Political Science classrooms at KSU are often a place of innovation. Last semester, Dr. Mark Cassell introduced a new tool to his writing-intensive Senior Seminar course, and in doing so allowed KSU students to contribute directly to our shared body of public knowledge. Students in his course, The Politics of Inequality, were required to publish or contribute to a Wikipedia article focusing on inequality. The work was done in conjunction with a broader research paper project, and allowed students to learn about the production of knowledge by actually producing, and then publishing, knowledge. As part of the process, each student completed an online training session, and both contributed to and benefited from peer evaluation. They also refined writing and editing skills, learned to assess the credibility of online sources, learned some coding techniques, and learned to write in a neutral tone.
“[T]he assignment … turned a traditional writing assignment into an experiential learning assignment. I definitely plan to do this again." ~ Mark Cassell, Professor of Political Science.
The project benefitted from the support and tutelage offered by wikiedu.org, the non-profit educational arm of Wikipedia. According to Dr. Cassell, “In addition to providing technical assistance, the nonprofit has also created a dashboard that made it easy to track the Wiki activity of all the students. I could also see whether the student had completed the training and done the peer reviews. Wikipedia also provides useful resources for using Wikipedia as an assignment."
You can see some of the contributions made by KSU students below. Congratulations to Dr. Cassell and to the students!
Below are some of the articles students authored:
Ohio National Organization for Women
IMAGE AT TOP Created Using wordle.net