Wikipedia in philosophy

Initial situation

The development of the project of innovative teaching of philosophy to the students of these two courses starts from two observations. The first concerns the lack of interactivity in the process of training students and their integration into research. The second observation concerns the lack of use of tools for communicating ideas to the public.

Therefore, instead of writing an 8-10 pages, the Master’s students were invited to publish a contribution on the free encyclopedia Wikipedia. The contribution had to be related to the seminar topic. Students were free to create a new article or to enrich an existing Wikipedia page by adding a section.

Project implementation

To carry out their contributions, students go through the following three steps. First, they familiarize themselves with the Wikipedia encyclopedia and its editorial tools thanks to the tutorial available to all users. Then, they submit a draft contribution to the project leaders and a draft according to the Wikipedia template. Finally, after validation, the article or section is published on Wikipedia.

To carry out this project, students must form teams (or decide to work alone), carry out exhaustive research, and collectively imagine a way to organize the material into sections on the Wikipedia page. These sections of the Wikipedia page should be composed on themes related to the course. The teams discuss and explain the content of their page to each other. Two external trainers in Wikipedia publishing provide advice on the process, coaching on the writing and guidance to the students at every stage.

The contributions are evaluated according to a 6-point grid developed by the teachers:

Wikipedian relevance (Is it a good contribution to the article? Is the article better than before - more interesting, more complete, clearer? Or does it just add a cacophonous dimension with unnecessary expansions?);

scientific relevance (Is it a faithful account based on a good understanding of the texts?

clarity and synthesis (remember that the reader is not necessarily a philosopher and reads quickly);

the degree of ambition of the project (quantity);

formal mastery of wiki language

ability to take our remarks into account.

Thoughts and advice

The fundamental reason why the teachers chose the format of a Wikipedian article is the exercise in clarity that it requires. Unlike writing an 8-10 pages article, a Wikipedian contribution requires students to have a strong ability to write in a clear, concise, and short manner. To succeed, they must make a reasoned choice of an interesting topic and relevant material.

The students were enthusiastic during the project, especially when publishing their contributions. The fact that they were involved in a more concrete project than usual was a source of motivation for them. Students were particularly encouraged by the fact that they were read by readers other than teachers.

Teachers who have been able to implement this format in their courses recommend that students never delete words or lines from existing Wikipedia entries, but rather add new content.

The key to a format organized around writing for the Wikipedia encyclopedia is the tutorial on the rules and tools of writing, which should be put forward at the beginning of the course. As the format exposes the writing activity to other members of the Wikipedia community, students should be prepared for possible feedback from the community.

Student feedback

To be forwarded