One of the first things that caught my attention when I started the Wikipedia training, and that I have been thinking about since then, is that this project is only working within the United States and Canada (you can contact the Wikipedia Foundation to ask about local resources if you are not within these territories).

Since Wikipedia is accessible worldwide, this made me think about the many possibilities of collaboration (also taking into account this week’s readings) that would be easily attainable if this project extends. For example, the neutrality aspect, one of the five guiding Wikipedia principles, would be achieved by having multiple, and more diverse perspectives; students around the world could offer their viewpoints and provide enriching contributions. I also think that it would be very useful and challenging for students to collaborate with students from different nationalities, and it would be very beneficial to develop critical thinking skills.

Regarding the list of courses that are using Wikipedia, I was surprised by the shortage of translation and language content courses. I definitely hope to be able to use Wikipedia in my Spanish Heritage class next spring semester. The case studies offered by the training are very illustrative and they give us explicit ideas of how it works. Since some of us teach requirement courses where we have to cover specific material, I think that Wikipedia assignments (3-4 weeks assignments) can be easily integrated and built within the required content/syllabus.