Wikipedia: Friend of Foe

The article and class activity didn’t really change my opinion on the value of Wikipedia to society and education.  I’ve always thought that it could be used as a valuable source if used with caution.  I think that Wikipedia can be very useful to give students a good idea on topics that they might be studied and maybe lead them on a search to discover whether or not information is factual and can be used in a paper or in a project.  It can also be a good way to educate the public and to give them a chance to possibly see two sides of a story that they otherwise might not get from watching biased news reports or reading the paper.

I would have my students use Wikipedia as a source to gain a basic level of knowledge on an assignment and to use it for the numerous sources that it could possibly provide for them to explore the information deeper.  I would advise them to never take the information for truth until they've found other sources confirming the information.  I would encourage them to use Wikipedia, but I would also caution them to be aware that not everything they find should be taken at face value.