Students ‘should use Wikipedia’

http://community.brighton.ac.uk/jd29/weblog/19395.html

Full story at: http://jondron.net/cofind/frshowresource.php?tid=5325&resid=1346

Jimmy Wales says “You can ban kids from listening to rock ‘n’ roll music, but they’re going to anyway,” he added. “It’s the same with information, and it’s a bad educator that bans their students from reading Wikipedia”

He is absolutely right. Wikipedia is one of the best ways to learn something new. On the other hand he also mentioned that it still lacks the authority to be used as a citeable source for college-aged and university students. Again, he is right. I would not condone citing Encyclopaedia Britannica for that matter. It’s an encyclopaedia! But Wikipedia is a darn good one, and it can lead to some great resources to find out more. As an educator, I strongly encourage my students to use Wikipedia, but not to cite it. The idea that some fools think that we should ban it appalls me.

But the idea that we should rely on it scares me more.
Created:Sat, 08 Dec 2007 08:53:16 GMT

I am a professional learner, employed as a Full Professor and Associate Dean, Learning & Assessment, at Athabasca University, where I research lots of things broadly in the area of learning and technology, and I teach mainly in the School of Computing & Information Systems. I am a proud Canadian, though I was born in the UK. I am married, with two grown-up children, and three growing-up grandchildren. We all live in beautiful Vancouver.

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