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Bloody good assignment if you ask me. Ok, need to improve the teaching and editors need to get off their high horse (again), but the principle is sound. It coul

Bloody good assignment if you ask me. Ok, need to improve the teaching and editors need to get off their high horse (again), but the principle is sound. It could substantially improve some articles.

vickytnz 14y ago
As someone who's being involved with wikedit days (e.g. for Women in Science) and also in academia, I think this was a typical 'good idea, terrible execution'. The washup from 2011 noted that not many people did it, and those that did weren't very useful. And probably should be later on in university curricula (sad but true): letting first year undergrads at it is asking for trouble.
- alexchamberlain 14y ago
  But there's nothing stopping them doing it in their own time. I've edited a couple of articles here and there and, had I have found an error in a Maths article in my first year, I would have edited without a second thought. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Alex_Chamberlain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Alex_Cham...
  - table 14y ago
    The problem is that they're giving students an incentive to make edits, but not checking the quality of those edits. That's a recipe for a lot of bad edits.
DanBC 14y ago
Frustrating that no-one in the WP thread bothered to link to the right way to do it: (http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Progr...) > The idea behind the Wikipedia Education Program is simple: Professors around the world assign their students to contribute to Wikipedia for class assignments. > Wikipedia is being used as a teaching tool in education around the world (see a list of programs). The Wikimedia Foundation currently runs four programs: Brazil, Canada, Egypt, and the United States. > In each country, volunteer Wikipedia Ambassadors assist professors as they assign their students to contribute to Wikipedia on course-related topics. The Wikimedia Foundation started the program in the United States in 2010, Canada in 2011, and Brazil and Egypt in 2012. More than 3,500 students have participated in the Wikipedia Education Program around the world, adding the equivalent of 20,000 printed pages of quality content to more than 6,000 Wikipedia articles in multiple languages.
- alexchamberlain 14y ago
  Thanks for posting this; as you said, there was no indication whatsoever in the thread that there was a correct way to do this.
- vickytnz 14y ago
  That is interesting. Or in particular, when you get to the pages that actually spell out how it works http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education_Portal/Tips_and_Resources http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education_Portal/Tips_and... (that landing page is somewhat nebulous, it takes a little digging to find the actual content!)

Bloody good assignment if you ask me. Ok, need to improve the teaching and editors need to get off their high horse (again), but the principle is sound. It could substantially improve some articles.

vickytnz 14y ago

As someone who's being involved with wikedit days (e.g. for Women in Science) and also in academia, I think this was a typical 'good idea, terrible execution'. The washup from 2011 noted that not many people did it, and those that did weren't very useful. And probably should be later on in university curricula (sad but true): letting first year undergrads at it is asking for trouble.

alexchamberlain 14y ago
But there's nothing stopping them doing it in their own time. I've edited a couple of articles here and there and, had I have found an error in a Maths article in my first year, I would have edited without a second thought. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Alex_Chamberlain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Alex_Cham...
- table 14y ago
  The problem is that they're giving students an incentive to make edits, but not checking the quality of those edits. That's a recipe for a lot of bad edits.

DanBC 14y ago

Frustrating that no-one in the WP thread bothered to link to the right way to do it: (http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Progr...) > The idea behind the Wikipedia Education Program is simple: Professors around the world assign their students to contribute to Wikipedia for class assignments. > Wikipedia is being used as a teaching tool in education around the world (see a list of programs). The Wikimedia Foundation currently runs four programs: Brazil, Canada, Egypt, and the United States. > In each country, volunteer Wikipedia Ambassadors assist professors as they assign their students to contribute to Wikipedia on course-related topics. The Wikimedia Foundation started the program in the United States in 2010, Canada in 2011, and Brazil and Egypt in 2012. More than 3,500 students have participated in the Wikipedia Education Program around the world, adding the equivalent of 20,000 printed pages of quality content to more than 6,000 Wikipedia articles in multiple languages.

alexchamberlain 14y ago
Thanks for posting this; as you said, there was no indication whatsoever in the thread that there was a correct way to do this.
vickytnz 14y ago
That is interesting. Or in particular, when you get to the pages that actually spell out how it works http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education_Portal/Tips_and_Resources http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education_Portal/Tips_and... (that landing page is somewhat nebulous, it takes a little digging to find the actual content!)