within traditional academia. In some cases, when students have not adhered to Wikipedia guidelines and conventions, they have had all of their edits removed or reverted, and in an extreme example, a group of students were blocked from editing Wikipedia owing to persistent copyright infringement. In this case, the students continued to add the same content to an article and, despite repeated warnings, attempted to add the same content again and were blocked from any further editing. The real-world consequence of being blocked from editing had an impact on the students, which felt far more immediate than a low-grade or critical feedback from a lecturer. It was also something from which I or their lecturer could not shield them or afford them any special dispensation.
Outcomes and Learning Design
Students engaged enthusiastically with Wikipedia and valued the opportunity to participate in an activity they could list on their curricula vitae (CVs). While students embraced collaborative authoring in Wikipedia, their participation was not without challenges. For instance, some students found academic integrity, considered a highly important area of learning for students in the university, complex and sometimes diffcult to put into practice, even with training. While students received instruction about plagiarism and how to avoid it, there have been occasions where students found their work deleted by editors because it was not properly cited; in these cases, the sandbox in Wikipedia can help students manage their work while they make necessary modifications. Ongoing iterations of the course have involved increasing learning support to help students avoid plagiarism. e collaboration among Wikipedia, the library, and the instructor has facilitated a coordinated approach to topics, such as academic integrity, which utilizes in class instruction, problem-solving around scenarios, and use of Wikipedia’s plagiarism detector. Additionally, student tutors from other program levels in the school meet with the second-year students outside class instruction hours to help embed team collaboration and literacy skills.
The collaboration has provided new insights into the needs of students regarding the development of digital literacy skills. From an
