[WikiEN-l] The expert problem, dissolved

[Charles Matthews]

On 02/06/2011 19:56, Sage Ross wrote:
> My impression (admittedly based on a fairly narrow range of
> experiences in the area) is that we actually are getting pretty close
> to a tipping point. And the key lever we have for tipping things is
> better tools and guidance and support for having academic experts
> assign their students to edit. The amount of enthusiasm and positive
> reaction to the Wikipedia Ambassador Program and the whole concept of
> Wikipedia assignments... it seems like a different world than it was a
> few years ago.
>
> The new education portal, especially as we refine it and start to add
> some technical tools for helping profs evaluation their students'
> contributions, is going to be a pretty powerful tool for getting more
> experts involved (I hope).
>
Not to be a wet blanket (beyond reason) but we are talking about 
cultural factors here, with academics. The _students_ are not in fact 
the experts, obviously enough. I have done some academic outreach work, 
and there remains always the "publish or perish" question: why would 
academics themselves find time in their schedules for WP work, if it 
cannot contribute to their CV?

Now there are good answers to that one (some will and some won't; 
tenure; amazingly, some academics actually believe in promoting their 
subject rather than just themselves). The argument that class 
assignments will prove the soft underbelly of academia depends on some 
things we can know about (assessment methods, for example - pretty much 
ruling it out here in the UK), and some we don't (whether more intimate 
contact with WP mechanisms will enthuse academic experts or put them off).

Obviously catering for evaluation makes sense. But I suspect the key 
issue is going to turn out to be this: do 20 hours working on a WP 
assignment teach a student more than 20 hours working on something more 
conventional? If WP work turns out to be educational, then academics 
ought to support it. I think there are reasons to be positive about this 
point.

Charles