Open Educational Resources for Literacies, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: The Case of Integrating Wikidata into Higher Education

Shani Evenstein Sigalov, Anat Cohen, Rafi Nachmias

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

The first, for-credit, elective course in the world to feature Wikidata, available to all undergraduates on campus, was launched at Tel Aviv University (TAU) in 2018. This innovative course was adapted from a Wikipedia-centric course model applied at TAU twice: at the School of Medicine (since 2013); and scaling up to accommodate a multi-disciplinary audience campus-wide (since 2015). The third course featured not only Wikipedia but also Wikidata, Wikipedia’s younger sister project, to scale up again and allow broader social impact and a greater focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Wikidata is an open, multilingual knowledge base containing structured, linked data and is the largest “big data” platform humanity created, based on Tim Berners-Lee’s vision of a Semantic Web. The new course aimed to facilitate a collaborative construction of free knowledge, or rather Open Educational Resources (OER), via both Wikipedia and Wikidata. This is part of an Open Pedagogy approach to teaching and learning, focusing on Renewable or Non-Disposable Assessment. It aims to improve participants’ academic, digital and data literacies, and make them better critical thinkers regarding consumed information, raising awareness of issues such as copyrights, knowledge gaps, biases and fake news. The course highlighted issues such as social impact, the Gender Gap and DEI. Items created in the course were viewed hundreds of thousands of times, noting a positive social impact. This chapter investigates the course design and implementation, while focusing on Wikidata’s integration into the academic curriculum, and highlights the benefits and challenges for students and faculty. Findings will focus on (1) course outcomes, (2) students’ perception of their learning experiences and (3) benefits of using Wikidata as a learning platform in higher education. Finally, the course will be discussed from a wider educational perspective, presenting insights regarding re-use, scaling possibilities and suggestions for further research.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationOpen Educational Resources in Higher Education
Subtitle of host publicationA Global Perspective
EditorsJako Olivier, Andreas Rambow
Place of PublicationSingapore
PublisherSpringer Nature Singapore
Pages279-306
Number of pages28
ISBN (Electronic)978-981-19-8590-4
ISBN (Print)978-981-19-8589-8
DOIs
StatePublished - 8 Feb 2023

Publication series

NameFuture Education and Learning Spaces
PublisherSpringer Nature Singapore
ISSN (Print)2731-7714
ISSN (Electronic)2731-7722

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