WikiEducation in the Classics Classroom
Recently, there has been much ink spilt lamenting the supposed imminent ‘death’ of the traditional college essay, particularly in relation to the new ChatGPT application. However, much like my good friend Josh Nudell, I find myself less worried about this recent innovation for two reasons: 1) all of the examples I have seen simply would not ‘pass the test’ (citations, anyone?!); and 2) I have increasingly tried to move away from the ‘college essay’ as the sole means of final assessment, since it is really only a measure of one very specific type of writing.
In light of this debate, it was fortuitous that I had the opportunity recently to revisit and reflect on one alternative to the ‘college essay’. As part of the New Directions in Classics lecture series, I discussed my integration of a Wikipedia assignment into a 2021 Roman Britain class at the University of Winnipeg, and offered my thoughts and reflections on incorporating WikiEducation (an independent branch of the main Wikipedia website) into the classroom more broadly. The talk also featured two of my former students, Marina Milne and Paige Boyd, who discussed the project from a student perspective.
I will not repeat the scope of the talk here because the good news is that you can now view the talk in its entirety on YouTube!
Furthermore, if you’re interested in learning more, you can also check out these earlier features on my WikiEducation experience:
My Twitter thread providing an overview of all the student contributions.
My guest-post for the WikiEducation blog entitled ‘5 themes that emerge from a Wikipedia assignment’.
A Winnipeg Free Press feature (front page of the City and Business section!).
A University of Winnipeg news feature.
Finally, thank you to Dr. Peter Miller for inviting me to discuss this project - as you might be able to tell from this post, ChatGPT doesn’t worry me just yet…
