ICYMI: From Reader to Writer: How Wikipedia Editing Transforms the Classroom

This post was initially summarized by AI (Microsoft CoPilot) and then revised and rewritten by Dr. Laurel Stvan.

How can a familiar website like Wikipedia become a powerful engine for research, collaboration, and public scholarship in our courses? That question guided November’s Faculty Voices session, From Reader to Writer: How Wikipedia Editing Transforms the Classroom, held on November 19, 2025.

Hosted by CRTLE, the session was led by Dr. Laurel Stvan from Linguistics and TESOL and featured panelists and experienced educators Dr. Alicia Rueda-Acedo from Modern Languages and Dr. Christy Spivey from Economics. These veteran faculty members shared how course-based Wikipedia editing projects transform students from passive readers into active contributors to an ongoing collection of public, digitally shared knowledge.

Setting the Stage: Why Wikipedia Belongs in the Classroom

Dr. Laurel Stvan opened the panel by reframing Wikipedia as a dynamic collaborative research space rather than just of source of pages to read. And suggested that rather than being a place that they should avoid citing, it can be a resource that students and teachers can help shape. As ubiquitous as it is, Wikipedia still has uneven coverage, with pages that can be quite robust in some areas but sparse in others. This creates opportunities for instructors and students to fill the knowledge gaps with their own expertise. Using their access to the UTA Library’s resources and guidance from faculty experts, students can expand stubs of articles, translate materials from other languages, and even create new pages—which lets them jointly create a positive public impact.

She also introduced key areas of support that make this work manageable:

Dr. Stvan also provided further reading on using Wikipedia as a source of collaborative group work and a way to shape this open educational resource:

These resources help faculty design assignments that build research, writing, and digital literacy in meaningful, public-facing ways.

Medical Translation and Rare Diseases: A Case Study in Spanish

Next, Dr. Alicia Rueda-Acedo shared a compelling project from her Translation in Medical Settings course, where students translated English-language articles on rare diseases into Spanish. With an estimated 300 million people worldwide affected by rare diseases—and limited information available in many languages—her students’ work directly expands access to life-changing medical knowledge.

She used a structured, project-based workflow that mirrors professional translation:

  • Team roles: translator, terminologist, project manager
  • Three-step drafting process: initial translation → peer review → instructor revision
  • Careful quality control: only polished drafts are published to Wikipedia

A key innovation was the guided and intentional use of AI tools. Students compared translations produced by DeepL, ChatGPT, and Google Translate, evaluating each for accuracy, consistency, cultural nuance, and register. They concluded that while AI can accelerate work, human editing remains essential, especially for sensitive medical content. This emphasized the translator’s need for HITL: Humans-in-the-Loop.

Economics, Public Knowledge, and Student Empowerment

The third speaker, Dr. Christy Spivey, described how she has incorporated Wikipedia assignments across several Economics courses, including Economic Data Analysis, Human Resource Economics, and Healthcare in the Pandemic. She suggested that Wikipedia editing would typically account for 15–20% of the course grade and that instructors could set it up to span from six to twelve weeks, giving students time to research and revise carefully.

Her students move through a clear sequence:

  • Identify a topic connected to course content
  • Use Wiki Edu’s article finder to locate pages needing improvement
  • Conduct a literature review using UTA library databases
  • Draft revisions, complete peer reviews, and publish high-quality edits

Along the way, they complete Wiki Edu training modules on neutral writing, sourcing standards, and avoiding plagiarism. Spivey’s students have edited nearly sixty articles, created seven new ones, and added more than 500 references to Wikipedia articles. Quotes from their reflections showed an increased respect for evidence-based writing and a strengthened sense of responsibility toward the larger public of readers.

Addressing the Practical Questions

The panel addressed common concerns about group work, emphasizing that Wikipedia projects provide built-in transparency. Wiki Edu’s dashboard displays each student’s exact contributions—paragraphs, citations, formatting changes, and more—making assessment clear and fair. Faculty also use peer evaluations, assigned roles to group members, and assigned self-reflections to help ensure accountability.

Interestingly, students often enjoy Wikipedia-based group work more than traditional group projects. Because they are learning a new editing ecosystem together, teams naturally share knowledge and rely on one another’s strengths. They also recognize that their writing will live on a public platform, so this visibility increases motivation and care. Published articles remain accessible long after the semester ends, giving students an opportunity to revisit and update their contributions and to have other people build on their work.

Questions from the audience also explored how Wikipedia compares with other forms of classroom OER and how this student editing work also qualifies as experiential learning.

Continuing the Conversation

If you are interested in incorporating a Wikipedia assignment into your course, Wiki Education offers one-on-one support, ready-made training modules, and customizable dashboards. Get started here:

For broader support with integrating experiential learning or open education initiatives into your course(s), contact UTA Libraries or reach out to CRTLE at CRTLE@uta.edu.

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