Wikipedia as a teaching tool in humanities modules
11
Using Wikipedia in the humanities Gerard Sasges, Department of Southeast Asian Studies BuzzEd 2013: Teaching with Technology NaDonal University of Singapore, January 10, 2013
description
By Gerard Sasges For me, the internet is a great way to allow educators in the humanities to build classes around outcome-based projects rather than around exams or other assignments. In this presentation I'm going to discuss a graduate modules I taught at NUS in SEM 1 of AY2012-13, SE5213. The module's subject was revolt and revolution in Southeast Asia. All work except for the final exam was web-based. The first half of the modules saw students write book reviews they then uploaded to Google Books and Goodreads. In the second half of the module, students created Wikipedia entries on topics of their choice. Wikipedia-based projects, I will argue, represent an exciting opportunity to create humanities modules that allow students to engage in the public and genuinely useful production of knowledge. In my presentation, I'll touch on aspects of module design, discuss how the module worked in practice, highlight some of the more exciting outcomes of the classes, and invite discussion of ways to improve the modules and apply the ideas to other contexts.
Transcript of Wikipedia as a teaching tool in humanities modules
Using Wikipedia in the humanities Gerard Sasges, Department of Southeast Asian Studies BuzzEd 2013: Teaching with Technology NaDonal University of Singapore, January 10, 2013
Who I am • Historian of modern Vietnam • From 2002-‐2011 I directed the University of California’s Study Abroad Program in Hanoi
• Joined NUS in 2012 • Been experimenDng with technology in teaching since 2006 as a way to create project-‐based, real-‐world learning opportuniDes
• Earlier projects include • Project Kiếm ăn
• hWp://projectkieman.wordpress.com/ • hWp://projectkiemanvn.wordpress.com/
SE5213 Revolt and Revolution in Southeast Asia • Taking the commitment to “real,” project-‐oriented learning that had shaped my earlier courses and upping the “public” element
• Inspired by a short and very pracDcally-‐oriented arDcle in Perspec'ves on History by Jeremy Brown and Benedicte Melanie Olsen enDtled “Teaching Tiananmen” • hWp://www.historians.org/perspecDves/issues/2012/1204/Teaching-‐Tiananmen.cfm
• Which led me to another arDcle by Roy Rozenweig enDtled “Can History be Open Source?” • hWp://chnm.gmu.edu/essays-‐on-‐history-‐new-‐media/essays/?essayid=42
• Which in turn led me to the list of essays and resources at • hWp://chnm.gmu.edu/essays-‐on-‐history-‐new-‐media/essays/
A poll that is also an argument • How many of us use Wikipedia? For what? • How would we characterize the content and coverage? • How many of us have contributed to Wikipedia? • Do academics have a role to play in Wikipedia?
SE5213 module design • Students free to choose any topic related to “revolt and revoluDon” broadly understood.
• The module had two parts corresponding to the first and second half of the semester. • In part one, students review two books related to their general topic and upload the reviews to Goodreads/Google Books. • In part two, students either modify an exisDng Wikipedia entry or create a new one.
• Each part requires students to do an outline, draf, and peer review before uploading final draf.
• Note: while the module was organized around individual projects, it could just as easily be organized around group work.
What we learned from the book reviews • Useful preparaDon for Wikipedia entry (usually) • Challenging • Argument • Context • length
• Could be used on its own
What we learned from the Wikipedia entry • Importance of clear wriDng • Importance of clear organizaDon • Importance of citaDons/sources • The challenges of the “Neutral Point Of View” (NPOV) • A different way of wriDng • On one level true • Students have to idenDfy least biased sources, synthesize available informaDon into a meta-‐”story”, idenDfy and explain important debates
• On another level completely false • Students learn in a very concrete way that the narraDve is the argument
• have to make crucial choices about where to start and end their story, what to put in and what to leave out
Challenges
• Wikipedia is a clunky interface • Too much freedom? • The eternal challenge of the peer review • Was it too much work?
Successes • All of our work had a context and a public • We made a genuine contribuDon to improving the quality and coverage of popular resources like Google Books and Wikipedia • We wrote and we got creaDve • We got involved in controversy • We changed history (and people actually read it)! • We did projects that were meaningful to us (and maybe meaningful to society)
• hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_resistance_movement_1885-‐1895 • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurgency_in_Aceh • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasant_revoluDon_in_Thailand • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-‐Arqam • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Thai_student_uprising • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_insurgency_in_Western_Burma • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saminism_Movement • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagong_Tasi • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saya_San • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_RevoluDonary_Youth_League • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Lorena_Barros • (1: Main page) hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mat_Salleh_Rebellion and (2: Brief
separate page) hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mat_Salleh • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petagas_War_Memorial • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OperaDon_Spectrum • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patani_(region) • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_in_Laos (SecDon on Buddhism & the
Pathet Lao • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_revoluDon_of_1932 • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Kahar_Muzakkar • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_sumatra_revoluDon • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukbalahap_Rebellion • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preman_(Indonesian_gangsters) • hWp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nghe-‐Tinh_Revolt
For discussion • Ideas for improving • How to adapt to other modules in other fields • Anything else we want to discuss
