Blog 15: Wikipedia Posting

When first learning about the project that we would be responsible for in this class, by contributing to a Wikipedia post, I was nervous. I thought to myself: how would I gather information that they would consider valuable and resourceful. This was a hard task, but I managed to have most of my information stay up for a month, without it being taken down.

My user name is: Ame0401

I chose to contribute to the article on: Educational Technology

A link to my page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_technology
(sorry for not setting up a hyperlink, but whenever I try to do it, it never shows up. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong :(

I contributed to a few sections within this article:

#1- The first contribution falls under the CRITICISM category and the text I published is as follows: "Similarly to learning a new task or trade, there is special training that is involved with adding elements of educational technology to the classroom. Without proper training, teachers and students cannot benefit from devices that will improve the quality of education. Devices are a waste of time and money if teachers are not receiving proper training. [26] Another disadvantage is that if teachers plan on using educational technology, they must come to the classroom prior to start time and set everything up and make sure it is all working."

This information stayed up but in the discussion part of the page, I noticed that there was a comment left, basically saying that this is not criticism and it should be taken down. (Comment from Wikipedia: "The Criticism section is not a criticism so that section should be removed and an actual criticism(s) should be added.") Although this comment was made, the information I posted has yet to be taken down.

#2- Considering I am an aspiring teacher, I wanted to include a section that would be helpful to teachers, so I made the section entitled: Technology in the Classroom. The information that I posted there has remained up for a month. It reads as follows: "* Computer in the Classroom: Having a computer in the classroom is an asset to any teacher. With a computer in the classroom, teachers are able to demonstrate a new lesson, present new material, illustrate how to use new programs, and show new websites. [28]
* Class Website: What better way to display your student's work, then to create a web page designed just for your class. Once a web page is designed, teachers can post homework assignments, student work, famous quotes, trivia games, and so much more. In current day society, children know how to use the computer and navigate their way through a website, so why not give them one where they can be a published author.
* Wireless Classroom Microphones: Noisy classrooms are a daily occurrence, and with the help of microphones, students are able to hear their teachers clearer. Children learn better when they hear the teacher clearly. The benefit for teachers is that they no longer loose their voices at the end of the day."

#3- The third section in which I tried to post was entitled: "Websites that Help Teachers." In this section I began a preliminary list of websites that would help teachers use technology in the classroom. These websites got deleted because it was considered advertisement and Wikipedia is not a site to use to advertise. The two websites posted are below:
*4teachers.org http://www.4teachers.org/
*E-learning For Kids http://www.e-learningforkids.org/

Overall, my contributions were received as being helpful to the website. I took the time to do research and try to find reputable websites that would provide as a resource so that the information was not taken down. I noticed from other people in the class posting information, that unless you have a resource to back your information up, then most likely the information would be deleted by the "big shots" of the page. The information that I put up to provide teachers with helpful websites was taken down because it was considered advertisement, which in fact it was, it was advertising for the two websites that I found.

I also posted a clean up request comment in the discussion portion of the article, and it read as follows: "The part that talks about behaviorism, constructivism, etc. does not really belong on this page. I think we need to look into editing what information really is relevant and what isn't." I wrote this comment on Feb. 26th and within two days there was a response from the avid contributors to this page which read as follows: "I disagree. If it was just general overview of the learning theories, that would be one thing, but since it talks about each theory and how that affects your perspective on educational technology, I think it's relevant. If you're coming from a cognitivist perspective, you're probably focused on cognitive load and multimedia processing when you make decisions about technology use. If you're coming from a constructivist perspective, you may focus on technology that creates environments for problem solving. Second Life may not make sense as an educational tool from a cognitivist perspective because of the ill-structured environment, but a constructivist might find it quite valuable, especially for more advanced learners."

Having said that, I chose to stay away from deleting that section, and chose to just mind my own business and publish what I found would remain on the website. All in all, my experience with Wikipedia was a successful one. The majority of the information that I put up remained up and unharmed. The one major thing that I learned from this experience, is that when I go to do a research paper of some sort, I should only use the information posted that has a reference, to make sure that it is reliable. People still get away with publishing pure nonsense on this encyclopedia and one must be careful in what they pull out as reliable information.