Encyclopedias
Web Sites
Educational Resources
Evaluation Methods
Summative Evaluation
Student Evaluation
Preservice Teachers
Teacher Education Programs
Universities
Editing
Digital Literacy
Skill Development
Teaching Methods
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1755-1382
Wikipedia has been viewed as a dubious resource within higher education, and students are often encouraged to avoid its use due to the questionable rigour of its entries. In this study the tables were turned when Wikipedia became the central element in an assessment task. The task experimented with a new approach to summative assessment within a university-taught pre-service teacher education programme. This paper describes an authentic task that allowed students to demonstrate their learning by editing Wikipedia entries and providing justifications for their edits. Findings showed that this assessment task was enjoyed and valued by the students as they saw they could make a positive contribution to the socially produced Wikipedia resource. Additionally, they described the development of their own digital literacy skills gained through engaging with the task.