laugardagur, ágúst 02, 2008
Library
I just went to the library. In my computer. I needed to verify some equations that I found on Wikipedia (once I didn't and suffered...), so I looked up the whereabouts of the particular reference books cited on Wikipedia to see in what library they were kept. Turns out both of them are kept in the library next door to Snee Hall but are also available online. Of course I just looked at the books online instead of actually raising my a$$ from the seat and walking 30 m in the wonderful weather to the library. No wonder people (myself included) are growing huge butts nowadays!
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*giggles*
*biting tongue to avoid making a comment about butts...*
anyhow - the use of wikipedia is an interesting topic - some of my kids teachers and faculty where i teach - say it is not to be used. i think that is extreme...the best statement i heard is that it makes a good first source - but not a last one... remember of course i am speaking in the context of younger students and community college students - but even for more educated folks it can be useful.... i use it if i want a concise readable summary of a topic i might not be very familiar with
Yeah, Wikipedia is interesting. I use it all the time exactly as you're describing. And for research too, like now that I need an equation to calculate the saturation vapor pressure of air and have no idea where to start looking. But that's it, I use it to start looking. Not as a complete reference in itself.
you don't know that equation off the top of your head - lol....
but yeah - good reference - can't throw out the baby with the bathwater - the web offers a bunch of great tools - as an educator, esp. a tech educator - it's important to show proper usage of a tool to the students...not a case of it being good or bad - but like any tool know which uses are appropriate and which are not...
what intrigues me most is how on paper this seems absurd - an encyclopedia just sorting emerging from the work of an army of subject matter experts - the whole open source phenom is another example....
i am entering a phd program in the fall - instructional design - and one of my reserch interests is using web technologies as collaborative tools - creating a learning community...
also, me and another prof are gonna have our classes make a wiki as an experiment...
Life would be so dull without Wikipedia.
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