My thoughts on using Wikipedia and YouTube as a source is that they need to be vetted properly. Before using these tools they need to go through vetting against other, more reliable sources. Also, they cannot be your only source and other sources should support the information contained within these sources. In addition, Wikipedia and YouTube sources, tend to be more subjective depending on the background, gender, age, race and other factors of the author. As such, how we evaluate and use this content as a source has to be carefully examined.
Although, the content should be thoroughly examined prior to use, we can not rule out the impact and contributions both Wikipedia and YouTube has made to the learning process. Many of the younger generation tend to use these sources over more, traditional sources. As such, we should not rule out the use of these tools, but education people about how to properly examine the content for accuracy.
One of the down fall of Wikipedia is that sometimes the information is not up long enough for it to be vetted. Since it can be changed by having someone just delete it if they don't like it. The good thing is that Wikipedia done included the references on the pages so you can go and check the validity of the information. I agree with you that it should be vetted or it needs to have experts in the field examine the information an sources.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned this elsewhere...you can see the revision history for every Wikipedia entry.
DeleteI find that many students do want to use wikipedia and youtube as sources, however, I think our job as educators is to teach them how to use these tool as jumping off points to find better more vetted sources. If you know nothing about a topic, I think wikipedia is a great place to start for a general overview before moving on to finding information from more traditionally reliable sources. This info could potentially even be found in the citations at the bottom of the Wikipedia article.
ReplyDeleteRyan, good point. I agree as educators we should be teaching students how to use these tools and we should also be integrating them properly into instruction so students have a full understanding of their use and limitations.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point about examining the content of Wikipedia and YouTube properly for content accuracy. There are a lot of interpretations and definitions with using both for learning, but source is accurate. The choices of accuracy reminds me of prior study trends of using encyclopedia and dictionaries for learning. We chose the best information based on the information required for study. Using YouTube and Wikipedia can be view in the same way for examining content accuracy.
ReplyDeleteRemember that Wikipedia is a culmination of the efforts of many. As such, the primary sources are often cited at the bottom, so it can lead you to check those references for authenticity.
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