Week Four Readings

This week has been the most challenging for me. I haven't dealt with a wiki until now other than posting discussions to wikis that were already creating for the purpose of professional development. Additionally, that experience has been over five years ago.
    The topic of Wikipedia as a source has evolved since I was first introduced to the topic. Most of my students and myself were under the impression, and had been instructed to never use Wikipedia as a source. Even though I didn't share this with my students, I have found myself visiting Wikipedia for the minimal purpose of having a starting place, looking to the sources it cited, and double-checking the information that way. Though there are some limitations to Wikipedia, there are also advantages.
    When teaching middle school social students, I became frustrated with the outdated information in the textbook. Though I wasn't a " textbook only" teacher, it was new content to me and that's where I started. In certain parts of the world, history was changing and evolving in real time. Wikipedia accounts for this. Information on Wikipedia can be updated in real-time. What an advantage that did not exist when looking only to textbooks, printed every decade or so, for historical news. Wikipedia is reflective of our current world: constant change.
     One reading this week, "Wikiality in my Classroom" was a great article that related both sides of the Wiki debate. Just like so many tools emerging in society today, proper application, balance of use, and well-trained instructors and professionals will make the difference. This reminds me of the first week discussing Bill Gates and the reflection that you can't just give a kid a laptop. As educators, we can't just tell them to "google it". Knowledge of credible sources, knowledge and experience with comparing sources, definitely allows a place for Wikipedia. It also utilizes the critical thinking and inferential skills that students need to develop. Look at this, look at that, apply what you already know, make a conclusion.
    It is also important to note that textbooks haven't always told the truth. I remember reading in my previous graduate program, "Lies my History Teacher told me" by James Loewen. This book helped me realize that history in itself is a matter of perspective. Consider the American Indians and how they were depicted in textbooks, stories and elementary school lessons even when I was in Elementary School in the 1980s.
  Wikipedia is a tool that can be modified, updated in real-time. Students need to be able to critique sources, compile sources, apply their own knowledge and experience and make conclusions. Online research is an appropriate tool for that. The stereotypes surrounding Wikipedia reflect the lack of knowledge and instruction that educators receive. It is not, however, useful if the researcher ( student) doesn't have the ability to infer, judge, compare and evaluate.
 One one last note: Colbert's test of Wikipedia, the information concerning elephants, is an extreme example. If other sources contradicted this, one could assume that false or misleading information had been used. In fact, Colbert's whole analysis of Wikipedia is extreme. I conclude that most of the information on Wikipedia is usable, but like any other source, I would continue to research it, compare and contrast it with other credible sources.