Wikipedia as a teaching tool in humanities modules
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Using Wikipedia in the humanities Gerard Sasges, Department of Southeast Asian Studies BuzzEd 2013: Teaching with Technology NaDonal University of Singapore, January 10, 2013
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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/
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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/
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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?
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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.
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What we learned from the book reviews • Useful preparaDon for Wikipedia entry (usually) • Challenging • Argument • Context • length
• Could be used on its own
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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
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Challenges
• Wikipedia is a clunky interface • Too much freedom? • The eternal challenge of the peer review • Was it too much work?
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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)
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• 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
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For discussion • Ideas for improving • How to adapt to other modules in other fields • Anything else we want to discuss