"According to a 2005 study done by Nature, Wikipedia contains only slightly more inaccuracies in science-related topics than does Encyclopaedia Britannica" (Chandler, 2010) Shigeru Tamura circa 1939 College courses rarely encourage students to do their research with Wikipedia, but there is value in teaching students the importance of critically evaluating sources, and contributing to the worlds' general knowledge on subjects. Faculty can guide their students, as well as contribute their expertise on subjects. Wikipedia is widely used and ambitious in that it aims to provide a free encyclopedia to anyone in the world. While the encyclopedia is the largest of its kind, there is still an imbalance in the depth and quantity of articles about women. On April 8, 2016, a group of freshly minted and enthusiast ASU editors (students, staff and faculty) participated in the inaugural “Wikipedia edit-a-thon for Women in Science and Engineering.” The event started with a short...

At yesterday's information session, we shared a number of resources to help faculty participate in the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement . Faculty and Grad Students discussed the many challenges of awareness and finding the right open materials. However, all agreed that with ASU's "inclusive" environment, the use of OERs in the classroom would continue to develop in the future. Our ASU Life Sciences Librarian, Rene Tanner, discussed the benefits of submitting papers to the ASU Digital Repository as an important step in increasing the impact of scholarly work. Making pre-publications, post-review publications, white papers, and data available in ASU's Digital Repository will make it possible for others to find, use, and reference your work without paying a fee. More information can be found on the ASU Library Guide for Open Education . Some other highlights of the session were: Defining OER, Open Access, and Open Pedagogy with this 4-minute video by...

Guest Blogger: René Tanner, Life Sciences Librarian Wikipedia , the free, open, online encyclopedia has the potential to share information and knowledge with people around the world. However, the use of Wikipedia in higher education is often discouraged because, in general, encyclopedias are not adequate sources for college-level research. Also, anyone can edit Wikipedia, so outdated and erroneous information may be present;   But what if, the tables were turned and instead students were encouraged to be contributors and given credit for editing and improving Wikipedia?   What might they learn and how might their critical thinking skills be improved? Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, would like more experts to be part of the project. Wales notes that often enthusiasts develop entries of personal interest and that someone with a deeper understanding would add nuance and improve the quality of articles greatly. However, the number of scientist/editors in Wiki...