With around 20 billion page-views every month, Wikipedia is an integral part in how people discover information. It is used by students and lecturers alike, and it is one of the most important open educational resources currently available. Recognising the importance of engaging with Wikipedia and understanding its role in knowledge creation and dissemination, some university courses have used Wikipedia as a teaching tool for over a decade.
In the United Kingdom alone, there are around 25 modules across 18 higher education institutions that encourage students to actively engage with Wikipedia. These modules span the sciences, arts, and humanities and range from first-year undergraduate modules to Masters courses. With a variety of approaches, what unites them is that they help students improve their digital fluency and information skills.
Wikimedia UK and the Disruptive Media Learning Lab are jointly organising a summit to bring together people using Wikipedia in the classroom and those who would like to learn more about how it works. The event takes place on 26 February at Coventry University. This a pre-OER20 Conference event.
The day will feature keynotes from Prof. Allison Littlejohn (Director of the UCL Knowledge Lab) and Lorna Campbell (Senior Service Manager – Learning Technology, University of Edinburgh) as well as talks, practical sessions, and an unconference. Beyond Wikipedia itself, there will be an opportunity to learn about Wikidata, the open source knowledge base that links to Wikipedia.
The day will work from general principles, exploring what students get out of working with Wikipedia, and move into specifics with some case studies from Wikipedia in the classroom and hands-on sessions, and then an unconference session in the afternoon building on the ideas generated throughout the summit. The day will be concluded with a second keynote and a discussion panel.
The summit is open to all: lecturers, students, and Wikimedia volunteers. Tickets are £30 for waged attendees and £10 for unwaged. The full programme will be available on Meta-Wiki with details of how to reach the venue and accessibility.
Registration is now open and we look forward to seeing you there.
