I
would not let my students use Wikipedia as a source for any research I would
encourage them to use it as a tool to help them to get ideas of topics that
they would like to explore further or to narrow down their search. As a legitimate
source, I would not have allowed them to use Wikipedia. The reason for this is
because you don’t know where the information came from or who wrote it. Mainly
I don’t know who wrote the information like the podcast said if someone does
not like all they do is delete it and write their information in its place.
There really no time for other people or scholars to look at the information
and verify the information validity. If I was giving them a research project of
some form I would demonstrate to them how I would use Wikipedia to come up with
search ideas, but I would strong suggest that they not use it as a resource on
any formal research that they do. If I was in the middle of a lesson and need
to look up something and did a quick search for information I might use the
information, just because Wikipedia is the first thing that would pop when searching
for information. Telling my students that further research is going to be
needed on the topic.
YouTube
on the other hand I would feel comfortable with my students using it as a
source. It is true that anyone can post just about anything on YouTube, but you
know who is doing the posting by looking at user name with a little research
you can find out if the person posting the information is legitimate. I use
YouTube videos all the time in my Health lessons when I was doing a long term
as the PE/Health teacher for the elementary schools in Fraser. You still need
to be able to back up the content with in the video with facts from a reliable
source, but feel more comfortable with using YouTube as a source then
Wikipedia.
I think you are right on in your description of Wikipedia as a starting off point or a place for a quick piece of info. I would never want my kids to use Wikipedia as a research source, but I would never tell them not to read the article. It is a great starting off place to get info and get the ideas flowing.
ReplyDeleteHi Paul,
ReplyDeleteI agree that Wikipedia should be a starting point and students should be informed that Wikipedia is just a tool to get you started and that further research is needed to fully understand the topic that is being taught/discussed. In regards to YouTube, I really enjoy watching YouTube videos because they are very informational and like Wikipedia they can be used as a starting point and/or introduction to a lesson; they can even serve as a form of review for upcoming test. I stated that the use of YouTube videos is a good starting point/introduction to a new lesson, similar to Wikipedia, but the big difference is that the information provided in YouTube videos are pretty accurate and can not be changed and or deleted.
Kesha,
DeleteAre you saying that you would let your students use YouTube as a reference in a research project? Like you said the information on you tube can be accurate if not bias at time to the creators view, but we can say that about Wikipedia too. I would have my students look at Wikipedia to start their research,but encourage them to check out the references that are provided by Wikipedia as source for there research if the references come from reliable sources.
I mentioned this on a previous thread: The other thing to consider is that none of us would disagree that we tell our students that we should consider multiple sources when conducting research. I'm wondering how, given the discussion over the past two weeks, do we place Wikipedia ON PAR with other resources, or below/above?
DeletePaul, I agree that YouTube is probably a more reliable source than Wikipedia, but still the information should always be examined carefully. Not everything that is posted is completely accurate and some can be misleading. Like you said it is important to be able to "back up the content" with information from a reliable source. So when we teach, we need to make sure our student understand the positive and negative attributes of using these tools.
ReplyDeleteI get your point about using Wikipedia and YouTube but in a since, how can your really compare one to be more reliable than the other. Neither are really 100% legitimate than the other when in comes to education research. I think that would have to consider subject are what is being learned. I believe that you can use both as reliable resources as research tool based up you learning objectives.
ReplyDelete