Although UF education professor Kara Dawson said she personally doesn’t use Wikipedia to prepare for her classes, she said using the website isn’t such a bad idea.
A Pew research study surveyed 2,462 Advanced Placement and National Writing Project middle and high school teachers on how they used technology at home and in the classrooms.
The study revealed that Wikipedia, a favorite one-stop shop for students, is being overwhelmingly used by teachers who often ban the website as a credible source. About 87 percent of the teachers surveyed said they used Wikipedia to find information online, according to the study. That’s higher than adult Internet users as a whole at 53 percent.
Dawson, whose specialty is in technology and education, said using Wikipedia is only a concern if it is the only source being used.
She said that Wikipedia pages aren’t in depth enough and that more than one source should be considered.
“The idea of banning it from students is a bad idea,” she said. “Students need to learn how to triangulate sources.”
Pre-occupational therapy freshman Monica Mercado, 18, said she thought it was hypocritical for teachers to ban Wikipedia as a resource.
“They say we don’t know how to use our resources correctly, but then they’re doing what they ask us not to do,” she said. “If they used the resources they’d like us to use and told us which ones to use, they’d be leading by example and I’d be more willing to not use Wiki.”
Contact Colleen Wright at cwright@alligator.org.
