Cool magazine coverage of Ukraine Education program!
On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 11:18 AM, Юрій Пероганич <[email protected]>wrote: > > http://ukrainianweek.com/Society/77273 > > April 12, 2013 ▪ Liubomyr Krupnytskyi > Wikipedia as a School Project > Oleksandr Zheliba, lecturer at Nizhyn University in Chernihiv Oblast, > encourages his students to write Wikipedia articles instead of reports and > projects > > University curricula demand that students be given creative individual > assignments. These largely take the form of “reports” which students often > copy from their predecessors or download from the Internet. Assistant > Professor Oleksandr Zheliba of the Mykola Hohol Nizhyn State University > does not forbid his students from writing reports but offers them an > alternative: for the third year now, students can create (or edit) articles > in Wikipedia. In addition to the obvious advantages for the > Ukrainian-language segment of this online reference resource, this > approach has other benefits. Young people develop a better understanding of > the topics they are working on and also acquire technical skills. Most > importantly though, it changes their attitude towards studies, because the > results of their work are not just seen by their professor, but also by > thousands of online users. > > *U.W.: Your experience forces a person to look at Wikipedia from a > different perspective – it transforms from a source of information into a > teaching tool. What led you to this idea?* > > About eight years ago, the Ministry of Education introduced a mandatory > course in modern information technology. This course is taken by fifth-year > students at every higher education institution. Specialists specifically > came to our university with a training programme for teachers. Among other > things, it included tasks that would teach students to implement the > results of their work in the form of presentations, web-sites and booklets. > I liked the idea, but when I started working with students, most of them > fell short of the necessary standard. I also taught history and needed to > search for a lot of professional information, finding it in large amounts > in Wikipedia. When I saw that something was incorrect, I submitted my > corrections. This is when I thought of involving students in this type of > activity. So I suggested that they edit Wikipedia as an alternative to > doing projects. If they edited Wikipedia articles, they, no doubt, learned > to search, select, save and sort information. > > *READ ALSO: The Light of Education<http://ukrainianweek.com/History/75920> > * > > *U.W.: How does this method differ from others that are usually used by > high school and university teachers? What are its advantages?* > > At a meeting of graduates in my high school, I came across an album > displayed on a stand in the literature room. It contained essays that we > wrote as pupils. I was so happy that they had been preserved. How else can > you show a young person that his or her work is important? Following the > established methods of teaching, if you give a task to a pupil (for > example, making a knight out of plasticine), you have to put it on display > for everyone to see so that the child can also see the results of his/her > work and is encouraged to continue to work diligently. In Wikipedia, > everything is in front of the teacher, who can check the work done by a > student. Let’s see, the article was edited by someone: it used to look like > this and these are the changes after editing. You can see the progress: > what was done, who did the work, on what days and even at what time. In > other words, Wikipedia permits the monitoring of both the process and the > end result. Another benefit is that this is not the writing of reports “for > the desk drawer”.. In some cases, they become the starting point for term > papers, but for the most part, they gather dust somewhere on, in or under > the teacher’s desk. > > *READ ALSO: Alma Pater <http://ukrainianweek.com/Society/17561>* > > *U.W.: I guess that everyone knows the value of a student’s report these > days..* > > It is really unfortunate that all of this information (no matter how it is > written) goes down the drain. This does not only pertain to reports. There > was a period at our university, when students made presentations on a > certain topic. But what were these presentations in reality? They took > pieces of information from Wikipedia and other sources… It was not clear > who the real author was. So the benefit was dubious. One pedagogical rule > says: for a person to have the desire to work, he/she needs to see the > point of it. It is important for everyone to understand that the result of > their work can be useful to someone and that their efforts have not been in > vain. Another advantage is a better understanding of the substance of the > material. Confucius once said: “I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; > I do and I understand”. > > *U.W.: How do students react to your innovation?* > > It depends. There were those who simply wanted to get the highest grade > with a minimum amount of work, but they soon got drawn into it. A student > created an article; I made a few comments and suggested revising some > things. Later, I saw that he was more eager to write the next article and > made fewer mistakes. Then he tackled another article. Students work on > reports in their freshman year. They have archive and regional ethnology > practical work – these are essentially tiny research projects, and their > results are quite suitable for publication in Wikipedia. In my opinion, > this is much more efficient than having this information gather dust until > it is eventually sent to an archive or thrown out as scrap paper. Many > questions arise during the process. A little two-part handbook would be > good to have. One part would contain the rules for editing Wikipedia > articles and a collection of templates needed for a certain branch of > knowledge. The second part would offer tips on writing articles on history > or other subjects. > > *READ ALSO: Knowledge is Power – and > Cash<http://ukrainianweek.com/Society/76007> > * > > *U.W.: When students work on Wikipedia articles to fulfil a teacher’s > task, doesn’t it contradict the spirit of this electronic encyclopedia, > which is created on a completely voluntary basis?* > > Not at all. Each student chooses his/her own form of work and his/her own > area in laboratory classes. If students can write excellent articles for > Wikipedia, let them continue to hone this skill. But if it is not their cup > of tea, then they shouldn’t tackle it. There are other options. In the > first year of studies, history students are taught specialized disciplines. > One of the tasks includes drawing their family tree. Some do it and forget > about it, while others dig deeper. If in their freshman year, students > realize that this is something interesting and become “hooked” on this > work, they could then suggest to the teacher that they would like to edit > this segment of Wikipedia, which will be counted as their individual work. > > *U.W.: How did the university administration react to your initiative? > Are any of your colleagues following your example?* > > Types of individual work are proposed by a teacher, and are simply > approved at staff meetings. As far as the attitude of the administration is > concerned, there is no objection, just understanding. I know for a fact > that there are teachers who edit Wikipedia articles themselves, but it is > hard for me to say whether they propose this kind of work to their > students. Many come to this idea on their own. Some of my colleagues may > want to work along these lines, but are afraid to admit that they lack > competence in something. Not only before their students but also before > each other. The above-mentioned handbook on editing Wikipedia is not as > important for students, as it is for teachers. > > *READ ALSO: Undeclared War: Government Conducts “Creeping > DeUkrainization”<http://ukrainianweek.com/Society/40879> > * > > *U.W.: In this case, the community is more virtual than real. Does this > type of work give a sense of community?* > > To some, it may be their first experience of unpaid public work that > nevertheless, brought satisfaction. Creating Wikipedia articles may > sometimes hurt youthful maximalism, because you may be corrected, but a > person has to go through this. I think a sense of community comes later, > when a person takes a more conscientious approach. Also, editing conflicts > can arise as you work with other colleagues. You then begin to interact > more closely and learn about the other people working on the same topic. > You have one vision, he/she has another, and you need to find arguments and > present them clearly. This is also something that has to be learned > ------------------------------ > > -- > Kind regards > Yuri Perohanych, WMUA BM&ED > -- *Jessie Wild Learning & Evaluation * *Wikimedia Foundation* * * Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! Donate to Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>
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