Given that we commonly perceive technology to be synonymous with change and innovation, it can seem contradictory to view it as facilitating a return to tradition. Wayne Mackintosh, Education Specialist at the Commonwealth of Learning, sees exactly this potential in the WikiEducator project he established. During a recent Teaching and Learning with Technology presentation to an audience of both educators and learners of the UBC community, Mackintosh described how WikiEducator is facilitating the return to the initial purpose of academia: the sharing of knowledge.
Put simply, WikiEducator is a website that provides free educational content that anyone can edit and use. It is a sort-of online library where educators from around the world can come together and share lesson plans, ideas for projects and assignments, and all other open education resources (OERs). Using wikis as a backbone means that any user can view, author, and modify content on the site. Since the vibrancy of the wiki is determined by the activity of its users, an evolving online community is integral to the success of the project. For this reason, WikiEducator invests in teaching others about how to use wikis through its Learning4Content initiative, which holds monthly workshops that teach MediaWiki editing skills to site users. After training, participants are asked to add to the wiki by providing a lesson of free content on the topic of their choice.
Thus far, the project has shown remarkable success and uptake from people all around the world. Established in May 2006, the website now receives anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000 unique visitors per day, surpassing WikiEducator’s own projections. The community is made up of mainly post-secondary educators, and over half of the site’s visitors are over the age of 45. As its community has grown, so has the wiki’s volume and distribution of content. Interestingly, 80% of content on WikiEducator is produced by 12% of its users. This is quite significant when compared to a site such as Wikipedia, where 80% of content is produced by only 3% of users. Mackintosh is currently working on initiatives that will both reach out to other education sectors (K-12, for example) and also increase the percentage of users that actively contribute to the site. He also hopes to implement new technological features that will expand the number of languages supported, and to develop further options for content editing.
At the root of this project lies the belief that education should be free, accessible, and non-proprietary. Mackintosh has tried to extend this philosophy to all facets of WikiEducator, including its governance. The wiki is governed by an Open Community Council made up of members who run in democratic elections for their positions. Ideas are deliberated, input is regularly solicited from members, and funding proposals are made public. As long as the commitment to transparency and openness is kept, Mackintosh sees this project bringing OERs to developing countries that often cannot afford to pay the hefty licensing fees attached to proprietary materials. In Mackintosh’s own words, the project is about “turning the digital divide into dividends.” It is a return to this tradition of knowledge-sharing that educators, researchers, and learners can be a part of through WikiEducator.
WikiEducator is a project funded by the Commonwealth of Learning. You can get started by finding out more information or setting up an account.