asked students about truth and belief (Jenks, 2016) or practiced data collection (Keys, 2000) to meet this goal.
Assessment
Learners often have a flash of anxiety when they first find out about this assignment, since they assume their grade will be based on how Wikipedians judge their writing. However, learning goals for this project emphasize the research process and contextualizing research experience as part of larger bodies of work. So, our approach was to award points for tasks that supported these goals. For example, we awarded points for a reflection essay, completing WikiEdu trainings, participating in peer review and professor review drafts, interacting with Wikipedians, and an annotated bibliography.
Another common challenge is assessing the final student writing. Learners are used to meeting word count or page length parameters in their writing, but those measures are not necessarily useful when writing for Wikipedia (Blumenthal, 2018, May 1). We have used benchmarks such as number of citations to signal length requirement to students. It is also important to clarify how writing will be assessed; Wiki Education (2017, November 14) provides sample rubrics to draw from. Some criteria we have used in our rubric are “conformed to Wikipedia style” and “added a significant new idea.”
Different Semester Lengths
We have taught this assignment in both abbreviated and full-length semesters. We have had best success with courses lasting a month or more, though the overall context of your course is important to consider. We reflect upon some of our experiences below.
A fifteen-week class meets Wiki Education’s requirements for full enrollment and support in their program. is is a helpful resource and a good reason to use this assignment in a longer semester. Moreover, learners have more time to research and write in this format. We have found, however, that in these longer semesters, learners’ efforts
