Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Schoolchildren told toavoidWikipedia - Telegraph
I could not agree more. :-) -- From: Charles Matthews charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 12:57 PM To: wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Schoolchildren told toavoidWikipedia -Telegraph Steve Virgin wrote: As a Board member I personally believe we should be attempting to promote our Schools Project here and that should sit at the heart of any release. Feel free to wrap any or all your very valid points below inside and around the idea/goal of the project, should you agree with me. To refresh: the Board has been looking for opportunities to 'work with teachers' or 'trainers' or 'academics' to help them see the advantages of Wikipedia in terms of use with students. This could be in terms of collaborative research projects that can put these skills into practice. In could be in terms of helping teachers or trainers build additional skills in the groups they train. The bigger objective is to lead to new volunteers for Wikpedia and new content. I suggested writing a concise guide for teachers and posting it on the WMUK site for two reasons, firstly because the point had been raised on this list in December, and secondly because I know how to get that written, having done a book chapter on this in 2007. If there is a need to integrate with other work, by all means put forward a way to fit it all together. I'm sure it is right to 'migrate' the message from a rebuttal of what journalists have to say, to our own ground. I see no inconsistency here, in fact, just a discussion of ways and means. Charles ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Schoolchildren told toavoidWikipedia - Telegraph
On Thu, 2010-01-07 at 13:10 +, Steve Virgin wrote: I could not agree more. Whoever wrote the guidelines for the government is a smart cookie. There is that clear implication that learning how to judge the credibility of any piece of information presented to you is a valuable skill. At issue is when it might be appropriate for schoolkids to start using the adult Wikipedia. No teacher can prevent them doing so outside school, so a locked and vetted version appropriate to the curriculum is the best way to start understanding the significance of whatever a search engine will throw at you. I'd be happy to help draft a guide on use of Wikipedia by schools if someone starts it. The one on Wikipedia isn't really appropriate for kids of 12 or under. It's also not focussed enough to be quickly useful to educators - it shouldn't just be a case of telling people to question the veracity of an article on Wikipedia but, to question any story you dig up via the Internet. -- From: Charles Matthews charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 12:57 PM To: wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Schoolchildren told toavoidWikipedia -Telegraph Steve Virgin wrote: As a Board member I personally believe we should be attempting to promote our Schools Project here and that should sit at the heart of any release. Feel free to wrap any or all your very valid points below inside and around the idea/goal of the project, should you agree with me. To refresh: the Board has been looking for opportunities to 'work with teachers' or 'trainers' or 'academics' to help them see the advantages of Wikipedia in terms of use with students. This could be in terms of collaborative research projects that can put these skills into practice. In could be in terms of helping teachers or trainers build additional skills in the groups they train. The bigger objective is to lead to new volunteers for Wikpedia and new content. I suggested writing a concise guide for teachers and posting it on the WMUK site for two reasons, firstly because the point had been raised on this list in December, and secondly because I know how to get that written, having done a book chapter on this in 2007. If there is a need to integrate with other work, by all means put forward a way to fit it all together. I'm sure it is right to 'migrate' the message from a rebuttal of what journalists have to say, to our own ground. I see no inconsistency here, in fact, just a discussion of ways and means. Charles -- Brian McNeil brian.mcn...@wikinewsie.org Wikinewsie.org signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Schoolchildren told toavoidWikipedia - Telegraph
Brian McNeil wrote: I'd be happy to help draft a guide on use of Wikipedia by schools if someone starts it. The one on Wikipedia isn't really appropriate for kids of 12 or under. It's also not focussed enough to be quickly useful to educators - it shouldn't just be a case of telling people to question the veracity of an article on Wikipedia but, to question any story you dig up via the Internet. I've started a draft at [[Guide for Teachers (Draft)]] on the WMUK wiki, so that we can get into concrete details. I basically agree with the point on critical thinking, and have put it in the Preamble there. But the real meat is in pointing to skills that allow you to be your own critic of what you read online. WP is quite a good place to start, in fact. Charles ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
