news reports to uncover potential manipulations of facts or evidence. e short introduction to library resources was an opportunity to highlight specific materials of relevance to the various Wikipedia entries and to reinforce the use of techniques such as paraphrasing and correct referencing in plagiarism prevention.
Overall, the three library interventions constituted a much more effective contribution to the learning outcomes of the module than is usually provided by a catch-all, one-shot library session. e collaboration with the course instructor and the Wikipedia representative provided the librarian with a greater understanding of the specific aims of the module and the learning needs of the students, particularly given the challenges in developing students’ academic integrity skills that were uncovered during the implementation of the Wikipedia component of the module. It was also an exciting opportunity to position academic integrity and critical thinking skills in the broader context of digital competencies for successful citizenship in the real world. However, the three interventions also posed questions about the scalability of this approach to other modules and student groups, given the workload involved and the existing constraints on the librarian’s time.
(3) Enabling university students to write and publish collaboratively with Wikipedia—a Wikipedian’s perspective
The first introductory Wikipedia lecture gave students an overview of Wikipedia and the wider ecosystem of Wikimedia projects, with a focus on the media repository, Wikimedia Commons. The session ranged from the origins of Wikipedia to the basics of setting up an account, finding the user sandbox in which students can make some initial test edits, and making those first few edits to a Wikipedia article. Suitable and unsuitable sources for citations were also covered, as well as the basics regarding copyright in relation to adding photographs or other media to Wikipedia articles. is was followed up later with the second session, in which students raised questions that were answered, usually with live demonstration, for the benefit of the whole class. Queries ranged from simple technical questions regarding editing articles
