Page:Wikipedia and Academic Libraries.djvu/73

60 academic perspective, the collaboration has highlighted the different facets of instruction and learning, which can be brought together to support student learning. Academic libraries have also long offered instruction and assistance to students as part of their development of core literacy skills and competences. Higher education instruction continues to help students acquire learning and critical thinking skills that will serve them in the workplace. Bringing together these often parallel efforts provides students with an opportunity to excel in their development holistically. Currently, University College Dublin’s Library is developing a programmatic approach to teaching academic integrity to students across the university, and the experience of this collaboration among Wikipedia, the librarian, and the instructor will feed into the planning for that project. Collaborating with a partner external to the university, such as Wikipedia, has enabled the bringing together of parallel efforts toward digital citizenship development. e Wikipedia Education Program has a history of working with students and instructors, providing guidance for becoming and teaching others to become an editor of the encyclopedia (Wikipedia Education, 2020). Having a Wikipedia champion present during learning provided our students with direct access to expert knowledge about the workings of the online encyclopedia and deeper sense of involvement with Wikipedia.

The collaboration offers a potential framework for incorporating learning design that utilizes partnership and collaboration to help others apply a similar approach to learning. Collaborating does not necessarily mean developing teaching and learning materials from scratch. Existing courses may already involve excellent learning opportunities for students. Adding Wikipedia to the mix enhances the desired learning acquisition among students, critically through provision of experiential learning. Students can access assistance and advice from a professional in the field, apply learning immediately through Wikipedia, and reflect immediately throughout the process of learning, in keeping with Kolb’s (2014) experiential learning process.